Can you pick up some Ahimsa cold pressed organic neem oil or neem cake from neemresource.com or buildasoil.com? You will also need an emulsifier to break the oil down in the water solution Neem cake will need to be soaked for 48 hours at the rate of a quarter cup per gallon, strained and sprayed. I'd add a dab of emulsifier liquid silica or a good soap such as Dr. Bronners. You can also work a little neem cake into the surface of your soil or mix it with a little worm castings to use as a top dress. Neem oil shoud be used at around a teaspoon to 1.5 per gallon of solution. Put the oil in a small cup with just a little warm water and the emulsifier and stir it well until it becomes a milky color and the neem oil disappears. Make sure you hit the underside of each and every leaf as well as the top surface. The underside is especially important as this is where spider mites spend most of their time and most importantly - where they lay their eggs. YOU MUST HREAK THE EGG CYCLE. Repeat this spray every 3 days for 4-5 applications and then every 2 weeks whether you need it or not up until the 1st week, maybe 2nd week of flower max. Oh - it was very hard for me to tell for sure on the mites on my phone but it looks like it - make sure you verify by looking at the undersides of the leaves well for both eggs and mites. Jth J
I'm willing to bet it's Western Flower Thrips. Bunny piss. Cover your soil with a towel or some cardboard and hit your plants with some Spinosad. Three applications three days apart. Top and bottom of leaf. You should be able to see these bastards by the naked eye. The ones around here are a little more tan/brown color than this pic. 90% of the time they will be on the underside of the leaf. Google western flower thrips pic...and try to make an I.D. I'm already 97% sure just by seeing the damage. Edit: Whenever I try to google pics and paste them it doesn't work.
I have to agree with RanchoDeluxe on his prognosis. I have had thrips before. Spinosad took care of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosad Spider mite damage look like tiny dots or pin-pricks. They suck on one cell at a time. Thrips, however, leave short trails or blotches like the ones in your picture. I hope this helped, -PG
Thanks 4 all yr replies. Not seeing any critters, webs or anything underside of leaves except where damage is heavy on a few older leaf top surfaces and has gone through. Instead of spinosad or until I can get it (I have to get it mail order here) can I use any of the following which I have on hand: garlic, cinnamon, alcohol (everclear), spreader-sticker, dish soap, thuricide? I also have granulated neem (one of my soil ammendments) and wondering if that would be helpful for thrips if I soak, filter and spray.
Rancho got it! Looks like Thrips to me. I haven't tried any of the other remedies other than Spinosad. -PG
Neem oil/tea, spinosad and essential oils are viable options for most any active issue...potassium silicate and aloe vera work towards prevention by bolstering the plants natural defense mechanisms. I honestly haven't had any issue in a long time since getting on a regular IPM routine, relying on cold pressed neem oil for 90% of the work. Some of the best advice here, apart from making your own worm bin, is to get familiar with the neem tree and its extracts. Almost magical for how much it can do to help create and sustain a healthy ecosystem, when used in the soil (meal) and on the plants (oil or "tea").
Neem and the rest of em will slow them down. Spinosad is the only thing that gets rid of them for good. I just got rid of them a couple months ago w/ two applications. I end up getting the product from Monterrey. Really most shitty hydro stores will have this stuff around.
Don't use the everclear. I always have neem oil on hand. But the most interesting thing to me in your situation is the neem meal. I would add 1tbs to 1 gal of water and wait 24-48hrs. Strain. Spray an insignificant branch or two at the beginning of the light cycle...we're testing for a 'burn' or other signs the plant is not enjoying this foliar. If all is well after a day or two...spray down all the girls. Make a fresh batch everytime. I have no idea how well this will work. It's just something to try while you wait on the Spinosad. Maybe others have done something similar...like I said I always have neem oil to work with...wouldn't even try to start a grow without it. Garlic is the other one...I 'think' thrips get offended by sulfur. Gil Caradang has a garlic/ginger/ organic apple cider vinegar foliar that works wonders on PM and may help. From my experience they just laugh at the Mint family foliars I have used.
That's why I use the concentrated oils over fresh steeped material for anything other than maintenance. The fresh material, unless you crank up the ratios, only seems to work well as a preventative measure rather than an eradicant. Spinosad is my "nuclear" option though, for serious infestations and (if) anything needs some help late into flower.
1st application of spinosad yesterday. I dont believe my infestation was much advanced since with a few exceptions the damage only on bottom leaves of most plants. Never saw any actual critters. How do I know if I need to spray again and if so how soon?
You DO need to spray again. It's important to break the reproductive cycle. Eggs won't be effected by treatment, so reapplication is important to get any larvae/adults that may have hatched from egg. Reapply every 3-4 days, 3-4 times to be safe.