hemp russet mites

Discussion in 'Sick Plants and Problems' started by Hanover Fist, Sep 25, 2013.

  1. After a great first year of indoor gardening, I hit a brick wall and everything I touched I killed. I would grow from seeds and clones and they would get to week 2-3 of flower and just wither away, claw like leaves. The break came last Sunday night when I was inspecting the last diseased grow under my 30x USB microscope. Even at that power all I could see were little white specs, then one of them moved. SHIT I have Hemp Russett Mites.

    They're called 'The Borg' for a reason. I searched GrassCity and found nothing on them, so I started this thread. Here are some references to get you educated.
     
    ID'ing THEM:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i08Z5x4c-_I
     
    Killing them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG5Edfxr7yE
     
    Great writeup by mipainpatient (post 18) on this page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG5Edfxr7yE
     
    I'm going through a complete grow room multi-day bleaching regime now and starting again from seed. I have attached a photo of what this condition looks like. It mimics pH issues, nutrient issues, overwatering, light burn, wind burn. Unlike spider mites, they leave no webs and can only be observed through a 30x scope or bigger. Dsc04456.jpg

     
  2. Unless you live in Kansas, you have a better chance of being hit by a London Bus, than ever catching this E-Mite(Eriophyid Mite) was imported into the states back in 1971 -1972 as part of the 'Nixon's war on drugs', I last saw this sucker in a high contam. lab at the Uni. Indiana, and still there after all these years, being studied then studied again by federal bug watchers.
     
    As a remote chance Feds may release this mite into the current cannabis population, with minimal success, as most growers grow there own seed or import there seed from Europe, one important factor is the very short life cycle the mite has 2-3 weeks at most, and does eat leaves, stalk and flowers, should the mite eat flowers on a female plant, the female would be rendered sterile, which is OK with most of us, the eggs are tiny but no more than 25-55 a time, and easily dealt with via Neem Oil, or other organic pesticide.
     
    If you have ever had spider mites before, then you would easiliy handle this, tho they don't look the same, E-mites are beige brown, shaped like a hot dog, very small with only 2 legs, of which 50% of the size is the fuckers mouth ....lol
     
    Great for film writers ...very dumb as a Bio Weapon. just be cautious if you run a seedbank!
     
  3. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE TOMATO RUSSET MITE, IT GOES INTO A EATING CRAZE UNTIL THE  TOMATO  PLANT DIES
     
  4. #4 byrned420, Oct 1, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 1, 2013
    I just suffered my first experience with hemp russet mites and I wanted to share a few things. Vostok, youve got the wrong bug in mind, the hemp russet mite is Acculops Cannabicola and it is nothing like spider mites. There isnt much research on hemp russet mites, but they live somewhere bewteen 14-30 days, have a one day larval cycle and can reproduce after two-three days. Females live longest and can lay up to 50 eggs per day. They are invisible to the naked eye, Ive got a 60-100x scope and theyre still tiny looking under the scope. The mites look like microscopic tan-white maggots eating away at the plant material. They eat new growth and trichomes, so its the worst pest a grower can encounter. Theyre easily transmitted by touch or by air (depends on airflow and distance), and eggs can survive the winter on contaminated seeds.

    Symptoms of infestation are easily misinterpreted and its often too late by the time anything is noticable. Upward curling leaves with a velvety look and feel, tan or rust colored colonies can look like mold growing on the stems and leaves. New growth will be stunted and malformed, and buds attacked will appear shriveled with brown pistils. The picture I attached is an awful infestation clearly visible to the naked eye on one of my clones, a quick look under my 60x revealed millions upon millions of the bastards eating away.

    There is no known method for full eradication that involves your plants staying alive. The nastiest pesticides they make will only serve to breed pesticide resistant varieties of the mite. You shouldnt even bother with anything organic. It is possible to control their numbers with Avid, Azamax, Forbid etc used in rotation but you will never ever be fully rid of them. Some have also had temporary success with a heat kill (rasie the temps to 120+ for no less than one hour) and CO2 bombing (~10,000ppm for atleast two hours) The only effective method to totally eradicate is to burn every plant in your grow and bleach from floor to ceiling. Just throwing the plants away will spread this plague to another poor grower, so if you cant burn em, soak em in bleach.

    If I could give my left nut to kill each and every hemp russet mite on this earth Id do it. They are the worst possible pest you can imagine - they spread like wildfire, there is no known effective remedy, and they will ravage your plants with a smile on their little evil fucking faces. I live in Colorado and every grower I know has had a serious issue with these in the past year or so, and everyone has said it required a complete killoff and sterilization.
     

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  5. ..total bullshit, I leave a page from McPartland, and a link for you to continue at the Hollywood Screen Writers Guild...   http://www.wga.org/
     

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  6. Ya that exact paper is about the best scientific information Ive been able to find on Hemp Russets. But Im curious as to which part of what I said was bullshit, that paper confirms everything I said, in fact it was my source for that post.

