Newer clones plagued by mites, then another,...I used an neem oil product, and will make my own

Hope it all comes out alright. :slight_smile:

Well, eventually I got bug infestation of spider mites in the house, cause I had caught a cold and got sloppy with working out in the regular garden strawberries and raspberries and then working on my cloning tent and piling my dirty cloths near it,ā€¦next thing ya know there were spider mites.

My flowering plants in the shed, they are in the final weeks, and then a infestation of white flies started, the type you find in the top soil, and I cleaned up dead leaves and sprayed them.

I use an organic, biodegradable, fragrance free dishsoap mixed with water and cinnamon oil and garlic extract mixed with vegetable oil for a spray, seems to work okay, for the young clones and flowering. My white widow buds are very large generally, and I will keep up the good fight against bugs enjoying my marijuana instead of I There is also my other ten starting to flower, I have alot fo white widow in there and one super skunk mother plant, seeds also bought from here, that has made fifteen clones for myself and a neighbor friends, and eight very large clones in the house had been attacked by spider mites, but I sprayed them good and then made some clones off the clones. In fact, I have so many plants and good at cloning, I have to give some away later today to my neighbor who is just now harvesting some clones of white widow I gave them several months ago.

So whatā€™s the word on using Live Lady Bugs. I have introduced them
to my closet grow. Made a home for them and have had a good population
for over a week and a half now. Do find them out of the grow closed here and
there on the window screens now and again but nothing major.

I also understand to watch out for them getting buried in the flower and dying
so not sure if this was a good approach or not but I have not seen any sign of
the Mites since., Oh I did spray once with No Spider Mites at the first sign of
them.

Ironically, now I donā€™t anymore have a problem with my second grow with spider mites, its those awful pesky flying bugs, they seem to reproduce in the soil, I have sprayed and sprayed, almost had them wiped out and then due to health reasons couldnā€™t respray soon enough and now they are over populated, again, and spraying with neem oil wets down the soil too much,ā€¦so I am gonna get me some diatometreous earth, and its something I have to order the usual place or places, and I suppose the problem is figuring out how to apply it, ā€¦gonna read what other folks did, or figure something out, tired of wasting money, and worry bout wasting money on applicator, cause I mainly want to place da on soil surface, maybe also around pots.

Yes fossil flour (food grade DE) sprinkled on the soil regularly will help keep fungus gnats down, as well as help ward off other creatures like spider mites, that lay their eggs in the soil.

Over-watering is often a cause of fungus gnats. Wetting the soil with the neem oil mix might not be the best idea, especially if it is contributing to keeping the soil too wet.

You just sprinkle a heavy dose on the soil right away, and it doesnā€™t really have to be that heavy, just a thin ā€œfrostingā€ of the soil surface, and then again after a few waterings to make sure enough is staying in the top part of the soil, much will wash down with waterings, into the lower soil and help get rind of fungus gnat larva throughout the soil.

~MacG

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Yeah, thanks for the advice, I ended up ordering some DE food grade, a 10lb bag, and a hand pump sprayer, and last night I might have made a mistake of overwatering some of my plants, cause I noted the one tent that the pots were still dark on top, but I use coco fibered soil, advertised as preventing under and overwatering, but I wanted to kill alot of bugs, seems they drown in droves suddenly, and then I sprayed both tents with my mix of virgin neem oil three tablespoons per gallon in a three gallon pump sprayer, with a little bit dish soap, peppermint oil, but yeah, it got real wet in there, ā€¦again like last week, dead bugs all over the place, and I need to go in tonight and wet vac water puddles.

I have a hard time with 3.8 gallon pots drying out fast enough especially in the hps tent, with two hps 600 watter going stepped down to 75%, unsure why. But yeah, I figure its a matter of time if I keep it up, before I kill the plants with overwatering, ā€¦maybe I already did one tent.

I had eliminated the fungus gnats in the house young plants, in a cloning tent.

Originally, before I even started this year, I knew bugs were gonna be a problem, cause originally I wanted to rebuild my shed as a grow shed with ten to twelve feet by ten feet a separate room lined in white plastic, the forward section where I would take off my shoes, maybe put on a clean suit and enter the ā€œclean environmentā€, but this is what a layman ā€œhobbyā€ grower gets, lots of bugs, but at least my first grow got me alot of white widow, and this next grow will get me bigger buds, and will hopefully have a small amount of super skunk, all bought from here as seeds of course, I have alot of super skunk starts in the cloning tent, all needing potted up larger, tonight from solo cups, like eight or ten, then those will get too large like two other super skunk I had to repot that were looking bad just cause they got root bound. Actually, my goal with experience now is to make sure I never again have so many plants, I donā€™t have enough vegging space right now, since I am using both tents as flowering, and likely for only the next month or less.

