so my partner just went to friends house to check out his garden (we weren't alerted to a potential pest problem). Apparently, there is a big issue and looks like it's mites. I haven't scoped a leaf yet but the symptoms point to a decent infestation. Not suspecting broad or russets. 2-spotted is my suspicion based on yellowing and typical mite spots. My issue is...... He's headed home and I am ultra paranoid about his clothes and shoes and infesting our garden. My dog is getting bathed and staying with my daughter for the night. (He also was near the garden). We don't have mites. (Leafhoppers, yes, but under control-ish) things are looking so good I'm not interested in taking on any new issues. Should I be this paranoid? I was considering putting a garbage bag and change of clothes outside the gate.'then immediately washing his clothes in hot water then put in dryer. Shoes maybe straight into the dryer. Thoughts? (We've asked this person not come Over, suggested treatment and asked him to take more care letting people Into his garden without warning them First.)
Totally over thinking this. Mites are an issue. But in my experience not a complete deal breaker like powdery mildew or budrot. Use a soft Insecticide soft. That'll help get rid of em. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
I sent him a spray schedule. I am on an IPM schedule but would prefer not to have them introduced to our garden. Have dealt with them successfully before but I've also not had them as bad. I think he can probably recover but still.... I'm just gonna make sure the clothes go from Garbage bag to washer. Additionally, I'm not suspecting broad/russets but I don't know yet. So REALLY don't want those around here.
If you've got leaf hoppers, then you are outside. I very much doubt that your plants haven't already seen a mite or two. Outdoor plants will build strength and immunity against all kinds of bugs, fungi and diseases. Quite amazing. I've got my only plant next to a raised bed that has other herbs in it. One plant (spicy oregano) is completely infested with spider mites. It's the only plant that has a problem with the little bastards. All other plants are fine. Melons, tomatoes, peppers, basil, mint, thyme, artichokes and cannabis all fine. The bugs will hit the weakest plant and just stay there as long as they're getting what they need. Reason number one why I don't mono-crop.
Insecticidal soap works great and non-toxic. I use 2 oz of Dr. Bronner's per gallon of ph'd water. I have bent my pump sprayer up so that I can soak the underside on the leaves. It does kill them pretty quickly like a 30 minutes or so. Only spray late in the day after the sun is going down or after your indoor grown light are out. Another thing, when popping your yellow leaves or infested leaves up them in a bag and roll it up and dispose of them. this helps fight them as well.
Well... Come to find out our friends issues are the least of mine. I found Russets in my garden today. I'm literally crushed. Large garden. I have been alternating sprays for the leafhoppers between Nuke em, spinosad with BT, and 4 days ago used Azamax (I know I know.) I was just doing a routine check. Had a runt in the garden. Just thought she was small but something kept telling me to search deeper and lo and behold! Russets. I'm due to spray in the morning. I have grandevo on hand but nothing other than dr.bronners for a surfactant. Not sure what to do. So much foilage all around. I'm seriously feeling crushed and defeated. Everything has been going SOOOOO well. Crushed. Thoughts? Good news? My rough plan was alternating grandevo, PFR-97, botanigard. Along with predator bugs and perhaps switching my AACT to foliar. I'm running out of time. Flowers are forming.
Wipe them out with insecticidal soap. Once you nail them a couple of times you will have them under control. The spray won't kill the eggs so you need to few treatments. I use 2 oz of Dr. Bronners soap in 1 gallon of ph' d water. Soak underleaves of your plant. Rinse next morning, but I haven't had to.
You've been successful against them?? Early this morning, I had on hand, which was next in rotation, Nuke em---and I added Peppermint and lavender Bronners with some drops of rosemary and peppermint essential oils ... And of course, I sprayed as much as I could and ran out! I sprayed Inbetween rows and the beds (large garden). I'm so frustrated. Thinking I'm gonna get some botanigard Maxx or pyganic to knock em out. 1 time use.. They are just now showing hairs. Then Rotate in grandevo, pfr-97 and another fungicide. Perhaps also put the bronners mixture in the rotation. It's just my worst nightmare. Trying not to panic. Oh! Also gonna get some predator mites when done with anything that may kill them. Ughhhhh
The soap spray will kill them on contact. Just have to mix it strong enough to kill da bugs and hopefully not so strong to burn your plants. Hence the rinse... gotta wait until late in the day, like pre-dusk. I had more and thrips come on strong but now hardly none.
I sprayed with pyganic while they are still just in ore flower. I also added a little lavender and peppermint Dr. Bronners And 15 drops each of peppermint, rosemary and tea tree essential oils. I also put BT in the mix. I dowsed the ladies. They are decent size so I'm sure it's impossible to get every single book and cranny. The plants look good today. As far as the leaves, I see some live mites on the worst plant along with some dead ones. Plenty eggs that Give me an idea of what I'm up against. And I had to scour the other leaves from Various plants to find 1 live mite. So I'd say I feel pretty good about getting the 80% I was looking to this first real round of spray. I brought the leaves in, in a bad. Wore gloves and after inspecting each leaf I sprayed it with my essential oil mixture. Killed the living mites immediately. I have the bags of leaves so collected when I first found these things. So I've been watching them to see when the eggs hatch and various stages. May as well learn as much as I can. The pyganic breaks down in 48 hours so tomorrow I'm gonna spray Dr. Zymes. Then every 2-3 days I will rotate between Green Cleaner, Grandevo, Zymes, BT. Gonna do intermediate actinovate or regalia to strengthen plant immune system and prevent PM. Will be adding beneficial insects in 3 days after spraying Dr. Zymes. A local store has PFR-97 and mycotrol if I need it. On a positive note the pistols on majority of pre flowers and the buds on 4 early flowering plants have no mites or eggs on them. The stems show no infestation either so I'm hoping I found them 'just in time' to still pull off a healthy harvest. Gonna focus on keeping soil healthy. Get weeds around beds under control. (I left them so gophers would focus on them rather than our ladies. Lol) And to end it on not the best news, I did find a different mite. Not sure what it is and there was just one. It sorta resembles a broad mite but I do not see ANY broad mite eggs. Here are some magnified Videos/pics.
Can't seem to load the videos. I'll try to shorten them. The images above are at 40x. The first one is a couple eggs. The 2nd is the first russet I found and the third is the Unidentified bug I found (in the upper right hand corner). It's a very active bugger.