Spider mites HELP ( ;

Ok. It wasn’t overnight. But they did get them down to next to nothing left within a day and they completely wiped them out before they were through.

And that is not bs.

 

#3 The worst thing about no till beds is the difficulty of dealing with pest issues, especially spider mites.

 

Why, do they hide in the mulch?

 

I won't answer for RD as I've never had to deal with spider mites and he is much more knowledgeable on the subject of no-till beds. But, Replacing one pot is much easier then treating an issue in an entire bed. Especially in a tent.

 

I have applied lady bugs many times with spider mites. They don't work. Maybe if you stick a bunch of lady bugs in a petridish with some mites they might eat them, but I wouldn't count on it. I was working with a grower today and I mentioned this post and how someone said you could take care of spider mites with lady bugs. He bust out laughing. I think WeedOrchard said he was gonna try lady bugs. Lets see how they work for him.

 

I've had good luck with lost coast plant therapy both indoors and out for red spider mites.

 

If you've got it already yeah it seems kinda obligatory you at least try it out, right?! But as others have said, a bed is a HUGE time and space investment in comparison to pots. If anything is off or goes wrong with the soil you're stuck - it's a bit different saying "oh well I'll try a new mix in my 10 gallon pot next time" versus having to change out ~120 gallons for a 4x4x1 bed.

 

This reminds me of a young teacher I know. She always tells her students.

"Make good choices."

I know I should have heeded that advice several times as a new indoor grower.

I'd agree, beds for a no-till grow will provide a better overall environment for our soil biology and our plants.

But, I believe they should be left for the grower that has every element of a indoor grow dialed in.
My personal choice will always be pots as I'm a seasonal indoor grower when using my tents. And my environment will always be dialed into my needs, not the plants as my medical condition dictates that.

 

Der der spin-o-sad derderder der der spiiiinoosaaad .
Always have a hea y metal tune in my head when im organicly evil spraying.

Spinosad wipes em fast. Also leaves soil mites alone.

Then 2days later go neem oil . With mint rosemery lavendar .
Over soil with plastic n then towel and spray the shit outa em.

Reapply 4days later and be gone

 

Kinda in the same mind. Dump and sanitize the infestation and grow another batch using preventions. I have not had the issue but after everthing i have read and heard i would not want the frustration of trying to save the plants and fighting them on their turf. Open area..aww you poor mites. Nuke it then restart..

 

Sorry dude. Didn’t want to make you sweat it. It’s not the end of the world. Even though it’s a bed it’s still a small grow. Having spider mites around will give you something to do. That was how I looked at it when I had a 4x4 bed and mites. I never even tried to fully eradicate them.

It’s difficult to keep them from moving from harvested plants to veg to flower. The more separation the better. They will hide in the mulch and most of us accidentally help them do this at exactly the wrong time. At harvest time we might turn lights off for a few days and allow the room to be much cooler, combined with lack of light, the mites want to hibernate.

If you can keep separation from drying plants, veg and flower it might be best to pop these in small containers. Then clean the shit out of everything.

If the separation is impossible, perhaps you still use small containers this cycle but forgo planting anything until the plants are completely harvested and jarred and the tent and entire room/house is meticulously cleaned. Then pop some autos so you don’t lose much time.

Or rock the bed and the mites. If you decide you had enough replace the entire bed. Either have the separation I mentioned (probably difficult) or pause any new plants.

During flower Lavender and or sandalwood oil is all I ever use. 1/4-1tsp per gallon whipped in a blender, if the sprayer sputters because it’s almost empty…stop!

@Patanjali is 110% correct about ladybugs and it is laughable. I had enough die on top of a bulb that it caught on fire! Luckily I was in the room at the time.
RD

 

I'm not trying to add any confusion here. But, the ladybug "Stethorus punctum" often referred to as the "spider mite destroyer" is used in commercial Pennsylvania apple orchards. They are used to control the two spotted mite.

I found this article helpful.
Spider Mite Predators Serve As Biological Control

 

I have a big population of ladybugs in my outdoor grow from shipping them in a few times over the years. So far my outdoor grow has been impervious to spider mites, even though I have been battling them for months in my buildings. That, combined with testimony and articles like that one lead me to think that they're worth a shot in the buildings. 20 bucks for 1500 bugs anyway, not so bad really. They're ordered now, will report. Got 1500 for each room.

 

I would heed the advice of one of my many mentors above. If RD states they do not work I'd stick with his advice. I believe the common ladybug "Hippodamia convergens" are the ones being sold for the control of aphids. They are not the same as the all black ladybug "Stethorus punctum" or the spider mite destroyer.

Taken from the other article I posted: Not all ladybugs are red with black spots. In fact, their colors range from red to yellow to black with a variety of patterns—not surprising given almost 6000 Coccinellidae species worldwide and almost 500 species in North America.
HTH.

 

Well they're in the mail. Will report

 

Released 9,000 ladybugs yesterday. 1500 in each room. I can see they're eating mites and crawling around. We will see how it works out over the next few weeks.

 

Thanks for the update @WeedOrchard. It will be interesting to know how they work for you.

 

They are useful as a marketing tool. After each harvest I would leave a pile of leaves in every bed for a couple days. I would do this to ‘trap’ as many mites as possible. The ladybugs were never interested. They would always head for the stem piles or the freshly cut stalk.
RD

 

3 days in, they're on patrol.
So far so good. Haven't sprayed in 3 days and the mite population is still very small. No webs appearing so far.