Thread: Spider mites, Thrips, and White flies oh my!

Alright, so as a few of you know I was currently undergoing a spider mite infestation which basically caused me to chop 1/3 plants a bit earlier than planned.

Low and behold.. I started noticing the same sign I did a month ago on my other plant.. little speckles on just 1 or 2 leaves. (white dots where something had been feeding)

Quick to react as this is my better plant, I ordered predator mites right away. (californicus to tolerate my lower humidity) They'll be here tomorrow.

My last plant, whom I have been trying to rescue - I've repotted, flushed, foliared with mag salt, ect and still nothing..

Well today I shook the almost dead plant and noticed what looks like (I'm praying my eyes are deceiving me) but it looked like white flies. Just 3-5 little white specs that kind of glided against the wind.

Eff the dead plant, I pulled her diseased bitch ass just a few minutes ago.

I'm worried a bit about my current plant that I put back into veg.. down to 1 out of the 3 and I want some yield so as i said - she's back in veg.

Having trouble with the older growth almost "folding under". Thought to be a mag deficiency, but I'm thinking it may be a possible potassium problem.

Soil is PHed to 6.5 (as is my water before every watering)
Stems are turning a bit purple
Currently using: Superthrive, Thrivealive, Alaskan Fish Emulsion (5-1-1) and Jamaican Bat Guano (1-10-.2)

Keep in mind she does have some buds, but there's a lot of new foliage growing in. Trying to watch bud rot and be careful.

<3 in advance guys, I appreciate it - pics within a few hours as I need to go pick something up.

pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dude.. i am so sorry about the alien attack... bummer...

you have got to lower the temperature to slow the mites down... and they hate moisture of any kind.. even water....

you will need to fight daily.. many many small battles.. wins the war

Man, I feel for ya. Im staying tuned to see how the predator bugs will do.

were these from seed? or clone? and just a curiosity... did u do any preventitive medicine? before u saw a problem? and was your grow room sterile? or bad soil?

Sry bout all the questions. Your problem just worries me. and id like to see if we can narrow down why u got these bugs. so others can possible avoid that fate. Mabye it was just bad luck and they were all in the soil? I dont know but im curious to find out.

I hear the bugs are awesome!!!!!!!!!

So how do u get the predator bugs off ur buds before u smoke them? do u need predator predator bugs :P hehe

no seriously how do u not end up smoking both?

chop em all, bleach the hell out of the place, sorry for your pains

Grim brother,

I am so sorry to hear of all the issues with attacks. I will say that I am interested to see how you do with the predator mites. Please do keep us all posted... especially on what happens after they eat your mites. (Excuse me while I beat a dead horse) I am interested if they are easy to find afterwards like lady bugs and to remove from your plant.

One of the pests I had to battle during my grow (besides the mites) was what I think was "fungus gnats". Very little black flying bugs. Believe it or not, thinking back, they were occasionally in the house before, so I am thinking they were with another plant, and the garden stuff from last year.

I started with fly paper... and this caught what looked to be hundreds inside a couple of days. I would put up 4, and gently shake the plant... they would COVER the paper. I even spread some on the soil, and those got covered too.

Realizing that the fly paper was not going to do the job, I went out and got some "Tomato & Vegetable" insect killer by Safer Brand. It claims it is safe for organic gardens and can be used up until harvest.

I did one spray of the entire plant... gently and very VERY lightly. I noticed this was not going to help either as all the little $hits fled to the soil. So I sprayed the soil on a day I didn't water... again VERY lightly, 3, maybe 4 mists. A week later, I did it again, then again while spraying the plant one last time with 4 mists total on the plant. 3 treatments was all it took. If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it... especially since "fungus Gnats" are not listed as one of the bugs this kills.

I sprayed the plant once every other day with a light mist of water (5-6 sprays) for a couple of weeks after that every time I actually watered the plant... to remove anything that may be lingering. Keep in mind, my plant was huge... 3 feet by 3 feet at that time, so less mists may be needed for your plants.

This, as stated, did the trick, however, I still see these little things flying around from time to time, one every couple of weeks... but they are coming from somewhere besides my plant now.. which is fine because she was safe.

I hope this helps.

PS Active Ingredients:

Pyrethrins: 0.0125%
Potassium Salts of Fatty Acids: 1.015%

I think they wind up eating themselves after there are no more mites to feed on, if not they just die and drop off. I am sure we all smoked worse than good bugs before and didnt even know it....lol I am curious as to how they work also. Not cheap, but if they save a crop, who cares about 50 or so bux. And, it would beat the piss outa spraying 94 times a day. Best of luck with the battle.



b0nger

Knowm - Thanks for the reply, bro. I really want too, but unfortunately I'm around the equator and it's warming up to 106 by Saturday. 106 + HPS = Perfect climate for pests. :/
I'm going to put water into my swamp unit today to add to the humidity and hopefully cool it down a little bit.

