Need help. Possible soil mites.

Discussion in 'Sick Plants and Problems' started by Blizoblunt, Dec 20, 2011.

  1. Im growing indoors, scrog, soil, T5HO.

    So about 2 days ago I did a flush on my girls before I put them in my scrog crib. I noticed some spots on the leaves and thought I would flush first and then if needed, use some epsom salt and ground up eggshells. The test soil kit shows I was low on cal.mag. I did this cuz I cant flush once they are the screen.

    So today, I was tending to the scrog and I noticed a lot of bugs jumping around the soil. On closer inspection, they were on the rim of the pot and not on the plant/leaves.

    I looked around online and thought they were Root Aphids, but then I came across a few posts about "dancing mites". They didnt have any pics so I couldnt compare to mine but they sound a lot like my issue.

    I do have yellow aphid traps and only see small mini flies. I didnt take a picture of that.

    So question is, do these look like soil mites? Should I try and kill them? Neem had NO effect on them. 3 plants (the runts as I call them) dont drink up the water as fast and take an extra day or so to drink up the excess water, the water gets a little stagnant. I water every 6 days. But the soil looks extra wet due to the flush and I may go a while longer. I only noticed this problem today, I spend hours with them each day, so im sure they sprouted yesterday night or today.

    I also took a pic of the water in the dish, I assume these are the larvae for all those little flies I see on the traps.

    Anybody deal with jumping mites in the soil? Other than that issue, my girls look green and healthy.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Neem doesn't work immediately. I'll try and find my post about em.
     
  3. so here are a couple things about neem oil... i use it and swear by it so ill give you my personal experiences with it...

    first i've used neem oil under HO satellite IV floros on a 24/0 crop with NO problems.. i didnt have any burn from the water or the oil magnifying light... no ill side affects at all.. so if you are using floros i would venture to say you'll be fine spraying during a 24/0 light schedule... just move the lights when you spray so you dont spray the lights themselves... make sure you get under the leaves and the "inside" of the plant just as well as the topside of the leafs and "outside" of the plant... like was said those little bastards live under the leaves so take time to spray well...

    secondly neem oil can be root fed to your plants as well.. during the entire time i have an infestation i feed neem to my plants... ill explain what neem oil does and why root feeding is good in the next paragraph.. but i feed each plant about 6 ml per gallon of water every other feed.. you can just incorporate the neem into your regular feeding schedule... only do this if its soil though... i wouldnt recommend it for hydro...

    here is how neem oil works.. neem oil is NOT a spot killer.. you wont spray your plants today and be gone of mite tomorrow... expect about a 2 week battle... neem oil works a couple ways.. first if you can spray the eggs well it covers them and suffocates them... no more eggs.. when the adults eat the neem oil it messes with their hormones... it makes it so they cant reproduce and lay eggs.. immature pests that eat the neem oil dont reach adult hood and are never able to reproduce... thats why spraying the plant well is so important.. you want to make sure the mites have no choice BUT to eat the neem oil... root feeding work very similar in that the pests hormones get fucked up when they suck the juices from your plant, but it also deters them from sucking on your plant because the neem oil tastes horrible... it also contains some trace minerals so its actually good to feed your plants,, i personally will root feed my plants every other time during and infestation, and spray them every 2-3 days.. the spray i use is 3ml neem oil per 1L of water with a few drops of biodegradable liquid dish soap... usually following this over a 2 week period.. then just go down to spraying once a week as a precaution... ill do this up to the 4th weeks of flowering.. havent ran into mold problems yet, or had neem flavored buds, or any other side affects due to the neem oil... its always worked for me.. like i said.. it just takes about a week before you see progress, 2 weeks before the infestation is gone... but its a natural way to get rid of them... if you want an immediate solution get some NO PEST STRIPS from walmart, lowes, home depot, ect.. they will work in a few hours and kill both mites and eggs... but it is a chemical strip (not a spray)... personally i dont want to think that what im inhaling was treated with a chemical... NO PEST strips work tho.. just make sure you arent in the area because they arent anything you want to breath in... also AVID and FLORAMITE are instant working sprays, but again they are chemical... chemical = instant, but it is a chemical you are using on your plant... natural = longer time fighting the pests, but its not chemical.. just depends on you...

