Indestructible Spider Mites

So I have a breed of spider mites on my plants that seem to have been spawned near the Fukushima power plant. They are some sort of mutant super-mite composed of parts from lesser mites. I live in an area where these little bastards are ubiquitous in the environment. After checking vegetation all around our property, spider mites are on most of it. I have tried everything I know to get rid of them on my plants. I brewed teas, and they thanked me for the bath. I tried insecticidal soaps, and they shrugged it off. I tried pyrethrins + soaps, and even enclosed the plants in plastic and used an aerosol pyrethrin; those mites were like "BRING IT BITCH!! I CAN TAKE YOUR BULLETS!" I have been watering the hell out of the vegetation in the surrounding area hoping to create a hostile environment, and they do not care.

Any ideas? I looked at some of the natural insecticides in the sticky, but if they're laughing off a fogger, I am doubting that fermented garlic will do much, but I'm willing to give the home remedies a try if there are enough people who can attest to having spider mites and then not having them after using the home remedies.

Hw about neem silicon?
I dont have problems with spider mites. But when i do they get blasted. Add some aloe juice as a surfactant (helps it stick to the plant).

I've been unimpressed with Neem, tbh. It didn't do anything to the mites, and I don't have other pest problems aside from caterpillars, which are handled effortlessly with Bt. I'll try it with the aloe juice, and I'm going to try out some of the garlic decoction I saw posted in the sticky, and I'm going to spice it up with some rosemary. Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Might have to try mighty wash

No mites can adapt to soaps period. You have to use pyrethrin along with soap or neem oil and soap always used that mix and never had problems with them.

Thanks for the advice. I looked up mighty wash and it immediately set off my scam-meter. It may be because I have a degree in biology and my mind is therefore closed due to my training, but whenever I see something that says it works due to "frequencies," I immediately become highly skeptical. This is what it says Mighty Wash does:

Mighty Wash - consists of frequency adjusted water specific to the intended action
and trace amounts of naturally derived plant extracts.

That seems extremely suspicious to me. I couldn't find anything that said what its active ingredients were or a non-BS explanation of how it works (talk of frequencies is not a satisfactory explanation for me). Without knowing its mechanism for action, I am afraid to put it on my plants, lest the "frequencies" they use to treat the water turn out to be 10% malathion in reality.

ALl that said, I will consider it if you can tell me how it works.

Edited by Sizlunt, 17 August 2012 - 06:41 PM.

No mites can adapt to soaps period. You have to use pyrethrin along with soap or neem oil and soap always used that mix and never had problems with them.

I'll keep on with it then but it has not worked thus far after several applications, taking great care to get the undersides of the leaves.

There is hope yet - don't despair.

There are 2 products out there that will take care of your troubles, and with the proper maintenance you will be able to keep these nasty little bastards at bay forever.

The first one is neem oil. Neem is an anti-feedant - among many other virtues. If there ever was a magical plant, neem is it. This product, however, should only be used up to approximately week 2 of flower, when buds are just beginning to form. After that it's on to product 2, which I will get to momentarily. Not all neem products are created equal! You'll want to order organic Ahimsa Neem Oil from neemresource.com

As this is an oil, when you use this to make a foliar spray, you will need an emulsifier to break the oil down - think dish soap on a greasy pan. The perfect emulsifier for your foliar spray is liquid silica. It not only emulsified your oil, but it also toughens up your plants, helping make them stronger and more insect resistant. The product you want for this is called ProTekt.

Lastly, for your foliar spray, you will want Aloe juice, which makes excellent use of its surfactant properties - ie:, it will assist your spray in spreading out and sticking to the leaves, instead of rolling off of them.

Recipe: add a tablespoon to a cupful of room temp (tepid) water. To this add a quarter teaspoon (it's all you need) of liquid silica ProTekt, and stir. You'll notice the oil beads immediately emulsify. Add this to a gallon of tepid water (no chlorine - let it sit out overnight if needed). Add a quarter of a cup of Aloe Vera juice ( you can get this at most health food stores - I use "Lily of the Valley" brand) and shake well until you see it "foam" up a little, activating the surfactant properties of the aloe.

Spray, spray, spray, over, under, sideways, upside down, inside out - paying close attention to the bottom surface of your leaves, where the little buggers and thier eggs like to hide - until it looks like a monsoon came thru your grow room.

Make sure to do this just before lights-out!

Repeat 5 days to one week later.

If you are unfortunately onto flowering more than 2 weeks, get a product Captain Jacks Deadbug, or, Monterey Gardens spray. They both contain Spinosad - this is not a chemical or a pyrethin, but a bacterium derived through a fermentation process.

