Hey guys. Still having a little mite problem. I've gave up on the flowering room. Nothing but spraying with water to keep em down, no more plants going in till I get rid of these bastards. So far I've used a combination of Safer Brand End All Insect Killer, and Ortho Ecosense Insecticidal soap, And last week I used a neem oil/water/dishsoap spray for the first time. But im out of the soaps. Anyone used neem oil and sprayed it on your veg plants? I came across a few DIY methods, I wanted to throw em out there and get some feedback on these techniques. "Another good mix which can be found in the How To Super Charge Your Garden book is to mix 20ml's of 99% ISO alcohol and 30ml's of 30% hydrogen peroxide and some watting agent into 1 liter of water. Then spray away. It kills most bugs." Anyone tried this? Does the alcohol brittle or damage leaves?? Flowering plants or veg only? "Tabacco Juice recipe Take 3 strong ciggeretes soak them over night in water Boil it for 2 to 3 miniutes, let it cool off and spray the plants 3 to 4 times a week. You can add safer soap if you like to the mixture. (make absolutly sure you use gloves/face protection while handling and spraying)" What about this? Also, Ive heard never use neem oil more than once a week, and some people say use it every 3 days....
dustin27 I use neem seed oil (in conjunction with it's sister plant, karanja oil) on all of my plants, i.e. MMJ, organic vegetable garden, fruit trees and when we had our commercial nursery it was used on the ornamental plants grown for sale. The deal with neem tree products is that there is a huge difference between Product A and Product B - huge and major differences that directly affect the effectiveness in fighting mites and powdery mildew. Because neem oil is not a miticide, per se, people use it one or twice and state that it doesn't work. Neem extracts disrupt the adult-egg-larva cycle that is necessary to stop their reproducing. Neem oil when used with liquid silica (potassium silicate) will provide a very effective defense against mites as well as powdery mildew. Buying 'ready to apply' neem products probably isn't the best way to go. Start with a viable neem oil product (like Dyna-Gro Neem Seed Oil) and get a liquid silica product (like Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt) and apply as per the directions every 3 days for all of your veg cycle. Continue that in flower for the first 10 days or so. Continue with adding liquid silica to your watering process - add the minimum amount of 1/4 tsp. per gallon with each and every watering. Plants move silica to the branches and leaves that are under attack and the silica provides an armor that it difficult to be penetrated. I guess that why FatBoy Mike up at Advanced Nutrients calls his watered-down potassium silicate 'Rhino Skin' - cute. HTH LD
Hey thanks for the reply. The stuff I got: Dyna Grow Pure Neem Oil. It says 100% Neem Oil. The Directions state " mix 1 1/2 tsp. per quart of water plus 1/3 tsp of Pro-Tekt or liquid dish soap per quart of water as an emulsifier. Shake well." What I've been doing is filling my 1/2 oz spray bottle, using 3/4 tsp. Neem Oil, and 1/8 tsp. of Liquid Dish soap, since I dont have the other stuff, and had to order this Neem oil online. The directions say "use once every 2-4 weeks". I've heard other people say not to use more than once a week to 10 days or it clogs stomata? And are you also saying adding it to my water to water plants with?
dustin27 1. You have a viable and solid neem seed oil product as it's cold-pressed vs. using a solvent process. 2. The label that you have is the older one. With several people giving input to Dyna-Gro (myself included) the new label recommends using '1 tsp. per quart' which is in the 'safe zone' to preclude burning a seedling or newly rooted cutting. 3. Apply every 3 days until you cannot find a single adult or remnant of an egg or larva. 4. Only add the liquid silica (Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt) to your watering mix other than using it with the neem oil as an emulsifier. If you wanted to apply the active agents found in neem seeds then you would want to source neem seed meal and make a tea from that. 5. While I disagree with what others have voiced about the stomata concern, if that is of concern to you then bypass the neem oil completely and use neem seed meal in conjunction with some type of kelp/seaweed product. Kelp/seaweed also contain agents which inhibit the hatching of leaf-eating insects including spider mites. Just to be clear - I do NOT recommend that you apply neem seed oil to your soil. Just the liquid silica and at the minimum suggested rate of 1/4 tsp. per gallon of water. I add neem seed meal and karanja seed meal to my potting soil mix as these products will provide systemic defense against powdery mildew which is systemic in nature meaning that if you take a cutting from a plant infected with PM and even if that PM is dormant - you can fully expect to be fighting PM from here to eternity in the mother-clone cycles that are common in growing cannabis. HTH LD
Thanks for the info. I dont have the liquid silica. Or ProTekt. I'll use the 1tsp/quart ratio, along with dish soap as an emulsifier, but im not sure what that means. Is it really needed for the spray bottle mixture? I know soap in water helps soak the soil, but is it also ment for the spray applications? I'll continue to spray every 3 days or so. I'm not worried about clogging stomata, if you say otherwise. I havent seen any damage from it since the first application last week. I did an app tonight, Ill give em another in a few days.
The term 'emulsifier' is a fancy way of saying that things get broken up and able to be mixed with other agents. Oil and water don't mix on their own. Soap is an 'emulsifier' in that it breaks up oils which is why one washes their dishes with a soap or wash their hands after working on their car, etc. Soap is a great emulsifier - no question about that. Here's the reason that you want to source and use liquid silica on growing plants from the University of Florida. It's titled 'Silicon: The Extranged Medium Element' HTH LD
AH!! That totally makes sense, man. Thank you. ...crap. there was something else I wanted to add but i totally forgot. ill remember and get back.
You are in for quite a fight mate.... dirty lil bastards they are.... thought Id share some general info with ya.... They drown very very easy....dunking a plant can kill them... they lay eggs that hatch in three days... They prefer dry air... high rh slows them down... They move plant to plant with the air current. They lay eggs under the leafs and allmost always prefer the larger fan leafs about half way down the plant.. A few tricks.... a mix of alcohol and water (50/50) can be sprayed on the plants and kills them on contact. Foliar sprying alone can kill the mites, allthough doesnt hurt the egg sacks.. The hot shot pest strips keep them at bay. Azamax works very well in addition to the 50/50 mix with water and alcohol.. As long as you stay on them you can get thru a harvest with azamax and alcohol... Its a tough battle man.. I highly recommend treating them be continues a week or two after you think they are gone... good luck my friend..
Thanks for the help and info man. How often should I use the alcohol foliar spray? I dont have any Azamax, and no way to get it without ordering and waiting for it to be shipped. In the mean time, I'll continue neem oil, alcohol spraying, and just general misting of my plants. The veggers havent got much damage yet, so I'm concentrating on keeping them mite free. I'll just be water spraying the flowering plants that have the damage, only a few weeks left of em, so Ill just let them finish.
if your spraying with water evryday you have to be putting a good dent in population... so thats a good thing the alco wont hurt the plant with that mix..it evaps very quickly... just add it every third day ....prob get ya to the end...
As far as my flowering plants go, oh well, the damage is done. But my only 2 surviving Sour Diesels had to have some damaged leave removed, and that was too disappointing. I need to keep these bastards gone by the time I get my Chemdog and some weird Trainwreck IBL seeds.
Once your girls are done flowering bomb ur area.... Dr doom or a bomb of that sort should give ya a fresh start.... No problme helpin ya buddy... If ya need sumthin look me up