Anyone use ladybugs for mites???

I will tell you guys though, that habenro shit fucking works very nice and it even does something to plants in veg! My lady's doubled within 2 days of using it! Maybe a stress reducer or something !?

kermit2692 said:

second that.....cats are a waste of fir and air

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Every time I see one I just wanna kick it! As a child my grandpa used to feed the cats of the ghetto! They would be all on my porch in the morning meowing on my way to and from school. Fleas bites on my ankles and shit! I actually ran away from home and that was a big reason why! Lol! Fuck cats! I have a pug now. Her name is champagne and she loves a nice weed stalk after harvest. Got her high once, never again!

spencer, I feel your pain. I am also suffering from a massive spider mite attack. Out of control. It is partially my fault for not managing it aggressively enough, then once they started to multiply in flower I was powerless to do anything because I didn't want any sprays or wetness or anything on the flowers. Now there are webs everywhere and I have to do a manual crush job every day.

I have tried several products but none has completely wiped out the mites and they always come back. I think there are always just eggs around and you simply can't get em all. I am curious as to whether or not you've heard of these since you were keen on the ladybugs: (http://www.naturescontrol.com/spidermitedestroyers.html). They are called spider mite destroyers, and are supposed to be especially aggressive eaters of mites. According to my research, they are smaller relatives of ladybugs (actually beetles). I have scoured the boards, and have seen posts where people claim that predatory insects aren't effective, but Not one post could I find where anyone had actually used this particular species. One reason might be that they aren't cheap. But someone has to eventually be the guinea pig. What I would like to do is buy some and start a breeding colony so I could have an infinite supply. Whoever is selling them breeds em, so why can't we? If they have the same nutritional requirements as ladybugs, then there are nutrient solutions you can buy to start a colony. I wish there were more info out there on insect breeding, but I guess not that many people are into it.

thats probably because breeding insects is not always easy...ive bred fruit flies before...when it works it works good but you have lulls in production and sometimes you fail all together...

Perhaps not easy but very few even attempt it. It'd be so worth it if you could dial it in though. As well as interesting...well to me anyway. I don't know anything about fruit fly breeding, but maybe they are finicky. What were you using fruit flies for? They sell ladybug breeding kits. I'm not sure what the food is but you can always use aphids. Maybe the mite destroyers would eat aphids as well.

lol i knew that question would come up....the fruit flies were for feeding dart frogs...and unfortunately they are on the easy side of bug breeding

I wish there were mite eating frogs

actually....dart frogs would eat mites, however they wouldnt be able to eat enough and they wouldnt stick around either lol

thats why i had to breed the flies they wont eat anything bigger!

kermit2692 said:

saw this method attempted on weed wars (tv) ....didnt work..for him at least

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I saw that episode..... I put one outside in the cold to kill the mites...... killed the plant but not the mites.

If u choose to use ladybugs then u can't really use sprays (indoors - you need a mesh covering the light to stop them flying into it.)

If u decide to spray (I love Neem oil) then u need to do the treatment twice in a week to catch the hatching eggs too. Spray the rims of pots and also the soil.

I think I'm done with the lady bugs. Hydro stores in my area are closed on Sunday's so I will go buy the mighty wash and a fogger tomorrow and see how it goes, hopefully the hydro store carrys the fogger

try and collect the lady bugs and let em outside...i dont think its nice to kill what was trying to help u lol

spencer2121 said:

I think I'm done with the lady bugs. Hydro stores in my area are closed on Sunday's so I will go buy the mighty wash and a fogger tomorrow and see how it goes, hopefully the hydro store carrys the fogger

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Mighty Wash works well...whatever it's real mechanism is

Does anyone know if mites can acquire immunity to neem?

Redoctober said:

Mighty Wash works well...whatever it's real mechanism is

Does anyone know if mites can acquire immunity to neem?

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The principle behind neem is it incases & suffocates the bastards. It's organic but not recommended for buds. Nothing to build up immunity to.

lady bugs seem to work at first. A few months back I was on my game to control mites,I sprayed azamax once a week and switched it up from time to time with safer soap and avid.. then I ordered lady bugs and I think I was mite free for a cpl months...then all of a sudden its like the lady bugs couldn't keep up. If you spray the lady bugs with just a little water mixed with soda it help keep them from flying. Dont leave any runoff in your trays or water in the room or they will go in and drown. Also dont leave any sticky traps on your top soil or they will for surely get stuck. All in all,if you run a few treatments of mighty wash and stay on top of it for the next cpl weeks,you could get some lady bugs and turn them loose for a few weeks to eat some of those bastards. Good luck

TriPurple said:

The principle behind neem is it incases & suffocates the bastards. It's organic but not recommended for buds. Nothing to build up immunity to.

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Ah, good to know. Kind of similar to the insecticidal soaps. I like stuff that works in ways mites can't become immune to. I had done a little research after I posted the question and read that there are also some compounds in neem which disrupt the bugs desire to feed and mate, you know, like watching a Rosanne Barr video. But I did also read that it suffocates mites and the eggs, preventing them from hatching which is especially awesome! Apparently it's good to add a surfactant like insecticidal soap or dish soap when mixing the neem solution because it helps break the surface tension and allows the neem to mix with the water much better as well as enter the bugs mouth easier.

Alright! This $80 2.5gal jug of Water better do the fucking trick guys! Lol dont fail me now rollitup!

Lost my first three grows to those bastards that is when I went indoors and stopped trying outdoor stuff. Some day someone will come out with something that works they are just so hard to get rid of and can ruin your shit fast. Bastards.

They are little bastards! Microscopic fucks! Fucking harvested and hung my plants upside down.,found webs linked from one bud to the next, the next morning! Its insane how they reproduce so fast!
I really hope the mighty wash does the trick!