Use the same recipe as the neem recipe above, exchanging the neem for the spinosad. Still - try as much as possible not to hit your flowers. I hate spraying anything late in flower, but, unfortunately, with mites there is no choice sometimes. This will completely eradicate the mites. Again, repeat 5-7 days later to break the egg cycle.

Maintenance means everything. Use the neem oil recipe every 2 weeks whether you need it or not - don't give them a chance to ever take hold of your garden.

Don't skimp and buy cheap neem oil - get it for
Neemresource.com - they have the very best cold-pressed neem out there. Whe you're at it, buy some neem meal and top dress your soil to keep fungus gnats at bay, and it also works as an excellent nutritional meal - neem is a dynamic accumulator as well as an anti-feedant insecticide.

Use the recipe(s) I just gave you and I can promise you that with careful maintenance foliar spraying, you'll be in good shape in no time.

Best of luck -

Jerry.

Edited by jerry111165, 17 August 2012 - 07:38 PM.

I've been unimpressed with Neem, tbh

Like I said - there is neem, and then there is real deal organic neem from the supplier I mentioned. There is simply no comparison. I was turned on to this particular brand and I'll never buy another brand.

Ahimsa - organic cold pressed neem oil & meal from India. Accept no substitute.

J

Edited by jerry111165, 17 August 2012 - 06:47 PM.

One more thing - the re-application a week later is CRUCIAL - without doing this, eggs continue to hatch, and you will NEVER break the cycle - until your garden is dead.

Neem & Spinosad (alongside aloe & ProTekt) are all you need. Stop wasting your time and money on the other products.

Again - best of luck. It sounds like you really need it.

J

I'll keep on with it then but it has not worked thus far after several applications, taking great care to get the undersides of the leaves.

1/4 tsp of soap per gallon and then one ounce of the neem or pyrethrin spray I use Take down specifically. You must spray this concoction every three days for 9 days then the 10th day wash em off with plain water and you should be good I do this procedure once a month as maintainence as well and never have problems. Also remember mites only attack a plant that is unhealthy so you might be having more issues with your plant than just the pests.

There is hope yet - don't despair.

There are 2 products out there that will take care of your troubles, and with the proper maintenance you will be able to keep these nasty little bastards at bay forever.

The first one is neem oil. Neem is an anti-feedant - among many other virtues. If there ever was a magical plant, neem is it. This product, however, should only be used up to approximately week 2 of flower, when buds are just beginning to form. After that it's on to product 2, which I will get to momentarily. Not all neem products are created equal! You'll want to order organic Ahimsa Neem Oil from neemresource.com

As this is an oil, when you use this to make a foliar spray, you will need an emulsifier to break the oil down - think dish soap on a greasy pan. The perfect emulsifier for your foliar spray is liquid silica. It not only emulsified your oil, but it also toughens up your plants, helping make them stronger and more insect resistant. The product you want for this is called ProTekt.

Lastly, for your foliar spray, you will want Aloe juice, which makes excellent use of its saponin properties - ie:, it will assist your spray in spreading out and sticking to the leaves, instead of rolling off of them.

Recipe: add a tablespoon to a cupful of room temp (tepid) water. To this add a quarter teaspoon (it's all you need) of liquid silica ProTekt, and stir. You'll notice the oil beads immediately emulsify. Add this to a gallon of tepid water (no chlorine - let it sit out overnight if needed). Add a quarter of a cup of Aloe Vera juice ( you can get this at most health food stores - I use "Lily of the Valley" brand) and shake well until you see it "foam" up a little, activating the saponins in the aloe.

Spray, spray, spray, over, under, sideways, upside down, inside out - paying close attention to the bottom surface of your leaves, where the little buggers and thier eggs like to hide - until it looks like a monsoon came thru your grow room.

Make sure to do this just before lights-out!

Repeat 5 days to one week later.

If you are unfortunately onto flowering more than 2 weeks, get a product Captain Jacks Deadbug, or, Monterey Gardens spray. They both contain Spinosad - this is not a chemical or a pyrethin, but a bacterium derived through a fermentation process.

Use the same recipe as the neem recipe above, exchanging the neem for the spinosad. Still - try as much as possible not to hit your flowers. I hate spraying anything late in flower, but, unfortunately, with mites there is no choice sometimes. This will completely eradicate the mites. Again, repeat 5-7 days later to break the egg cycle.

Maintenance means everything. Use the neem oil recipe every 2 weeks whether you need it or not - don't give them a chance to ever take hold of your garden.

