Spider mite question.

So im now in week 3 of flower, started to defoliate some leave and saw maybe every 3rd or 4th leaf i pulled had on average 2 or 3 spider mites on them, no webbing, not too much damage at all really, ive been using neem oil since veg to keep their numbers low as i started this grow outside and brought the plant in..{didnt expect to get this far in the grow and didnt have my current setup} without using anymore neem oil, what would be my next step for IPM? I see a ratio of 1:4 citric acid and water used, has anyone had any luck keeping the numbers low with that?

I use 1 tsp of citric acid for canning to 16 Oz of water in a spray bottle.

Nope_49595933949 said:

I use 1 tsp of citric acid for canning to 16 Oz of water in a spray bottle.

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Does that kill on contact or is it more of a suffocating effect for the bugs?

I assume on contact but I honestly have no clue.

Nope_49595933949 said:

I assume on contact but I honestly have no clue.

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How often have you sprayed and im assuming it worked quite well for you?

firsttime69 said:

How often have you sprayed and im assuming it worked quite well for you?

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I spray at lights out every couple of days for a week. I had thirps, I no longer do. Mites haven't been a problem for me yet.

Thanks for the advice, got some citric acid on its way, gonna spray at lights out tomorrow!

firsttime69 said:

Thanks for the advice, got some citric acid on its way, gonna spray at lights out tomorrow!

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Depending on the dosage it's possible to burn the pistils using citric acid. It's probably your best bet now that you're in flower but just be aware the dosage is really important. Do a search for Citric acid for spider mites here and you'll get some ideas of the range of dosages people have used and the results they had. Best of luck, mites are a pain.

FirstCavApache64 said:

Depending on the dosage it's possible to burn the pistils using citric acid. It's probably your best bet now that you're in flower but just be aware the dosage is really important. Do a search for Citric acid for spider mites here and you'll get some ideas of the range of dosages people have used and the results they had. Best of luck, mites are a pain.

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I know! My fault for bringing an outside plant inside! Ive come this far im winning this fucking battle, im not too worried about the pistils changing much as thats not life or death im just hoping to keep the numbers super low so i get some quality bud! Thanks for the info!

You can do a variation of the citrus spray using ISO alcohol.
Spray bottle 50/50 mix or 2:1 water / alcohol.
Works pretty damn good at punching thru waxy exoskeleton and shriveling up the fuckers ( and eggs ) on contact .
Then mist the corpses off with fine water spray.

Alcohol evaporates quickly and doesn’t sit too long on leaf matter.

GL

Thanks Budz! Thats another good idea, thankfully i give the plant a thorough inspection almost daily, would have been fucking bad if i hadnt been on top of it so much!

firsttime69 said:

Does that kill on contact or is it more of a suffocating effect for the bugs?

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that will get rid of some of the mites, but you need to take a hands on approach, you need to use your fingers and rub the webs of,if you have so few mights your verry lucky.
after you use the soluion and rub off the webbing you find, get some preditor mite sachets, you make a small slit in the packets that hang amoungst the leaves of the plant, and that will controle your problem id think. the hole enlargent with a knife will allow the mites a hole out, some of the packs are pierced, but not enough to let them out, your other option, which is cheaper, is to buy the refill tubs, you can just fill small paper envalopes with it, hang them amoungst the branches and voila, end of mite problem.
rules.
never visit your grow room wearing out door clothes. allways have a shower and change clothes , and only then do you visit your grow room, outsid pests can devistat a crop very quickly if your not vigalent enough.
allways look at your plants for signs of early male or female preflowers. this will stop you from getting seedy buds
cleanlyness is next to godlyness when it comes to growing peace n big live go go

They got organic diy stuff online. My mix was veg oil, dish soap, apple cider vinegar, water. I suggest u rub it on leaves and branches with a small piece of sponge. I wouldn't spray it on while in bloom. The citric acid mix should be applied that way as well. Always test one leaf with whatever u use to make sure its not to strong. Give it about 10-20min. If its not to strong and doesn't affect the leaf negatively then use on rest of plant. Gd luck bro they are the worst. Stay on top of it cus they populate fast.

I brought some small plants in from the greenhouse and now have mites all over them. Hit the plants with about 75% ISO and that knocked them back with just a few damaged buds. Almost looks like bud rot on a few of them but I know it's not. May just destroy the plants as they aren't critical and I have bug free plants of the same up in the veg tent so would be easier to kill them now and then keep the room warm for a few weeks to let any mites in there die off. Start some clones in the veg tent for now and be done with the Borg.

Think I'll look into the citric acid dosage too as I have some handy.

Mites must die!

So i sprayed them down with 2 tsp of citric acid to 32 ounce sprayer and gave them a good spraying, that shit is quite potent of a smell even in small doses, i waited until lights out, now should i be giving them a good spray of regular water in the morning when lights come up or just let it sit?

firsttime69 said:

So i sprayed them down with 2 tsp of citric acid to 32 ounce sprayer and gave them a good spraying, that shit is quite potent of a smell even in small doses, i waited until lights out, now should i be giving them a good spray of regular water in the morning when lights come up or just let it sit?

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I'd be scoping the hell out of them to see if there are any left and if so I'd hit it again. The citric acid doesn't leave a nasty residue like Neem so rinsing is better saved for after harvest via bud washing in my opinion. Hope you got them all and it bounces back for you.

FirstCavApache64 said:

I'd be scoping the hell out of them to see if there are any left and if so I'd hit it again. The citric acid doesn't leave a nasty residue like Neem so rinsing is better saved for after harvest via bud washing in my opinion. Hope you got them all and it bounces back for you.

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Thankfully they arent in numbers to be webbing, as i havent seen any and i inspected it quite well. Ill check back in the morning and see how she took it (this strain has been resilient so far) and ill do another washing tomorrow after lights out depending.

firsttime69 said:

Thankfully they arent in numbers to be webbing, as i havent seen any and i inspected it quite well. Ill check back in the morning and see how she took it (this strain has been resilient so far) and ill do another washing tomorrow after lights out depending.

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When I've used it for them in the past, the next day there were dried out eggs and dead mites everywhere they had been hiding before. It just dried them right up. Best of luck with the grow.

Thanks! im going to give the branches a good shaking in the morning and vacuum the tent then inspect again, im confident its not going to ruin my grow, if im not, it will win.