Last year, I had a really bad mite infestation. It was incredibly stressful getting my girls to the end with the best possible results. I have a 10x12 foot greenhouse and last year had 2 GSC, 2 Agent Orange, and 2 Larry OG's. The Larry and the agent got the mites the worst, but the agent seemed to grow through it because those plants took over the greenhouse. Just before flower, a buddy of mine gave me some floramite to use, and as leary as I was to use it, I reluctantly sprayed my plants. He had told me to do at least 3 sprays 4-5 days apart, but I only did one. It did the trick and I didn't have to stress on the mites until the last 4 weeks. This year, I had my clones dipped in forbid before planting and I've been extra diligent about keeping them cleaned up of extra leaf and lower branches. I've also been using the Monterey BT and Monterey insect garden spray which has the spinosad ingredient. I've been mite free up until this last week. I just started using a new product called BounTea, and I am really hopeful this will help with the pest problem but I'm worried that I discovered this product too late and I'm going to need to spray again with the floramite before my girls start to flower. This year I'm growing 2 blue widows, 2 pre-98 bubbaso, a gorilla glue, and what I call a mystery OG. My buddy gave me the clones and told me it was an OG, but after watching it grow I questioned him and he admitted that some of his clones way back got mixed up and his friend told him it was an OG, but it looks more like a Train wreck I grew a few years back. Anyway, the garden this year looks amazing, and so much healthier than last year. I really want to use the floramite just once again, but I don't want to kill off all those beneficial organisms that the BounTea is helping me bring back into my soil and on my plants. I am in a pickle. For sure next year I will be using the tea from start to finish and hopefully won't need a miticide at all. Anyway, any feedback would be really helpful. Thank you! PS. These photos are from 2 weeks ago. All the plants are way bigger now, and my sativas are pushing up to the ceiling now!
You are not growing organic if you are using Floramite on your plants. This is a miticide, but it is toxic to bees, birds, and fish.This product is restricted for use no more than twice per year. Spinosad, essential oils, and Neem oil used in conjuction with Neem seed meal mixed into the soil mix will control mites. https://www.treecarescience.com/pdf/Miticides/Floramite-SC_MSDS.pdf https://www.bartlett.com/productlabels/pdfs/New York/Product Labels/FLORAMITE SC SDS.pdf PW
looks like you got a lot of plants to spray. bet it is easy to miss a spot of two. have you considered a sulfur burner? would work well in a greenhouse. was going to show you IPM statements with the best pesticides to use but Davis has completely redone all their data sheets on two spot mites. a lot of the chemical miticides have been moved lower down the list and only one now suggests avid as the number one killer while removing it from the other ones which is showing how ineffective these chemicals are becoming. its been listed towards the top of the list besides sulfur . essential oils and beneficial mites have climbed to the top along with JMS Stylet oil. check it out! UC IPM: UC Management Guidelines for Twospotted Spider Mite on Caneberries Spider Mites Management Guidelines--UC IPM Spider mites frequently become a problem after applying insecticides. Such outbreaks are commonly a result of the insecticide killing off the mites’ natural enemies but also occur when certain insecticides stimulate mite reproduction. For example, spider mites exposed to carbaryl (Sevin) in the laboratory have been shown to reproduce faster than untreated populations. Carbaryl, some organophosphates, and some pyrethroids apparently also favor spider mites by increasing the level of nitrogen in leaves. Insecticides applied during hot weather usually appear to have the greatest effect, causing dramatic spider mite outbreaks within a few days. If a treatment for mites is necessary, use selective materials, preferably insecticidal soap or insecticidal oil. Both petroleum-based horticultural oils and plant-based oils such as neem, canola, or cottonseed oils are acceptable. There are also a number of plant extracts formulated as acaricides (a pesticide that kills mites) that exert an effect on spider mites. These include garlic extract, clove oil, mint oils, rosemary oil, cinnamon oil and others. Don’t use soaps or oils on water-stressed plants or when temperatures exceed 90°F. These materials may injure some plants, so check labels and/or test them out on a portion of the foliage several days before applying a full treatment. Oils and soaps must contact mites to kill them, so excellent coverage, especially on the undersides of leaves, is essential, and repeat applications may be required. Sulfur sprays can be used on some vegetables, fruit trees, and ornamentals. This product will burn cucurbits and other plants in some cases. Don’t use sulfur unless it has been shown to be safe for that plant in your locality. Use liquid products such as sulfur and potash soap combinations (e.g., Safer Brand 3-in-1 Garden Spray) rather than sulfur dusts, which drift easily and can be breathed in. Don’t use sulfur if temperatures exceed 90°F, and don’t apply sulfur within 30 days of an oil spray. Sulfur is a skin irritant and eye and respiratory hazard, so always wear appropriate protective clothing.
