Spider Mites Infestation

I was getting ready to water the plants today and was horrified to see a giant web covering part of one of the plants and a bunch of tiny critters crawling all over it. I had been seeing some very small yellow spots on the leaves for a few days now, but I figured it was from stress. Conveniently, I just happen to have purchased a microscope earlier in the day from the University surplus store, and it was pretty easy to determine that these were spider mites. Luckily I haven't induced flowering yet, so I'm desperately hoping I can murder these little suckers with a toxic cocktail. Based on what I've been reading on this site, it helps to use more than one type of insecticide, and some types work better than others. What do you guys think about a good dose of pyrethrins and then following up in a few days with this stuff I picked up today with imidacloprid and tau-fluvalinate? I don't care about staying organic. I want these things dead, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The other problem is that I will need to find a way to clear them out of the house so it doesn't happen again. Are there any fogger bombs that might do the trick?

I use half rubbing alcohol half water in a spray bottle and "Soak em" with the lights off.., Follow up with soap spray or neem oil..

Organic and works on everything, mites in particular:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-64-oz-Ready-to-Use-Organic-Home-Pest-Control-33116/202100820#.UgV6U3_RLA0

Can also be used as a soil drench for gnat larvae etc.

I only use Pyrethoids as a last resort, haven't had the need this year.

try this thread https://www.rollitup.org/bugs/264370-spider-mite-control.html

Lady bugs, neem oil

This will work.


http://www.hotshot.com/products-and-solutions/all-products/no-pest-strip.aspx

Wavels said:

This will work.

http://www.hotshot.com/products-and-solutions/all-products/no-pest-strip.aspx

Click to expand...

For spider mites?...no.

I know the feeling. I have fought them for years. I have found neem soaps and oils kinda work but not that well. I finally went to Doktor doom but it is rough on plants. I now use Azatrol works great. If you have mites once chances are you ll always have them and have to pre fight them. Best to always wear clean clothes into grow area ie dont wear clothes you been in the yard in as just walking gets them on shoes and pants. Clean the area often. If you have evergreen bushes or trees in yard use those hose insect sprays to try to curb the ones outside from coming in they love evergreens, pines, bushes, lotta leaves.You can get azatrol on ebay or amazon for like between $16 and $24 a bottle which makes about 30 gallons of spray. Spray wetting entire plants then spray agin 4 days later then again 4 days later. I then just re apply every 10 days or so just to make sure no left overs or new buggies. I stop all spraying 2 weeks before cut.

Don't have time to investigate the previous posters' links, so they are worth a look, but what I've found effective is Dawn dishsoap in a mister with water.

However, your situation sounds bad given your description of webs; I'm going to have to agree with Lady Bugs in this case as a natural solution to the problem, either that, or spiders.

Can't necessarily recommend where to buy them from (because of bias), but someone will speak up about somewhere they (ladybugs) can be acquired at reasonable cost and are guaranteed.

If the situation is as bad as you make it out to be, this is the best organic direction you can take.

-spek

Lady bugs are better to prevent mites but your already loaded so most predator insects will take too long but if you got that route best would be Predator Mites or get a egg sac of Praying mantis just goole buying them or if you have local large nursery they usually can get them for you or tell you where. Doktor doom makes Pyrethium bombs but they arent cheap and are strong on plants. The little ones I think are around $10 each bigger can like $18. If use in plant room make sure the plants have been given a good watering few hours first.

Thanks for the info everyone. Ladybugs are great for aphids, but I didn't think they ate anything as small as mites. If this is true, then I can just round up a few dozen from my outdoor garden. I've always had good luck attracting ladybugs to control the aphids, and they are in full force this year. I've tried several organic spray methods for other pest problems in the past, and none of them worked. I already sprayed with pyrethrin, so I'll have to rinse the plants really well before introducing the ladybugs. Unfortunately, I live in a neighborhood with very little privacy, so I'll have to wait until after dark to hose off the plants outside.

Get you a bottle of garlic powder. Powder! Not garlic salt. No Salt! Mix about 8 to 10 grams of garlic powder into 1 gallon water. Water plant as needed until mites leave. I have done it myself. Also got rid of them from a 6 ft angel trumpet plant same way.

try spectracide triazicide. can be bought at lowes for ten bucks for a big ol jug. it murders everything. just dont use it within a month before cropping. i always use it and never have a return of any bugs

get floromite as fast as possible. it works

***Update***

After applying the Pyrethrin yesterday, I rinsed the hell out of the plants last night. By this morning, all three plants look much happier, and I can't find a single living mite. However, there are a zillion eggs that didn't wash off. I've read that the pyrethrin doesn't penetrate the eggs, and because the chemical breaks down so quickly, it will not be effective by the time the eggs hatch. I gathered up about 30 ladybugs today, and they are hard at work gobbling up the eggs. I also discovered that daddy longlegs (harvestmen) eat mites, and I have a ton of them in the garden, so I put a couple of them on the plants as well. Both ladybugs and harvestmen seem to really like the plants in the same way that they both like the marigolds in the garden. Interesting that the French marigolds have a similar odor.

Under the microscope, I can find several dead mites, but none that are alive, so either the pyrethrin or the water blast killed them. Some growers have suggested that ladybugs are not effective because they fly into the lights and die. This might be true under HID, but under the T5's they don't seem to leave the plants. My HPS won't get here until Wednesday, but I'll report again when I see what the ladybugs do under the higher intensity light. As a bonus, several of the ladybugs started mating, so I should have some hungry larvae in the future.

Good luck I am just starting back up after a bad spider mite infection. I steam cleaned the rooms and wiped them down with Bleach and sani-cloths. I will pick up some neem and began a weekly regiment of spraying to make sure. I also picked up a Steam iron that can be held to plastic without melting it so i think it will be very useful in steam cleaning my plants also as a precaution. Good luck bro I HATE THOSE FUCKERS

***Update***

Still no sign of living mites under the microscope, but I did find the source. I have a lemon tree that lives in my south-facing window, and I spotted a few little webs. The tree has had really ugly looking leaves for at least a year, but I never suspected an infestation. The ladybugs seem to be still controlling the problem with the girls, so I might try to figure out a way to make the ladybugs permanent residents. Might seem creepy to be raising bugs in your house, but if it works . . . ?

The key to spider mites is to treat 3-4 times in 12 days. All you did was stop the adults from laying eggs for now and interupted the life cycle. Now treat 3-4 times in 12 days. I recommend switching to a second product like spinosad or azamax and do a soil drench and a complete spray to get any that hatched. Also by switching up you get the ones that might be resistant. That is the trick, to keep killing them so they cannot lay any new eggs and kill them as they hatch with the extra treatments. The idea of the soil drench is to kill eggs or babies that have fallin in the soil. No such thing as once and done when it comes to pests indoors. They have evolved to be a pain in the ass to you and their breeding cycle allows one to think he has won until 10 days later the eggs hatch or 1 gets away and starts the cycle again. Good luck.

Idk bout that I have treated just once and then just one more time 4 days after...haven't seen since..been like 6 months...but I have just converted to hempys...that may be why...idk

One thing that may be playing a role in my success (thus far) with one treatment is that I removed the plants from the veg area, coated the plants heavily with pyrethrins in the garage, hosed them off on the back patio, and then put them in the new flowering room that has never housed any plants. Every surface in the veg area has been coated with the same insecticide, and I'm giving it a full week before I transfer any clones back to the veg area. I check for living mites every day and still have not seen any, but I have the truly toxic chemicals ready if I see a single mite. Most of the ladybugs are still alive, but I'll keep bringing in more as flowering progresses.