So I moved to a house with a horrible spider mite problem and I've been using jerry's foliar recipe of Neem Oil + Aloe Juice + Protekt liquid silica every 3-5 days up untill they started preflowering. I've also inoculated the soil with a neem meal tea twice and added some in to my compost when i repotted. so after a viscous 2 month war with these rat bastard mites we thought we had the blood suckers beat. No live mites, removed all egg infested leaves. Everything seemed good. Plants look amazing. Now 3 weeks in to flower the rabbid fucks are back. Theres only a few here and there now but i know if we don't do something they'll move a million relatives in and it'll be a fucking gypsy town in no time. so i bought some captain jacks bug killer after reading some more of jerrys posts and my question is do i just apply captain jacks by its self of mix it with aloe and protekt? it says on the bottle its only 2% spinosad or something. should i be looking for a pure spinosad solution or will this work? i believe the recipe is; 1tlb spinosad, 1 quarter teaspoon liquid silica, one quarter cup aloe juice to every 1 gallon of dechlorinated water. thanks.
I have the concentrated and it says mix 2 oz per gal. I believe that would be 2 tbls. I use 1/8 tsp silica in every gallon of water I use in the garden so I would add at least that much. I'm not sure if you can add too much but I'm sure 1/4 is fine. 1/4 cup aloe per gallon is what I remember, I just splash some in there or slurry some pulp and strain it. That is what I would use if already in flower. I do know you can use essential oils right up until harvest since they degrade in a few hours. Lavendar is great for mites, even just a tea out of the dried flowers if you can get it. I've found that neem oil is good for maintaining a mite free grow but once you get a break out it isn't as effective. I got lazy and went a few days longer than 7 a few times. Good luck. P.S. Anything Jerry says do before anything I say. lol
Thanks for the info. I was going to spray with capt jacks tonight and then try to find some pure spinosad tomorrow for the next spray. The neem works great on the live mites. My problem seems to be with eggs hatching, laying a couple eggs then rapidly dying. I got spinosad to target the eggs specifically since the neem isnt killing them all. I was thinking of grabbing some lavender & rosemary oil. I've also read peppermint is good. The plants are about 3 weeks past pistols. Is it too late to neem them again? I hate spraying flowers..
Karanja and neem in any form used together has been proven to been exponentially more effective than either one alone. Karanja is beast mode pest control. This is about termites, but it references a study that proved the above to be true with aphids and mites as their test subjects. http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/13114/1/JSIR%2070(12)%201037-1041.pdf This article references the same study. http://entomology.eajbs.eg.net/pdf%5Cvol1-num2/17.pdf I haven't looked for the actual study yet, but I bet it's just as boring as these two.
Our first grow ever was hellish with these insects-that-shall-not-be-named...then I stumbled onto http://forum.grasscity.com/sick-plants-problems/549364-rosemary-oil-spidermites.html?p=12461114 and saved my sanity during the 2nd grow. This is all I use and I follow this to the letter, except for using Dr. Bronner's soap. The plants do not seem to mind in the least. New clones can't take the daily regiment that older plants require, as we found out with a lovely little Blue Mystic.
lol rosemary essential oil (cineole) works well, along with fresh material steeped for 24 hours in water. do not boil or apply heat to these compounds they break down that way. I use it and other essential oils as part of my weekly IPM routine, and yes it can be applied up to harvest safely, provided mold does not become an issue from the moisture.
I wouldn't apply neem, karanja or silica (very very small amount if necessary for oil emulsion) past week 3-4 in flowering, as a general rule. I use spinosad and essential oils like rosemary and spike lavender to combat unwanted pests like spider mites, late in the maturation stage. For someone just starting out, stick with the spinosad until you get comfortable enough to play around with the oils, as they are fairly time sensitive, meaning you need to time your applications correctly or you'll run into problems using them. Use 2 Oz of spinosad concentrate per gallon of water, apply every 3 days to stop mites from continuing to reproduce. Aloe works well throughout the growing stages, I use it in every foliar solution I apply..
Hiya Gimik, great post. I use all the same oils as you, they do work. When I get slack in my IPM those mites are waiting. Spinosad is my takeback tool and is not used for the regular IPM routine. I have neem in the soil too. Twas Ever Thus!
"Karanja and neem in any form used together has been proven to been exponentially more effective than either one alone. Karanja is beast mode pest control." But he's flowering... J
No, 3 weeks is still fine - my bad. I thought he was in full bloom. Once small flowers form, however, I don't like to spray neem or karanja anymore. You won't be able to get rid of that neem taste. As much as I love neem I don't want to taste it in my flowers.
Spider mites are the easiest pest to control in marijuana and should never be a problem. The way is to work preventatively with natural predators. Eliminate all the sprays and all of that as they do more harm than good, to you and the plant, and the stress it puts on the plant only makes the plant more desirable to other pests, and the pest you're treating, especially if it has developed resistances to the chemicals. Here's what to do with a new crop: Use Stratiolaelaps scimitus in the soil during potting. These are generalist soil mites and feed on overwintering spider mites, fungus gnats, and other things. Intro Amblyseius fallacis (Neoseiulus fallacis) which is a generalist mite predator. These are awesome predators and will over winter when/if the spider mite do. They can survive after wiping out the spider mite by feeding on other mites and other pests. Fallacis is also highly resistant to a lot of sprays, if there is residue in your crop from previous sprays. If the room is totally hard on the plants (low humidity) the spider mite can take off quickly. If a spider mite is noticed when the other pests are in the crop, use Physeuillus persimilis. They never lose to a battle against two-spotted spider mite. They are faster and have a shorter life span, so it'll wipe them out every time unless you're using insecticides that the spider mite are resistant to. Trust me, pests aren't a problem in your crop if you use predators/parasites and you don't use pesticides. They will cost wayy less in the end too. The yield will be higher from the healthier plant. Do itttt
You only need to taste it once to never, ever spray in full bloom again. Going to look into AJ's suggestions a bit closer along with the ARBICO catalog. Wet
At what rate should the oils be used and do they need to be emulsified like neem oil does? I have a plant late into flowering and trying to keep it under control with the mites so we can get it harvested in about a week or so. I have spike lavender essential oil and I may still have rosemary essential oil, I also have rosemary, peppermint, spearmint, basil and a lavender plant (not sure how this one is doing). Thanks for the help.
. I would use the fresh material over the oils if you're very late into flowering, though tbh I've sprayed them with 3 mL per oil, per gallon all the way into the last week as an experiment and it didn't affect the end quality. I've also sprayed them the day before chop with it as a test and found disappointing results; taste + aroma was changed. I would say spraying anything that late into harvest is a big risk. I'd go with fresh, pureed herb material as a safety valve of sorts against the concentration in the distilled oils. Either or should work, it has for me in the past but it's still experimental that late into flowering imo. If you decide to use the oils then try around 2 mL per oil per gallon and give it at least a week before picking. They do need to be emulsified like neem though they're not as viscous so not as much silicate solution is needed to get it to mix. I like equal amounts of k sil to oils but I've used less with similar effects. I would start at half and see if it emulsifies completely, so 1 mL k sil per 2 mL of essential oil. I try to keep the k sil at a very low concentration if spraying late into flower as well, so if you can use less to emulsify I would do so.
No way. There are lots of insectaries and local distributors to ship them to you. Probably just google the name of the predator and the insectaries will come up. If you struggle with pests, do some reading on this site: www.appliedbio-nomics.com They have a page on marijuana recommendations too.