Wow! Ok, so this was all really great information. Unfortunately, I cannot use any of the oil based products or the sulfur as I live in a place that has been suffering well over 100* days for weeks at a time. I keep the greenhouse cooler with fan and AC on the super hot days, but the one time I did you the Newman, my plants burned. I decided to do rounds of compost tea, foliar spray and root bath, and I unleashed 10,000 lady bugs. The mites problem was not nearly as bad as last year, but I am worried it could get that way fast. At the moment, after lots of trimming back of water leaf and more undergrowth, lady bugs and compost tea, I'm not seeing any mites. I have quite a lot of leaf to search through though, but it's pretty apparent when you see mite damage to a leaf. Next year, I'm going to start with the compost tea, humisoil, much earlier now that I have a brew kit, and it should realay help. This year, I also planted marigolds all around the outside of the greenhouse, but next year I'm going to also plant the garlic, and put a mint box by the front door. It really is amazingly difficult to grow outdoor and stay 100% organic because it doesn't matter how clean you are, the pests are a problem. Going to keep using the spinosad as that have really helped keep the caterpillars and many other bugs at bay. Last year, I only used the BT, and my strains were poorly chosen. This year, I have strains that are naturally more resistant, but still not 100%. Thanks for all your feedback. I super appreciate it.
One of my friends, a bug enthusiast lol told me to never buy marigolds because they are notorious for spider mites but to instead use seed to grow marigolds. Another thing I read talked about mite populations on leaves corresponding with yield stated you can have one or two mites in a random leaf and suffer no loss in yield but anymore than that reduces yield. As long as you increase plant health so they get the lipid layer of shine on the leaves, they are pretty resistant to damage allowing it to keep on photosynthesizing. That was pretty interesting since we feel that all is lost when we have them.
Fortu Fortunately, I did grow the marigold from seed. I really would rather have NO mites since they do reproduce so rapidly. I am keeping the plants as healthy as I possibly can, but that is also very challenging. They seem really healthy to me right now though, so we'll see. Thanks for the reply.
Well I really don't think floramite is going to solve your problems. Arbico has a weekly release program of green lacewing for $45 for three weekly shipments free shipping I think. Might be cheaper than ladybugs plus they eat 200 eggs and bugs a day while ladybugs eat something like 60? you can find garden spiders and put them in there. I've watched one chow down on a clone and take off when dinner is done. I've heard of a few outdoor Cali guys using pressurized sprays of ice water to knock them off. Spinosad has no oil and is a soluble concentrate so there's that too. On the PDF of another SM Davis IPM sheet it has a list of stuff and at the bottom it says spinosad isn't effective towards mites but it's the surfactants that do any damage. So you could try potassium silicate and aloe. Gentle.
If i do, I definitely will. I was just reading another thread about rosemary essential oils in a fog machine (which I do have), and I might try this. We'llsee. Going to spray the spinosad tonight though.
Tonight a friend told me he is smoking Rosemary flavored buds from using it. I was floored. What do you guys think about this? I think it's in his head but he has grown these plants for a while.
Oh man, I think it's probably very possible. Rosemary is pretty potent. I've heard that if you use the habenero cocktail that can happen too. I suppose if you do a clean water spray down a few days afterwards, or just before harvest, that may help get the flavor out of the buds, but then you also run the risk of getting your buds super wet and that could also be ALL BAD. So, I decided against any of the miticides after all your replies. I really do want to stay organic. I have been using the spinosad, and brewing extra compost tea. I went in there the last couple days and really cleared out any of the leaf that looked infected with mites, and surprisingly, there were very few. Here is an updated photo from today. Still looking super green and super healthy, and I'm in day 3 of flower now, and those buds are already starting to fatten up. I'm getting excited and anxious!!!! I want colas NOW!!!
Hey guys, someone informed me I posted this question in the grow journals section. I apologize. I'm still learning how to navigate the site and not sure how I ended up posting this in the journal section. I'm starting to get the hang of how the site works now. Thanks for all your help and advice.