    It should be noted that Bayer developed Spiromesifen (Forbid 4F, Oberon) specifically for the Russet Mite. Its incredibly effective as a preventative and to fight the onset of an infestation, but I dont think it could save a heavily infested plant, especially not while in flower.

    Spiromesifen is a lipid biosynthesis inhibitor that is transliminal throughout the plant for about 30 days, it causes the mites to be unable to synthesize any fatty acids or triglycerides into cell material and they basically explode from the inside. Its glorious. I lost my last crop late in flower to russets, so Ive been spraying Forbid 4f as a preventative on this next round and I havent seen a sign of Russets in some time.
     
  7. So easily confused, in 25 years of bugs and more bugs in my life, It is so rare ....theres more important issues at stake, if you have one or some, dead or alive send them to the bio hazard unit at the Uni. of Indiana, containment lab for dna profiling 
     
  8. OP, loving your sig, heavy metal is an excellent movie.
     
  9. Youre absoloutly right, they are incredibly easy to misdiagnose as they share symptoms with many other plant diseases/pests. However theyre very hard to mistake under 100x scope, they are very distinctive once you can see them clearly.

    You're a blessed lucky grower if youve gone 25 years without running into Russet mites. Colorado is completely infested with them right now, there isnt one single grower in the area who hasnt had to battle them off in the past year or so. I know several dispensary growers who have lost their entire crop, and every single one has started using Forbid 4F or Judo to fight the hemp russets specifically. The grow community here is abuzz with talk of Russets. The main problem is Russets have become completely resistant to the most widely used pesticides, like Azamax and Avid, so they spread like wildfire through gardens where the grower uses those as preventatives.

    Russets may have been rare 25 years ago, but that is no longer the case, especially in the western US. The more people know about them, the more we can do as a community to combat them.
     
  10. From a biocontrol approach, this looks like an easily managed pest.  I would try Amblyseius (neosuillus) fallacis or Atheta coriaria.  If you have a problem with these guys, let me know and we will send you some free predators for research to see if they do the job.  The catch, the plant has to be chemical spray free.  These chemical sprays (especially) kill all the good bugs on your plants, so its a slippery slope, and won't give our predators a fair fight.
     
  11. Yo McFly check the DATE.....!    wrong date very wrong advice .....LOL roflmaocopter .....!
     
  12. No, it's good advice.  We work with a lot of large scale forward thinking growers who have zero pest problems (spider-mite, aphid, fungus gnat, whitefly, etc.) by using predators preventatively.  Cost is way down, yield is way up, plant is far less stressed.  
    And there isn't really a date for this topic, as I'm pretty sure the hemp russet mites are still a problem across North America.
     
  13. #13 rippedeyed, Jun 15, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 15, 2014
    we have russets right now in northern Cali and are surviving because of these little guys right here. Galendromus occidentalis are the predators that eat the two spotted spider mite and they eat the russet mites. We have found they go for the adult russets and we use mighty wash that works on the younger ones. It's a nightmare :(
     

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  14. you have never seen these things have you? Predator is the way to go. Obviously.
     
  15. Awesome!  I urge you to try fallacis though!  Occidentalis might be better in a few outdoor orchards, but overall fallacis has proven to be a better predator in other crops.  There's a good chance one application of fallacis will be all you need for the life of the crop, that you won't see russet mites anymore.  Give it a try! 
    Here's a distributor in Cali: www.rinconvitova.com/
     
  16. #16 rippedeyed, Jun 21, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 21, 2014
    Thanks!! These are volunteers ;) they are native to Northern Cali.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
  17. Did you have any luck using the predator mites?
     
  18. Yes, please help! Predator mites work?
     
  19. BUM-BUUUMMMM!!!! ( angels playin background trumpets an shit!) !!FELLOW GROWER FOLK ACHTUNG!! Im super fuckin honored to be able to possibly be one of the first to be able to actually help my fellow neighbor/grower and get the fix for this on the wire.......SULFUR. Get it at some grow shops and most health food stores. Powder ideally and they make a fogging device for delivery but if u a budget baller like most (an sorry but F u if u arent..its called hatin chump!) than it can be simply put in a backpack sprayer/etc. and then foliar force-fukked ala marcelous wallace right in theyre stinky little zed-sheds!!......its mitracide of pandemic proportions. I sometimes dance naked and howl at the moon as i deliver it in jim jones like ceremony. No seriously though guys dont let some h8r or phillip j morris's anti blog squad dissuade u from taking my advice, get it asap and apply in the same fashion u might apply the dawn dish soap method. And guys if i helped u pls let me know, sounds corny but i truly love to be a help to you guys out there, we are the pioneers of our prohibition-esque era and i hope i get to one day re-tell this part of our story and take some satisfaction from it. Nuf said.




    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  20.  
    But what about the guys using oil based sprays?  The instructions on the fungicides say to wait 4 weeks before using the damn sulfur. 
     

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