Spider Mites - First Time :(

Ladybugs are shipped hibernating. They MUST fly upon awakening BEFORE they’ll eat. But whatever.

rmax said:

You're on! Let's do link wars.

I'll go first:

"Ladybugs love to munch on spider mites, so much so that they know how to track them down. They are attracted to the smell of these creatures, as well as to the leaf damage typical of a spider mite infestation."

- Aug 9, 2020

Cannabis Pest Control: Using LadyBugs To Deal With Spider Mites - RQS Blog

Spider mites belong to a long list of insects that like to feast on weed plants. Learn more about them here, and how to use labybugs to end their invasion.

www.royalqueenseeds.com

Your turn.

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You sound like you sell them. My experience with lady bugs in my 20 years of growing is this. Half arrive dead, half of the remaining ones can't help but see the light ( and keep flying into it) and the rest find there way out of your room within days. I've never had ladybugs clear up a mite issue or even mitigate the issue within reason.

hotrodharley said:

“In outdoor gardens, however, ladybugs tend to fly away to their preferred food source so getting them to establish on the plants can be a little tricky. A sugar water solution can be sprayed on the ladybugs to “stick” their wings together for a few days.”

Post away, Jacko. I’ve used both. Turn predator mites loose. Period. No Pepsi shower to keep their fucking wings down.

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I'm led to believe OP is indoors because OP used "The Grow Room" forum.

migenetics said:

You sound like you sell them. My experience with lady bugs in my 20 years of growing is this. Half arrive dead, half of the remaining ones can't help but see the light ( and keep flying into it) and the rest find there way out of your room within days. I've never had ladybugs clear up a mite issue or even mitigate the issue within reason.

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I never had an issue, but I used ladybugs as a preventive.
I'm not sure why all so negative, they stuck around inside my tent for weeks. All I had to do was build them a "home" out of a humidity dome, a soaked sponge, and some raisins i let sit in water.
Also have to make sure they don't get sucked into your exhaust.
I released the ladybugs probably a month ago or more and could probably still find a few in there today

Science - (Not a ladybug salesperson).

"The two most popular insect specialists used to control spider mites are a ladybug named Stethorus punctum and a predatory mite named T. pyri. These insects prey on two types of spider mites, the European red mites and the two-spotted spider mites, which are agricultural pests worldwide. Much of Biddinger's work is in Pennsylvania apple orchards, a prime target for both types of pest mites.

Although the ladybug and the predatory mite both hunt spider mites, their ways of tracking them down are different.

"It turns out the predatory mite sort of roams around and bumps into them," said Biddinger. "The ladybug, on the other hand, is a selective killer, hunting using visual and olfactory cues to prey on spider mites.""

steve1989 said:

hi mate, I have discovered some webbing and mites and have 20 days left. Could this solution still be used?

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Yes I use it in flower with zero negative side effects. First remove the webbing then spray away. It will kill them and not hurt anything but the bugs.

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

I never had an issue, but I used ladybugs as a preventive.
I'm not sure why all so negative, they stuck around inside my tent for weeks. All I had to do was build them a "home" out of a humidity dome, a soaked sponge, and some raisins i let sit in water.
Also have to make sure they don't get sucked into your exhaust.
I released the ladybugs probably a month ago or more and could probably still find a few in there today

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Sorry if I came off negative, I'm not. I just wouldn't recommend them to someone who has mites to the point of webbing. I also didn't recommend pred. mites for the same reason. OP has a serious battle ahead.

steve1989 said:

Do you know of any website supplying these in the uk?

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end_of_the_tunnel said:

A google shows this predatory mite as an alternative spidermite control. Phytoseiulus persimilis.

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Multiple UK sources via google.

I found out the hard way that I had spider mites. Apparently they were on a clone I picked up. I didn't even think about that being a concern. Now, after over a month later, and neem, mite x spray, and alcohol/water, my 3 ft tall plant still shows signs of them in 2nd full week of flower.

No webs, but leaves are spotted all over. They seem to be closer to the top.