I wished I had a garage or nice spacious basement for growing, I mean, this tent growing is wearing me thin, ā€¦eventually I will get away from tenting and improve that shed somehow that wonā€™t rot the walls, cause the outer panelling aint weather protected, cause hey, it was made as a sixteen foot long by ten foot wide shed with high peak roof, but alot of folks in oregon were buying these for medical marijuana come to find out, for grow sheds, I suppose I worry too much about making the shed last, but those custom built sheds cost over three grand, likely close to four grand now after all these years, its insulated,

In fact, I have just got to plan on rebuilding that shed into a 100% grow shed the way I talked of, mainly so I can turn the veg and flower rooms into ā€œclean roomsā€, cause I know bugs have been tracked in or allowed to fly in with me, but the spider mite problem started when I first started stepping inside the tents with shoes during the vegging process, and these fungus knats, those suckers god knows what damage they have done already, ā€¦likely smaller buds.

Technically, DE hasnā€™t worked so well for these flying knats I have. All I did was make a real nice mess, white powder all over the place, it appears if I donā€™t spray regularly with a water based spray then they donā€™t really get eradicated, from what I am seeing.

Iā€™m trying to spray regularly, maybe every three days, with dish soap and cinnamon oil, getting close to harvest, its real aggravating. The real problem, is that I didnā€™t want to keep the plant soil too wet.

you might want to try this , I didnā€™t have a bad problem , but itā€™s was enough to treat , and I started letting my soil dry , but next time when you soil your pot , mix one whole bag of perlite to one whole bag of FFOF , and donā€™t pack the soil , just lightly drop the pot a couple of times . Now what I do is layer my soil , I mix FFOF with FF regular planting soil in the red bag in a 5 gallon bucket , add 2 cups of miracle grow moisture control , and 2 cups of roots organic , mixed that all together in the 5 gallon or container , once I mix that thoroughly , i put a light covering of Clayton rocks on the very bottom , no more than an inch high , than I add the mixed soil about 2-3 inches over the Clayton rocks , and fill the rest of my pot with coco coir mixed with perlite as well . This way I donā€™t ever have to transplant , I germ seed and place in the top layer of coco and let it grow through its life cycle in one main pot . But being coco is a more neutral medium with out micro organisms , you donā€™t have many issues early on in veg like FFOF can cause being some micro nutrients is ah little to strong from seedlings . This way by time the plant roots into the bottom layered soil , the plant has developed a good root system , and it thrives because coco gets real fluffy when wet and very loose when drying . But I never used a full gallon of water until the last week of veg , unless Iā€™m main lining are topping the plant , training it for more colas . I have had great success with this method and my little sensitive babies never burn . BTW you will have to administer Calmag in coco coir , but thatā€™s about it until you start nutrient feeding .

Hey Budbd, still fighting though s dad mites are ya.
When you get a chance try an pick this stuff
I had to find something I just couldnā€™t until I was told about this stuff. Jillā€™s every bug on contact even there eggs trust me this stuff is what it says it is

https://www.kelp4less.com/shop/mighty-wash/

Will

.you can use this right up to the day of harvest

Will

Knat Nix,ā€¦I didnā€™t know there was such a thing, I had better get some. The bottoms of the tents are just plastered with dead knats when they drown with waterings, or get sprayed with the water based bug spray I mix up. It is so aggravating, and someone told me even aggitating the top soil to stop them from being able to nest properly. Getting close to harvest at least for the one tent for the second grow of mine ever. Those bugs must surely be damaging the plants, surely, like eating the roots, or something.

aggitating up the soil just makes things worse.
I tell you the Mighty Wash is the stuff. I didnā€™t have the problem like you have. But it drove me crazy!!
As a matter of fact I had to use it again always seems to be around harvest time.
But before my next grow Iā€™m going to clean down everything then disinfect the Grow tent.
Then throughout the next grow ill use the Mighty Wash as a preventative measure

Will

Yeah, I aint agitating the soil, like my neighbors do. Technically, its time to harvest the one tent, that could eliminate half the problem, but I should have sprayed this morning with water based dishsoap soap and cinnamon oil, it happens everytime, I am either sick with my ailments or in extreme pain from the rest of the problems, it would be smart that in a couple hours when the lights come on I go out and wet everything down!

