Hey everyone, I just wanted to share this... I have been battling spider mites in my outdoor grows for a couple years now and have tried about everything and nothing seems to really work. Ladybugs all flew off and ignored the mites. Natural bug / mite sprays from the garden center, nothing. Several soap / oil homemade sprays did next to nothing and burnt the plant. Bifen XTS mixed over strength did NOTHING. Some kind of Bayer insecticide with mites listed on the bottle did nothing. Diatomaceous earth, sprayed 4-5 times did nothing. So I was doing more and more searching and finally found someone who said mix 2 cups white flour to 1 gallon of water and spray on the plants... An hour later all the big ones where dead and it looks like they had molted prematurely and they where running around the leaves like mad! 2 hours later none where moving and it looks like they have been liquified! I did this after the sun had went down and it was still about 90 degrees out. So far, 3 days later no plant damage and we have had 100 degree days. It's dirt cheap, appears to be safe and effective. Plus no worries about spraying in flower since it will wash right off with cold water. I hope this helps someone and it really does work!
Just an update, No new ADULT spider mites since I sprayed the flour / water mix. I have seen a few small mites, most likely eggs that have recently hatched and none of them have been feeding, they all seem to be running around like crazy. The only down side to the flour spray is it's messy and does NOT readily wash off the plants. It has started coming off with time tho. I have just finished spraying with 2 heaping tablespoons of corn starch to 1 gallon of water to kill the juvenile bastards and it seems to be just as effective. It liquifies them. Like I said before it seems to coat them, dries and they are forced to molt prematurely and they die in short order. The corn starch seems to start flaking off the plants within a day or two. So I would say, 2 cups white flour to 1 gallon of water for early season spider mite control and 2 heaping tablespoons corn starch to 1 gallon water in later season. (less may be just as effective) I sprayed in full sun on 90+ degree days on Cannatonic, CBD Hash, Blueberry, Wonder Dawg, Franks Gift, Nev Haze, and Purple Laughing Grass with no harm to the plants. I'm really excited about this because I was about to give up on the mite war!
Thanks for the info!! I have a plant that will be ready to chop in the next 10 days or so, I took a clipping to look under the scope to check the trichs, and there are f***’n spider mites on the cutting I checked! I’m gonna give this a try first thing in the morning! I took a pic of the critter through the scope, I posted it in the absolute beginner forum. Nasty lookin thing. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Well, I put the flour in a container with warm water, shook it vigorously, and transferred the contents into a spray bottle. It immediately stopped up the sprayer. So, I attempted to strain the mixture through a coffee filter, there was no solids or pasty material, it seemed like the flour had dissolved? But it wouldn’t strain. So, I done a little more research and tried cayenne pepper and water mixed, with a drop of dish liquid, this combination strained slowly (as to not stop up another sprayer) I’m testing it now, I sprayed a couple of smaller plants that I started from bag seed, to see if it has a negative affect on the plants before I spray my larger, budding plants. The flour idea seems solid, but I stopped up two or three sprayers trying to spray it out of my containers. I’m sure I’m doing something wrong. That’s not unusual. I could f:ck up a steel anvil.
Me too. With nothing but my hands keep us updated please. I just bought green cleaner for mites and powdery mildew should be here by Tuesday. Supposedly can be used up till harvest. Definitely want to hear how the more natural method does though Sent from my SM-J727R4 using Tapatalk
Man, what a cool way to treat for pests! I just tonight found thrips on my grow. Man, am I pissed! 4 plants, 2 weeks into flower. Two Mount Hood Magic, a GG4 and a Dosidos. I just got done spraying the shit out of every last part of each plant with a solution of water and Hot Pepper Wax Insect Repellent. If it doesn't do the trick, I'm trying the corn starch method. Hot Pepper Wax Insect Repellent
I'm too high to go search for this picture of the spider mite but I really want to see it. Can you link it for me? I usually ask my family and friends to "remind me later", and then I do it myself, but I think that would be asking a little much of you lol! Thanks
For me its always 16 parts water, 1 part white vinegar (acetic acid), spray the entire plant down, under the leaves too, wait 10 minutes, spray the plant down again with just plain pHed water, or with a foliage feeding added, then air dry with fans, to rid a cannabis plant of 30+ different bugs and pests and their larvae and 85 different molds and mildews that can harm a cannabis plant, and it kills them all, on contact. And it will not hurt the plant, period. And here is the reason why it works so well on cannabis plants, cannabis plants naturally create a form of (acetic acid), better known as (IAA), they use it to 1) induce cell elongation and cell division, and to build and fortify cell walls, which results in helping a cannabis plant in many different ways all through its entire life cycle, and 2) they use it in defense to protect their self from molds / mildews, bugs / pests, and disease. But most of the modern day cannabis strains of today have been inbred to be enhanced, meaning... they have been crossed, back-crossed, forced to hermie, etc, etc, so much so that science has proven that many of the modern day cannabis strains have lost their natural ability to effectively use (IAA) to fortify their cell walls in order to defend their self from molds / mildews, bugs / pests, and diseases, like most of the old unmolested landrace cannabis strains can still naturally do...
Wouldn't flour in the water, clog the Stomatas of a growing plant? I use Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, unless thing get out of control..then straight Neem oil.
I have neem oil, but after reading that it created a very harsh taste to the buds, I’ve decided to not use it until next year, maybe during veg. The above poster about the vinegar seems like the way to go? Sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. Though the small bagseed plants I started in the garden, has responded very well to a little bit of cayenne pepper mixed in a spray bottle of water. Doesn’t seem to have affected the plant at all, and after taking a few fan leaves and looking under the scope, every single mite I’ve found is tits up “dead”.
Neem oil cut with insecticidal soap in a gallon of water sprayed on the plants and soil during veg till the first preflowers form was my cut off point. Used it from 5 nodes and up. Sent from my SM-J727R4 using Tapatalk
It finally quit raining two days ago and the devastation from EB was really bad. Went out this afternoon and saw little new EB after removing much of the diseased foliage and spraying with bleach spray and then Daconil. What I did find was about a half dozen plants with spider mites Best 5 Spider Repellents (*2019 UPDATED*): Review & Buyer's Guide on them. It sure didn't take them long to take advantage of a little dry weather. I hit them with the Permethrin, DE, and Dawn spray just before dark. I will check my other newer beds tomorrow and see if they will need treatment yet or if I can wait a while. I hate spider mites.