Voltron1 said:

I found out the hard way that I had spider mites. Apparently they were on a clone I picked up. I didn't even think about that being a concern. Now, after over a month later, and neem, mite x spray, and alcohol/water, my 3 ft tall plant still shows signs of them in 2nd full week of flower.

No webs, but leaves are spotted all over. They seem to be closer to the top.

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Mites thrive in drier warmer environments. The tops of your plants are closer to your light which is warmer and drier than the bottom hence it is where you see the most damage. I posted a lavender treatment on the first page. It has always worked for me to completely eliminate mites and their eggs.Try it if you want.

JimmiP said:

This mix can be sprayed all the way through flowering. The alcohol kills on contact

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I would not suggest spraying alcohol onto buds all the way through flower. Alcohol breaks down tricomes. I used to make wax with ever clear? Strips tricomes off really well.

Cabrone said:

I would not suggest spraying alcohol onto buds all the way through flower. Alcohol breaks down tricomes. I used to make wax with ever clear? Strips tricomes off really well.

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Not at a concentration of <35%.
It works fine and doesn't hurt any of the trichomes. This plant was sprayed often during flowering and as you can easily see the trichomes were doing just fine when it was harvested on December 2nd
And this whole crop was treated the same way.
I didn't have any issues with any of my plants. And I have used it for quite some time now.
I too use everclear, for making extract. Everclear is 95% alcohol vs, the 30-35% isopropyl used fir killing pests. And with the potassium bicarbonate it keeps bud rot and powdery mildew away.

However if you don't think it helps you don't have to use it. I will though. It does the trick.
Good luck friend.

Hi guys, I’m harvesting in a week today. I thought the mites had gone however they are still there and have started to web over a few buds. I’ve just been using a feather duster to get rid of the webs, buds are looking nice and healthy. I did spread with alcohol last week, thricomes seem fine.

I am hoping that they will just leave the plants once harvested, anyone know if this is usually the case?

steve1989 said:

Hi guys, I’m harvesting in a week today. I thought the mites had gone however they are still there and have started to web over a few buds. I’ve just been using a feather duster to get rid of the webs, buds are looking nice and healthy. I did spread with alcohol last week, thricomes seem fine.

I am hoping that they will just leave the plants once harvested, anyone know if this is usually the case?

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You have to keep up with the spray to break up their life cycle. You can vacuum them off too.
What you should do when you harvest is, wash the buds. There's plenty of posts on here about how it's done. You will thank yourself for doing it afterwards. It tastes a lot better after washing the beasties away.
Good luck friend!

JimmiP said:

You have to keep up with the spray to break up their life cycle. You can vacuum them off too.
What you should do when you harvest is, wash the buds. There's plenty of posts on here about how it's done. You will thank yourself for doing it afterwards. It tastes a lot better after washing the beasties away.
Good luck friend!

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Is it safe to do that, no bud rot etc?

Yes it's safe. And it will stop the progress of anything you may have missed at harvest. Also again It will wash off the pesky little bastards too. No one wants to smoke those evil little s.o.b.'s lol. And if you grow outdoors too, then you should definitely do the wash.
I add potassium bicarbonate to my wash water in the first bin. It kills pm and bud rot. The second is h202 and water and the third is plain water.

DE FOILAR spray is amazing.......so very safe......so effective!.....knocks the hell out of insects with exoskeleton. Tried , true and so very fast acting.........people even eat " food grade DE. Only effective dry.

StonedGardener said:

DE FOILAR spray is amazing.......so very safe......so effective!.....knocks the hell out of insects with exoskeleton. Tried , true and so very fast acting.........people even eat " food grade DE. Only effective dry.

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Yeah it does work well when the plant is in veg. Just not so much in flower.

That's what I do......always great to have an issue way down road before the "meat " starts forming. It's very important to use food grade DE....it contains amorphous silica vs garden/pool grade DE which contains crystalline silica...bad shit.best to completely stay away from non-food grade DE.