I have some very large white widow buds on my second grow, in the tent with 1800 watts equivalent cheap led lights in a 4x8 foot tent(4x 300 watt leds and one 600 watt different brand led in the middle, two on each end of the 300 watters). Even though I have had them darned aggravating flying bugs, it will be a chore to harvest what I haveā€¦

If your good with that, then thatā€™s all that counts.

Will

I used peppermint oil itis inexpensive at a natural foods store. and garlic oil or juice and dish washing liquid in water. Another is chop habaneros, heat in 2-3cups water but not boiling for 20-30 minutes. Strain and cool water in a bowl. Pour when cool in sprayer and cover eyes and face, DO NOT GET ON FACE! HOTā€¦It will however kill every bug on your plant and the plant actually loves it.

Well, letā€™s put it this way, are you fond of Indian food ?

Just for the record. I eradicated Spider Mites with Fod Grade CODEX diatomaceous Earth. Have not seen one since.

I find that Organic grows attract them more than anything else. Never had a mite issue when running Hydro, or using ProMix BX.

Happy growing!

Iā€™m gone order this pro mix stuff and give it try with Dutch masters nutrients to get a Latewood harvest .

Now the ā€œDā€ Earth is good to start with as mites travel along the ground to get to plant, but if they are already on plant it does nothing to get rid of themā€¦You have to spray the leaves with a solution that kills them and do it regularly until gone then once a month until you bloom, then dilute the solution so it doesnā€™t hurt the budsā€¦You have to switch solutions as the mites get used to whatever you use over time.
My formulas have been awesome(for me)
It is first start with Azamax and spray the crap out of your plantsā€¦Do it once a week for 3 weeks.
Then let it rest for a couple weeks and watch closely and check with a magnifier for any activityā€¦
Then use the 2-3 drops peppermint essential oil, 1 Tbsp garlic oil, or take garlic and simmer it in the water you will use for the bottle and then let cool and strain it into the bottleā€¦Then add 1-2 drops dish washing liquid to bottle and shakeā€¦SPRAYā€¦
If you have some real problems with the bugs re-infesting or you missed some eggs and they come back, finish them off with the habenero methodā€¦
Take a 11/2 cups od chopped habeneros and put them in 11/2 cups boiling water and coverā€¦and boil 15-20 minutes and then strain when it is cool enough to handle and pour into a spray bottle or sprayerā€¦and cover your arms and face-do not breath it when spraying!!! Wear a towel around face or a old shirt a paper cheap mask wonā€™t cover your face properlyā€¦Believe me you donā€™t want it in your eyes or breathed inā€¦It burns like hell!!!
But the bugs will die on contact and any other insects hanging on!
Save any left over solution to spray again in a weekā€¦Or make some more if all goneā€¦
But THIS will do the trick!
I say do this as the last resort because if you start with it in the beginning they can get used to itā€¦
So it is great in the end as it washes dead bugs off and any that hatched and their eggsā€¦
The plants love the spraying and will bounce back with new growth being healthyā€¦
Then keep a diligent watch over them and the ā€œDā€ earth on the base of plants will keep any further infestations from happeningā€¦If you are growing your plants near other vegetation - Spray those too, as the mites might come from thereā€¦
Yes as Latewood says Organic growing like outdoor growing can bring more pests than indoor growing or the Hydro growingā€¦So be diligent and watch closely the lower leaves is where they start and if webs appear you were not diligent and didnā€™t look closely at your lower leavesā€¦That is where they start populating and then up from there.
I was a lazy and la la grower in the beginning until one day I noticed my leaves had spots on them and webs from branch to branchā€¦I then grabbed a magnifier and was horrified by what I sawā€¦
All kinds of pests were having a big party on my leavesā€¦So my research began and the formulas I outlined above took them ALL downā€¦
It was a pain in the ass to do, but it workedā€¦I sprayed everythingā€¦The greenhouse walls and ceilings and ground and plants even myself in the processā€¦Lol
I am no expert but the results spoke volumesā€¦
I just want to help others as many others want to do hereā€¦You have to find what works for youā€¦
The environment, humidity, temperature, surrounding plants, and location all determine what works best for youā€¦
I just want to be able to give another option for someone frustrated at what isnā€™t working to tryā€¦
peace out!

Diamtetrius earth does kill spider mites on the leaves,ā€¦not just on the ground where mites might travel,ā€¦I hate using that stuff, but I might have to use some again on some starts, unsure right now at a glance if they got on them or not or its damage from starting and cloning some damaged leaves, but I like the stuff cause you powder the plant, and errrrr, too much around them as well, and it sticks on the plant and kills all mites in a short time, but the plant gets whitge powdery, it gets all over the grow room, I donā€™t like breathing that stuff in since it worries me more than cigarette smoke does.