Don't skimp and buy cheap neem oil - get it for
Neemresource.com - they have the very best cold-pressed neem out there. Whe you're at it, buy some neem meal and top dress your soil to keep fungus gnats at bay, and it also works as an excellent nutritional meal - neem is a dynamic accumulator as well as an anti-feedant insecticide.

Use the recipe(s) I just gave you and I can promise you that with careful maintenance foliar spraying, you'll be in good shape in no time.

Best of luck -

Jerry.

This looks promising to me, I thank you greatly for the detailed and well explained response. I am definitely in the flowering stage. I actually have some spinosad concentrate laying around that I haven't used because I associate it more with caterpillar control. I'll give it a shot with your recipe. Thanks again.

1/4 tsp of soap per gallon and then one ounce of the neem or pyrethrin spray I use Take down specifically. You must spray this concoction every three days for 9 days then the 10th day wash em off with plain water and you should be good I do this procedure once a month as maintainence as well and never have problems. Also remember mites only attack a plant that is unhealthy so you might be having more issues with your plant than just the pests.

They are only doing damage to two of the plants but are on all 6. The plants seem healthy, I'd associated the problem more with my area (very hot and dry, temps about 100+ for weeks on end). They may in fact be heat stressed.

They are only doing damage to two of the plants but are on all 6. The plants seem healthy, I'd associated the problem more with my area (very hot and dry, temps about 100+ for weeks on end). They may in fact be heat stressed.

I'm in Nor Cal and have been dealing with the hot temps too but no mites here I also have a lot of mantis I introduced into the garden as well so they do a good job cleaning up.

That's a great idea.

Mites cannot become immune to insecticidal soaps! It smothers the little bastards!

Also it is easily rinsed off the next day, so no nasty residues in your smoke! The soap runoff will be broken down into ferts for your plant by the soil bacteria.

How to Get Rid of Spider Mites on Houseplants - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

I use a 3 day rotation Spray day, rinse day, rest day. That gives the eggs a chance to hatch and then be killed with the next spray day. (under optimal conditions a mite egg hatches in 2 or 3 days) How good it works depends of how well you spray.

And Dr Bronner's soap is an excellent product For all sorts of things! Read the label- it's a blast!

Granny

I'm in Nor Cal and have been dealing with the hot temps too but no mites here I also have a lot of mantis I introduced into the garden as well so they do a good job cleaning up.

I can say from experience all the lady bugs and mantis in the world won't put a dent in an bad outdoor mite infestation. I have been battling mites for years. I have tons of both mantis and lady bugs and the mites are still a huge problem. The only thing that helps is spraying ALL THE TIME. Whatever you use, it needs to be used several times a week. I can keep my plants looking good in veg, but as soon as I have to stop spraying in flower, the mites start to take over. Little bastards.

In my case they keep re-infesting from my neighbors yard. As soon as the seasons crop is done I'm going to tear down the fence and put up a concrete wall to hopefully hold them back. And while I have easy access to the neighbors yard I'm going to spray the fuck out of their bamboo to try to kill the infestation.

OP, do you think your plants are being re-infested from a nearby source? To me that's what makes them so hard to fight.

don't give them a chance to ever take hold of your garden.

I think this was my biggest mistake. I haven't grown in several years, and it was indoor back then. The only insect problems I've ever had indoors were fungus gnats which aren't that big of a deal and have a sort of peripheral utility in that they are diagnostic of overwatering.

Outdoors this year has been a learning experience when it comes to pests. I've had rabbit, and deer problems. It's strange, I was well aware of both of these critters being in the area, but I underestimated the jumping abilities of the deer, and I didn't consider rabbits a threat since they never bother my vegetables.

I didn't know anything about spider mites before I saw them on my plants, so I did no preventative medicine unfortunately. By the time I saw the symptoms, it was already heavily infested. Now I fear that my attempts to deal with them have resulted in rapid evolution. We'll see, and a hard lesson learned.

OP, do you think your plants are being re-infested from a nearby source? To me that's what makes them so hard to fight.

I'm certain that is part of the problem. I'm in a very rural area, and as I said earlier, I've looked at the foliage around here and spider mites are pretty much everywhere. I think it's a combination of incomplete killing, and reinfestation. At this point I'm just hoping for a stalemate.

Keeping the area around your plants super moist is supposed to help with reinfestations, but honestly I have noticed zero difference.

Edited by Sizlunt, 17 August 2012 - 07:20 PM.

Hey Jerry, is this the silicon solution you were talking about:

Amazon.com: Dyna-Gro Pro-tekt Tek-032 0-0-3 Silicon Supplement, 1-Quart: Patio, Lawn & Garden