Bob - Awesome you stopped by. These are from seed, and both budding unfortunately. That means I'm trying not to spray it much at all to avoid budrot and other nasty ailments. All of my soil is mixed by hand and straight from my local garden center. I would imagine if the soil was bad, I would have seen signs of these pests quite a few months ago. Bastards. I'm thinking my dog may be the culprit since I've caught him laying in the grow room before because he loves the lights!
Too bad though, I love playing with him in there.
I'm thinking the pests were either carried on our clothes by another plant in the house to my plants, or my dog was a factor. You can ask as many questions as you want!

I've read that predators are generally cannabalistic after they run out of food, but I've also heard the particular breed I've ordered doesn't - If that's the case I'll be spraying my plants down every 2 days regardless of the buds, I have 3 fans blowing on them at all times so they usually don't have a problem drying in time.

4x5 - Thanks for the info! It's going to be coming down to that shortly if problems don't get any better. I love this plant to death, but I have some killer seeds (blueberry, bubblegum, ect) that I really want to pop. I'm going to harvest and go ape shit as far as cleaning that room. I'm close to OCD when it comes to cleaning, and despite them not being harmful - I fucking hate bugs. I respect them, and I always put them outside when I find them instead of killing them.. unless they touch my plants.

Sticky - I appreciate the advice! I'm interested in predators as well! I figure even if whiteflies are another issue, I'm really curious to see how they work! Fungus Gnats eh? How crazy and interesting.. I'll have to keep my eyes open for things that may even be out of the ordinary! I've been hearing more and more about Safer brand products, so I may go and see if I can get my hands on a bottle. I just don't want that shit soaking into my buds and making them taste like complete and utter shite. (yes, shite).

Oh, and apparantly someone in this house had a bag of rotten fruit laying around that had a small fly infestation.. way to go. If any of those get to my plants, it's on.

Bonger - It was 54 bucks with overnight delivery, but if it gives me an ounce or so to smoke - it means more money in my pocket in the long run.
This is one of the cheaper sites I've found (I ordered from): http://www.buglogical.com/index.asp
and
http://www.benemite.com/

Ok, time for a spray down with ice cold water. I'll go take some pics and be right back.

Pics Round #1 *ding*

Round #2

Predator mites....

They arrive in the mail, half of them are dead.

The other half lives...but only one strain generally.

Also, you get corn cob shit all over your fucking plants. If there is any resin at all, its there till you smoke it.

The predators need about 60 days to successfully establish themselves. If a mite problem is bad, thats far too long. If you are about to flower, thats far too long.

When the mites run out of food, they fight each other and die.

If I had mites again, I would spray the aerosol bombs NEAR the plants, not on them...and I would do it every four days for 6 cycles.

It wont kill the eggs, but nothing will so get them as they hatch. Get the pyretherum in a can and blast away.

YOU MUST allow 30 days for the chems to breakdown before you can smoke.

But, 4X5 had the right advice...IF they are indeed spider mites.

THEY SUCK!

Yeah, the corn cob shit is a mess. I'm going to wait 2 days, blast her with water to get that shit OFF of her and if she's not looking any better, she's trashed.

Then I can start fresh, clean, and infestation free!

Actually, the more I read over your post - Harddon, the more I realize it's probably hopeless for this one little plant. I'll switch her to flowering tomorrow and spray her with ice water in two days to clean everything off of her. ( I want her to dry, she's been sprayed two days in a row )

R.I.P.?

Maybe.

Stay tuned.

It seems the 20-20-20 chemical (blech!) fert I sprayed on her earlier today actually helped.. so she WAS lacking potassium. The little whore..
That's what I get for using 6-11-1, I'll have to get something organic with plenty of potassium for a well rounded diet.

I clipped two of the top most fan leaves to put into my curing jar, but it was a waste because I instead used a fresh flower from the other plant I chopped.

So for now, I veg! (for a few weeks anyway)

I can't see the pictures cause of my pda... but I do agree with hardon... reagrding bombing... regular bombing can slow them down... but even bombing every 3 days for 1w days will not eliminate the buggers from my experience... especially in 106 degree heat... wiping regularly is effect.. but you would nee to do it every day for at least 30 minutes... and that will still only slow them down....

if you plants are flowering and you bomb them.. you really should not smoke those buds... especially if you are past day 14-20...

mites can lay dormant for many many months in cool temperatures... each mite lays about 12 eggs a day... they can start laying eggs when they are 14 days old...

they thrive in heat as you have seen... as the plant gets weaker they thrive even more.. they love underwatered plants...

predetor mites eat each other when food is gone... smoking mites is no big deal...

love

Thanks for all of the info.

My poor corn husk - covered plant - i WILL find a way to get that shit off, even if I take a few predators with me.

not sure quite how many of them came to me "dead", it was overnight shipping, came in packaging with a built in cooler and I also ordered from a place in my state. HOWEVER, all in all, I think prevention is the best way to fight mites.
Predator mites are interesting to say the least, but unless you have a decent sized crop in the early stages of veg - I really don't think they do the trick. Not even on flowering crops.

