Hey guys, i have spider mites I've been battling in my room for wayy too long. I've tried einstein oil, regular neem oil, and now i'm trying spinosad. From what i understand spinosad is a natural, organic pesticide and also the exudate of a particular bacteria cell. It breaks down into O2, H20, Nitrogen, and carbon if i remember correctly. So, my question being, how effective is this as a pest control? The guy at the grow shop told me it was good to use as a preventative as well, which makes sense to me as it won't effect the plants in the same way a neem foliar spray may. Is it okay to use this in a spray on plants a week or two from harvest although not ideal since simply spraying water on late stage flowering plants is a no-no. Thoughts?
Check out this thread. It's in there. Along with a lot of other great tips and advice. Spider Mites Solo
Really depends how bad the infestation is and what your conditions are like .... Your getting close to the point when it may be better to chop it early especially if your growing a strain thats prone to bud rot Ive sprayed 3-4 weeks out with neem followed in 3 days with Spinosid with no problems ..... When I ran Hashberry which is prone to bud rot I had Thirps and I sprayed late in flower and ruined some of the biggest buds It would have been wiser to just chop it early .... If you do Spray with anything , crank up your fans and do what ever you can to drop your humidity
Rock on. Thanks guys, I am running a killer ventilation system but the temp outside went from 0* to 70* in like 3 days, so my natural dehumidifier of an intake shot up my humidity to 85% luckily I have a controller that texts me if anything gets out of whack and I added my dehumidifier Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I recommend spinosad. Use it per the directions (at their recommended dilution rates and spraying 3 times on 3 day intervals). When you spray you want complete coverage of top and bottom of the leaves, I like my plants to be weighted down and dripping when I'm leaving the room. I also turn off my ventilation until the lights come back on. I've had mites that completely destroyed my leaves and were webbing them up, but they all bit the dust with spinosad after the third application. You can dilute the spinosad with kelp tea for a little fertilizer. Kelp also helps with plants defense mechanisms, and has hormones that disrupt certain pests biological functions, so it fits nicely with a pest spray. For fungus gnats use Gnatrol, it's another Bacillis Thurengenisis like spinosad, though a different strain(israelensis), and it attacks the fungus gnat larvae. You'll have to use it like spinosad with 3 applications ~5 day apart, but I had a horrible gnat infestation that hit a brick wall once I started Gnatrol. These intervals are important because they're based off the life cycles of the pests. These products only target one of the 3-5 stages of life of these pests, so for example with the fungus gnat infestation you'll have 3 stages of life present: eggs, larvae/pupae (combined for simplicity), adult. Since the gnatrol only targets the larvae/pupae, after your first application you'll still have eggs and adults present. The adults will lay eggs and die, and the existing eggs will hatch so now you have 2 stages present. You make your 2nd application and kill these larvae. Then the eggs laid by the adults in the very beginning hatch and you make your 3rd application killing off the only remaining stage of life of the fungus gnats, putting an end to your infestation. The products have done their research on the pests life cycles and on that is what they base their directions. HTH
Awesome thanks for the info, I had already been doing the 3 day cycle with neem oil, which kept numbers down. I've been thinking about adding the spinosad to a regimen, switching the pesticides around every third day. Ex: spinosad. Neem oil, rosemary lemon juice peppermint essential oil mix. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Have you used lemon juice as a pesticide in the past? Was it effective, and if so, what rates did you use? TIA J
I'm going to bring up the use of Spinosad on flowering cannabis, though. If you need to spray during the plants flowering cycle, that's fine but just make sure that they are totally dry before lights-on. I've crisped up flowers in the past by still having Spinosad moisture in the flowers when the lights came on. Pistils shrivel and die, yet seem to be fine as long as they're dry before the lights come back on. A fan helps. J
I've been questioning when to cease using spinosad. 15-21 days before harvest? I haven't gotten to the bottom of it but last year at the Emerald Cup in CA several entries were disqualified because spinosad was detected by the lab. The negatives, from what I'm reading it has to do with the carrier residue and combustion. Will report back when I find something.
Not to enter this discussion other than to offer a couple of factoids.. 1. Follow-up on information about applying Spinosad as it relates to honey bees 2. The active material in this is a fermented bacteria culture. As more information has been gathered you can find legitimate information about half-life and related data.
Given that information; Spinosad has low toxicity to bees once the spray has dried and water toxicity to aquatic life can go from 30-259 days. So harvest at least 16 days after nightly sprays I should be good to go. If I'm near a water source, I should probably find a better solution for an IPM. Sorry, I poke at hornets nests quite frequently. Mind you, not intentionally. I was just raised to question. Spinosad General Fact Sheet http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=657
There is another alternative to pest control, and one that is commonly missed - and that is the use of rock dust as a pesticide. This article from Remineralize the Earth is well worth reading, IMO. Rock Dust and Pest Control J
Ive personally been doing spinosad, wait two days, then use cold pressed been oil, wait two days and then use a rosemary, lemon, essential oils with powdered cayenne mixed in water and that seems to have done the job
Hey FickySiskers! I am about 2-3 weeks from harvest and I have an outdoor grow. I have been using spinosad (4 applications so far) to control a mite, thrip, and caterpillar problem. I am wondering if the spinosad will show up in testing? And if so, what can I do to try and minimize the amount that shows up in testing? Should I shower my plants with a water bath right before harvest to try and rinse off the buds to get rid of any of the spinosad? Or ? I also have been using a 50/50 hydrogen peroxide solution spray at night to deal with mold and the mold that the caterpillar poop causes from what I've heard. Have you heard or know anything about spraying with Hydrogen Peroxide? Did you ever find out from your post above when you should cease using spinosad? It has really helped my plants and they seem so much healthier than before I sprayed. I have to have my buds tested so I am hoping that I have not messed up by using the spinosad. Let me know what you found out ? Thanks!
Here is the latest information on spinosad. It’s caused me to pivot on the IPM and develop another approach. I would stop now and let nature work it’s magic to dissipate the spinosad as much as it can. Thanks to @Patanjali and @skunker~ No-Till Gardening: Revisited Pesticides and Cannabis | Page 5 | Hydroponics On spraying h2o2, this is how I harvest these days. I use a Hudson fogger and spray the whole plant down in the early morning. Then take them at the base. I like to hang my plants whole to dry.