    also.. a couple smaller ways of helping slow down their life cycle and battle them is; 1) keep humidity up... they hate humidity... spraying with cold water will help by raising the humidity, spraying them off the leaf surface, and they dont like cold.. which brings me to number two.. 2) drop the temps to between 65 and 70 if you can... it can take 10 days for mites to reach maturity in cooler humid temps, but as little at 2 days in warmer less humid places... each female can lay 100 eggs a day... they are 75% females anyways... in the right climate they can very very very quickly run your garden over... so until you decide how you are gonna deal with them and they are dealt with making the enviroment as unhospitible to them as you can will help slow their growth... 3) also you can use a tobacco, tobasco, garlic, cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, ect spray.. they arent pesticides, but will help deter them from your plants...

    http://www.rollitup.org/bugs/184083-neem-oil-application-spider-mites.html
     
  4. Wow. Thanks for the detailed info. I have battled spider mites before, they where always on the leaves. Neem worked great on those. I know what those look like magnified.

    These new pests walk all over the neem soaked soil and planter rim as if I never sprayed. Previously, spider mites would die as soon as the neem touched them.

    Like I mentioned before, they are only in the soil and NOT on the plant/leaves. They jump around as if they dancing.

    Before I begin my battle, I need to know exactly what they are. Are they Root aphids or Soil Mites? I read root aphids will destroy crops while Soil mites are beneficial.

    So, I ask my question again. Are they soil mites or root aphids? I know they are NOT spider mites.

    Either way, Im going to go get some sand and put a 2 inch layer on top of the soil.
     
  5. they are most likley root aphids or springtails. ima lean more toward springtails, because of the volume in your runoff.

    careful with adding all that neem in your soil. oil = bad for roots. you can buy neem cake, which is the ground up remnants of the neem seeds after they go through the oil process. it is organic, gives a small NPK boost, and requires no spraying ever after you add to your soil.

    3mL per gal of 29% h202 will work (grow store brand)
    29mL per gal of 3% of h202 (grocery store brand)

    ^you can use that in your soil, but just once every 3 weeks at least. H202 (hydrogen peroxide) is strong stuff and can burn your roots if used excessivley. but it will kill the bugs!

    -OSUB
     
  6. Thanks OSUBuckeyes. I checked and found various pictures/vids of springtales. I do have a very small amount on the soil. Some other pics i took and didnt post also showed them on the planter rim. So I know I got springtales. I also read soil mites will prey on springtales.

    I double checked on root aphids and I dont think I have those. The more I look into soil mites, the more Im convinced thats what I have. Many many posts about dancing/jumping soil mites. Nothing about dancing/jumping root aphids, only flying ones. I even dug into the soil with my fingers carefully, I didnt see any white bugs/critters below the soil near the roots. I knew what to look for after seeing some youtube videos about root aphids.

    So it looks like its on the surface of the soil. They are NOT under leaves or on stems or deep in the soil. I have also read about others who flush and get the same problem.

    According to my schedule, i should water tomorrow, but the soil still looks too wet, so I will prepare a foliage feed.

    I also read that soil mites eat other bugs, so they are beneficial I guess. Im still going to go get sand and cover the top soil.

    LOL, can you guys believe I dremnt all night about the lil fukers?

    Thanks for the input. If I find anything else out, i will post here. I hate posts where the OP doesnt come back to say what happened.
     
  7. Oh, I guess the neem helped a bit. This morning there wasnt nearly as many as last night.
     
  8. nice. i wouldnt worry about it at all than bro. dont apply neem anymore. just let nature do its thing :smoke:

    -OSUB
     
  9. Thanks, After the first failed neem attempt, I stopped spaying to kill the lil buggers. It was obvious it didnt do anything to them. Thats when I grabbed the camera and took pictures and came here.

    I did however decide to give my girls a neem misting since I had the solution already made. Its been a while since I did a preventative spaying so I figured might as well do it.

    Thanks again!
     

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