If you're flowering, and have mites - I recommend switching back to veg to fight them off, but that's what I'm currently doing. I want the plant to keep pumping out new foliage instead of using it's energy on the buds and losing energy from whatever may be causing this mess.

<3!

Oh, by the way - have you ever seen parmesan cheese and pepper sprinkled together on pizza?

That's what my plant looked like.

It looked embarrassed.

How you making out Grim?

Give us an update brother!

Alright, so! Yesterday she was flushed with a gallon of spring water, 3 tsp of Clearex, and 2 drops of ThriveAlive all PHed to 6.5

-There's purpling you'll notice on the stems - It creeps all the way up to her cola. I've been watching it for quite a few days now and nothing I've tried has solved the problem.

-Mites don't seem to be an issue anymore (interestingly enough)

-Her temp is currently.. 83-85. I can get it down to the higher 70's if you think it would actually help.

-The pistils are changing brown, and though I know pistils don't effect potency, I checked her trichomes today and they were clear-cloudy which is fine. BUT, remember she's still in veg until I get things sorted out.

I'd like your suggestions on (if you will):

*What could this purpling be cause of?

*Will the pistils become more brown and eventually fall off if vegged for too long? If so, will she grow more? How will she compensate?

Thanks in advance, guys.

***
Small update:
I'm beginning to wonder if she needs a dose of nutes and the deficiency is from her switching from flowering to veg though it sounds pretty far-fetched.

Still not too many signs of any damage being repaired or yellowing slowing.

Probably end up trashing her pretty soon if she doesn't clear up, oh well! Then I can start my new grow.

Hey Grim...

It is my understanding that they never "repair" damage... that they just grow new healthy sections. Take it from someone who (3 times) killed almost every dang leaf during veg on the same damned plant... these things are very resilient...lol

The other two questions you have about purple stems and pistils, I dont know....BUT

Postmandave did n awesome write up that covers the purple stems here:
http://boards.cannabis.com/showthrea...928#post702928

You will need to search on the word "purple" to find it as there is a lot of info, but he ends up stating it is due to Phosphorus deficiencies.

Thanks for the info Stickyplant

LOL, interestingly enough I've already been to that thread- I've done quite a few searches on purple and know it's from phosphorus, I'm just not sure if that's due to lock-out or under fertilizing.

As far as new healthy sections, I did notice she was pushing out a lot of new foliage but it's starting to slow down and look a little stunted.

The problem with the phosphorus is my current nutrient plan is lacking it simply because I planned on starting with chemicals. I have a chemical 20-20-20 and may end up having to use it until I get something higher in phosphorus that's organic.

Since I've flushed her 2 days ago and no sign of the purple crawling back, I'm almost sure it's a deficiency.

LOL, she's definitely starting to look a bit naked Sticky - I'll throw that 20-20-20 in her next watering in a very small dose and see what happens.

Bleh, here come chemicals.

**

Update

**

I just gave her a quarter dose of 20-20-20 tonight.
We'll see how she does.
Her arms seem to be looking towards the light a bit more which seems to be a good sign, but that was before the fert and there is still a lot of purple.

I'll get back to you folks.

Originally Posted by The Grim Reefer

Alright, so as a few of you know I was currently undergoing a spider mite infestation which basically caused me to chop 1/3 plants a bit earlier than planned.

Low and behold.. I started noticing the same sign I did a month ago on my other plant.. little speckles on just 1 or 2 leaves. (white dots where something had been feeding)

Quick to react as this is my better plant, I ordered predator mites right away. (californicus to tolerate my lower humidity) They'll be here tomorrow.

My last plant, whom I have been trying to rescue - I've repotted, flushed, foliared with mag salt, ect and still nothing..

Well today I shook the almost dead plant and noticed what looks like (I'm praying my eyes are deceiving me) but it looked like white flies. Just 3-5 little white specs that kind of glided against the wind.

Eff the dead plant, I pulled her diseased bitch ass just a few minutes ago.

I'm worried a bit about my current plant that I put back into veg.. down to 1 out of the 3 and I want some yield so as i said - she's back in veg.

Having trouble with the older growth almost "folding under". Thought to be a mag deficiency, but I'm thinking it may be a possible potassium problem.

Soil is PHed to 6.5 (as is my water before every watering)
Stems are turning a bit purple
Currently using: Superthrive, Thrivealive, Alaskan Fish Emulsion (5-1-1) and Jamaican Bat Guano (1-10-.2)

Keep in mind she does have some buds, but there's a lot of new foliage growing in. Trying to watch bud rot and be careful.

<3 in advance guys, I appreciate it - pics within a few hours as I need to go pick something up.

Ladybugs are a great way to keep mites, thripe, at bay. They are very cheap to buy. I put a dozen of them in my room at a time and i have not has a infestation since. If you do not have acces to ladybugs in your area you should try to reduce heat, keep fans going, and becareful not to overwater.
Also keep any pets you may have out of your growing area. I know people who will only enter their grow rooms naked in order to reduce the chance of introducing unwanted pests into their gardens.

dai*ma