Tiny orange pests! It begins...

Hi guys,

While watering yesterday I found these little pests on all 4 of my outdoor plants.

They're tiny and I'm not sure what the heck they are. They move kinda like caterpillars... Larva of some sort?

I sprayed the crap out of them with Bug B Gone last night, soaking every leaf (I thought)

Unfortunately, today I see a bunch of dead bugs and a few live one's as well.

Any tips would be appreciated.

I'm not sure what they are but I found these satanic looking things inside some of the buds. I wonder if it's the same thing and lucky you found them early. I checked every bud after that. These freaking things survived the curing process too.

I'm no expert but they could be spider mite larva

washedmothafuka said:

I'm no expert but they could be spider mite larva

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Yeah, more I look at my pics the more I think you're right and they're mites.

I didn't spray them today. Tomorrow I'll take another look to see if any are still alive, if there is then they'll get another treatment.

Think those are Clover Mites which are a type of Spider Mite. I've seen a few of the orange types on my plants, but never noticed an outbreak. If its spider mites you might need to introduce a couple more oils/insecticides into the mix. I've heard to rotate 3 different products to keep the mites from building up tolerance.

Keep us updated and let us know what happens to the little buggers

growslut said:

... I've heard to rotate 3 different products to keep the mites from building up tolerance...

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Update

Day 1: Found possible spider mite larva. I estimate that around 1 in 4 leaves had at least 1 critter on it. Doused with Bug B Gone.
Day 2: Found many dead bugs and very few live ones, 1-3 bugs per plant. No treatment done.
Day 3: Found 1 live bug total after searching all plants for 20 min. Doused with Bug B Gone.
Day 4 (today): No more visible critters!

Since there still could be eggs I plan on treating them again within a week. I'll continue monitoring and they'll get sprayed sooner if I spot any.

I do have another type of pest killer that I bought at a grow shop a year ago. I plan on using it next time around. Thanks for the tip growslut.

I think I'll pick up some neem oil too next time I'm out (rare these days).

3 days now with no signs of bugs. Plan on doing another treatment tomorrow.

No little critters still. Just one big house spider.

Just gave them a good treatment with Safer's End All.

@mrplowdan research the life cycle of the type of mites you have as well as treatment. Just my .02 good luck.

I believe they are thrips. If they come back, Spinosad will kill them in one dose. Monterey Insect spray on Amazon. You can see the beginning of the damage in the second pic. Good Luck

ilovetoskiatalta said:

@mrplowdan research the life cycle of the type of mites you have as well as treatment. Just my .02 good luck.

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Hard to research them because I'm not totally sure what type they are. @growslut mentioned clover mites and they do seem to resemble them.

Four2Zero said:

I believe they are thrips. If they come back, Spinosad will kill them in one dose. Monterey Insect spray on Amazon. You can see the beginning of the damage in the second pic. Good Luck

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I was leaning towards thrips at one point. Spinosad products seem to be harder to come by in Canada? I do see them available on ebay though

Right now whatever they are appear to be all gone. I'll keep a close on on them. If/when they reappear I'll try to get some better pics.

He is telling you to research the life cycles of spider mites because there is a delay active bugs and in laying eggs

Basically, when it seems like all the mites got killed, the next round of eggs hatches. It appears all the mites are dead but the eggs keep hatching and the pests continue.

The key is to continue with what you are doing every 3 days for multiple weeks switching between different products. That should wipe them out.

Or you could look into beneficial mites that eat the bad spider mites. I've never used them but heard good things and someone recommended Phytoseiulus persimilis mites

mrplowdan said:

Hard to research them because I'm not totally sure what type they are. @growslut mentioned clover mites and they do seem to resemble them.

I was leaning towards thrips at one point. Spinosad products seem to be harder to come by in Canada? I do see them available on ebay though

Right now whatever they are appear to be all gone. I'll keep a close on on them. If/when they reappear I'll try to get some better pics.

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get a 10x magnifier so you know what it looks like and start searching. This site has some people with good information. If they are thrips then spinosad is the only thing that works and it does work. The life cycle of a thrip is 7-10 days.

Thanks @growslut and @ilovetoskiatalta
Didn't mean to sound so harsh in my last post, I reread it and I sounded kinda like a jerk.

All very good advice and it is appreciated.

I do have a jewelers loupe around but I can't seem to find it right now, hence the cheap fisher price magnifying glass in my original pics.

You're doing fine! This is vital learning to grow cannabis. Google thrips and select images. You do have thrips. Spider mites look like little spiders or crabs. Thrips are cylindrical in shape and are very common here. I have already killed the first wave of my outdoor season with Spinosad. Thrips are easy to control compared to spider mites. Best wishes on your grow man.

In an actual outdoor grow predatory pest will usually kill the problem pest
Stop spraying your plants

Just emailed a local shop that has Phytoseiulus Persimilis, Amblyseius Cucumeris, and Hypoaspis Miles.

I would much prefer a more organic solution than spraying every few days. They don't list their price on their website... it might have to wait until next payday.

mrplowdan said:

I was leaning towards thrips at one point. Spinosad products seem to be harder to come by in Canada?

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Try the pet supplies, cat flea medicine (Comfortis) is Spinosad.

Spinosad seems very controlled up here. I see that our govt was going through a review process on it in 2018 but didn't look any further when I was seeing posts from others saying it's been banned.

Comfortis is pretty expensive from what I can tell. May need a prescription too. And they come in chewable pills that I guess I could crush and spray??

I still haven't heard back from the local shop that supposedly has the predatory bugs, I'll give them a call tomorrow.

I also found a reddit post where someone is recommending BioCeres WP and predatory bugs for thrips. I wasn't able to find BioCeres WP anywhere to buy it after searching for a whole 10 minutes I gotta look more but it's been a long day. [reddit]

Things I've found
Monterey Garden Insect Spray [ebay.ca] ~ $80 shipped
Doktor Doom Pyrethrin Insecticide Powder [canadiantire.ca] ~$18 local
Doktor Doom Insecticide Spray [canadiantire.ca] ~$16 local
Doktor Doom Thrip Killer Spray [canadiantire.ca] ~$17 local

mrplowdan said:

... Ialso found a reddit post where someone is recommending BioCeres WP and predatory bugs for thrips. I wasn't able to find BioCeres WP anywhere to buy it after searching for a whole 10 minutes I gotta look more but it's been a long day. [reddit]...

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BotaniGard 22 WP [ebay.ca] ~$22, Est. Delivery Fri, 5 Jun - Mon, 29 Jun
seems to be the same fungus as the BioCeres, Beauveria bassiana