well a little while ago I thought I might have spider mites here is the best shot of the bugs http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/858/img8571w.jpg can anyone confirm these are spider mites? They appear to be affecting the blueberry plant the worst, but also can be seen lightly on the banana OG. I have neem oil should I foliar spray my plants or will they need something more?
yeah the leaves are getting yellow spots, there are a shit load more of these bugs than I thought, I tapped some leaves onto a white paper and several rust colored specks appeared, some crawled away others not so much. here is a few more photos sorry for the huge size, these bugs are tiny. http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/5627/img8573.jpg http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/4726/img8570.jpg http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/1504/img8566.jpg http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/7899/img8559.jpg
i would put money on spider mites... check for tiny webs, etc. def sounds like them though, their mouths are formed in such a way as to allow them to suck the nutrients out of a single leaf cell, hence the tiny yellow spots that slowly spread. neem oil will work as a foliar, ive also heard of people using it in the soil. you wil need to re-apply often for a while in order to disrupt their life cycle. after this grow move everything out and sterilize the room, then as you move stuff back in sterilize it also. Use a strong bleach mix and make damn sure the next batch of soil you use is free of all parasites. (you can take a couple handfuls and spread them around in a cooking sheet keep poking around in there until you are absolutely certain.)
thanks for the advice and quick replies! I will continue using neem oil for the aphids, I have 70% neem oil extract, how much should I use per gallon when using foliar spray? I will try to get some No pest Strips soon as well just incase. @blwd67 I could not find any webbing of any kind
Or you can get some Lady Bugs they eats aphids like crazy, just put them on at night if outside or they`l fly away. Thats what I use on the rose bushs outside, they eat bugs but not plants.
No Pest Strips will probably not work. Foiliar spray, or dip plants in a tub of solution for Aphids. Be sure and spray the entire plant and the underside of leaves. Gonna take several applications over time. Sterilize the the GR and watch what you bring into the GR on your clothes and shoes.
Those are juvenile spider mites. 100%. If the very clear photos weren't enough, the diagnosis can be made on the leaf damage alone. Those are not aphids. Get your self some Safer End All. If you do happen to have aphids too, it should kill them as well. But those are definitely spider mites. Look at the underside of the leaf and you will find tiny little clear balls. Those are the eggs.
The pic is still very blurry, but from what I can tell is this: Shes startin to get downward leaf curl (reverse taco), which means that whatever it is, is already sucking out alot of juice from the leaves. The "bite" marks are the little yellow spots. Im leaning towards Aphids or Gnats. Check the top inch or so of soil around the base of the plant for any larvae.
Man, I wish I could see the pic better. Just thought of something: Are there any mature bugs flying around anywhere in your grow space ??? If there are, then its def Aphids or Gnats. If not, it is probably SMs. Check for webbing. You must get on top of this before flower, at all costs.
Still learning here and looked up pics of juvenile spider mites and the link below is a good comparrison. Looks like your 100% right. The top right pics looks like the ones in his pic. Google Image Result for http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/parrella/graphics/tssp%20juven%20lg.jpg
Looks like spider mites to me as well. Both the bugs, and the damage on the leaves tell me this. Look under the leaves, there sould be spider mite eggs visible, and you will see the little buggers running around the bottom, they prefer to hang out on the more tender bottom side of the leaf, easier to feed on. Along with using the neem, if you give the plants a regular spraying ( make sure not to wet a lamp if your indoors) of water, it will make it harder for the spider mites to thrive. They love dry and hot. So try to give them the opposite as much as you can without harming your grow. Keeping a good amount of air moving through the plant will make it hard for them as well. Webs are usually a later stage problem when you have spider mites. They will populate the tips of the plants in an effort it make themselves available for something to walk by, pick them up on their fur, and drop them off to the new plant. This is usually because they have already pretty much wreaked havoc the one they are on.
if you are pretty far off from harvest, i would reccomend "doktor doom" spider mite killer. Neem won't actively kill the mites. Just prevent them from breeding. Pyrethrins will own.
Is Neem oil good at killing gnat eggs or preventing them from reproducing laying more eggs? I got gnats that come up out of the soil, not really bad but just dont want them at all. Saw this on Lowes website for Neem oil. Shop Green Light Pint Neem Concentrate at Lowes.com
hmm Lots of mixed opinions. Yesterday I left a humidifier on hoping to kill the spider mites, however I now have it off because I read aphids love high humidity. I'm continuing to SOAK the plants with neem several times a day with my spray bottle, due to the LST it's fairly difficult to get the under sides of the plant but I'm doing my best. I inspected the plants this morning and there were much fewer visible bugs on them, but the small white balls on the back of the leaves (leaning towards spider mites?) However just outside the GR there is a small patch of rose bushes which in the past have had aphids so I'm not ruling either out, and it may be both for all I know. I have still not seen any webbing so that's good thank you all for the help, I am still vegging and in no real hurry to start flowering so I'm hoping this will be all under control soon. Oh also I help a paper under the leaves and knocked them around a bit, lots of small bits of shit came off, but no bugs were running around (yesterday I did the same and at least 10 small bugs were crawling all over the paper) Sorry for the pictures the bugs are just too small even for my macro lens, if there are any good indicators that would rule out one bug over another let me know I'll try to get some shots of key areas +rep to everyone for all the help edit: oh as for gnats I have seen a few small black flying bugs in the grow room. Probably less than 5 the whole grow though, I think the room itself is pretty clean, although i have noticed a lot of local\common spiders (20+ in 3 weeks), so they must be eating something =\
Neem helps disrupt the life cycle, If you wanna kill em dead, Do what the guy a few posts up said and get some doctor doom, or if you can spend some money get azamax ...