Quick update…roads are starting to get congested may get to try the dawn experiment yet today…
@Ning ahh so true, i notice that to with a tolerance.lol i cannot seem to get my chillies as big as the supermarkets but i get alot of them, i usually pick a few weeks after they go red,sometimes orange, am still looking at when others pick theirs, 
I don’t mean to hijack the thread, sorry. The pepper plants responds so well to well tilled soil. The first time I planted a Thai chili, the small one, I got from garden supplier, it was only about 18”, with miraclegro stuff. The following year, someone lent me organic gardening book that emphasize on tilling the soul - double dig it one foot deep at a time. So the souls was tilled for two feet. Then I added compost that I just dumped kitchen scrap, covered with diet, and lots of used ground coffee, the crappy Folger from work. Every time I dump something on, I threw dirt in layers covering it. I even went to Starbucks and got used coffee ground by the buckets. I mixed the compost in twitch the two feet tilling. The following year, the same kind of chili pepper grew twice the size. Last year, I cleared out a patch The was covered with honeysuckle vines for 20 years and till it. The same Thainpepper I planted grew 5’ tall! So I guess the the chili pepper roots really love to get oxygen. The loosen dirt really help them. My Gold Leaf I planted on the same garden soil grew to 9’ tall already and I still have at least 6-10 weeks to harvest. From what I saw, it’s not just the nutrients in the soil, it’s the oxygen to the roots through loamy and well- turned soul that makes the difference.
I plant corns sometimes and found that the roots are as deep as the plants are tall. So they sort of till the soil for me. I grew colored corn that’s 10’ tall already. In the past, whenever I grew corn (which was not every year.) The following years, the soil will be so loose plus they leave the organic materials from the fibrous roots to become nutrients for next season. Are you in Mediterranean climate?
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Not hijacking at all
More like hitchhiking lol
Awesome story and great info!
The Fifth Element - you
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So I’m in the middle of my second round using Azamax spraying the 20 plants in the veg tent and remembered I had these I used to use for building coils for Vape tanks.
Works perfect for seeing the spider mites crawling around.
Hand free magnifying
So i am still seeing them crawling in the soil and the highways but not nearly as many as before. It’s been 3 1/2 days since the first application.
It’s interesting how some strains or more infected than others are or not at all in several of the clones even though they are all touching pots…
The lady bugs are still active and eating too but I will need to collect most of them and release outside otherwise when the food supply is gone they will die too. Will leave some in there just in case.
Will update in another 3 days after the next application and then a week or so after inspecting the soil with my spectacles.
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Yup, that’s why I recommended it 
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@Ning am digging up before spring anyway but will try that method of regular digging up. the coffee thing lmao.pretty funny, will do the garden scraps tho, love to compost an see the worms 6-10 weeks pretty quick nice growing .will be adding extra large hydroton balls or something, i am still laughing at chilli wimps, i swear it got me good, lol
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Here is link to update on spider mites…posted it by error in my journal…
Finishing up the last 2 this morning. Decided to defoliate them all to better cover all the leaves with spray. Used about 12 ml Azamax per quart and used almost a quart per plant as I coated then defoliated and then coated and soil drenched each. They are due for watering so they got some this way without diluting the mix in soil.
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Update
After slaying them all with another round of Azamax and letting the top soil dry a bit I took a look again with my jewelers glasses and sure enough those little mites were crawling around so I mixed up another batch of Ning- icide of 6 habanero peppers and about 1/2 of a garlic head and touch of sal suds making 2 quarts and sprayed them all again just before lights out.
Just checked them now and there are still really tiny mites crawling around the soil and a few going up the stalk at base.
Gonna put down some DE after turning the fans off…dam them. Glad I haven’t put any straw mulch down on the 1 gallon pots as they are much easier to spot when they are running around. Those magnifying glasses are an awesome thing to have to be able to see them.
Those lady bugs need to quit humping and get to eating dam it.
Things will be less stressful once I have harvested Jack H the only one in flower in the veg tent.
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Went ahead and put down some DE blocking all the on ramps to the plant. Didn’t cover entire soil just the on ramps…wanna see some itchy scratchy themselves to death…
Let’s see how they like the gauntlet
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You’ll get em!
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Well looking closely at the veg ladies there are still some mite running around the uncoated section of soil and the removed tie downs along the sides of the pots…been spraying those with 15 to 1 dawn and it kills them on contact. Think I will end up completely covering the tops soil / mulch with DE tomorrow. I did get to watch one struggle and die in the DE with a little help from me muhahaha…
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Took a real close look this morning using my Dick Tracy Mag goggles I got in the Cracker Jack box and I saw very few running around in the untreated areas of soil not covered in DE.
A few on the removed tie downs on the big girls and I sprayed the tie downs and side of container with the 15:1 dawn water mix…instant kill.
The ones I’m seeing are the smallest ones yet. My guess new hatchlings.
They have no path to get to the leaves / stems on the plants so they won’t be able to eat and reproduce and all so I’m hoping I’m at the tail end of this adventure. Later today I think I will completely cover the soil on all the pots just wanted to see what activity was going on based on all my previous applications of the various prongs of my attack on them.
A lot of shriveled mite bodies on stems and leaves
Will update things as they go
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@Skidiver,
This is what i use>>>>90% allcohol and water. Works great on them critters
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Thanks
What’s the ratio of water to 90% iso?
I make it 60 40 60 being the alcohol
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Good read on spider mites
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Resilient little tards those spider mites are.
Sprayed all the pot sides down and edge of pots with a water and iso 90% mix.
Gonna Ning-icide them probably tomorrow mostly on pots and soil along with a spinosad top water.
Still a few minis running up and down the tie downs and we’re on the flood tray edges…again remember these are the ones I notice…lol
But for the most part they aren’t in the plants as there are no ramps up except the main stem and that’s surrounded by Diatomaceous Earth.
These fkers can pack it in anytime now. They aren’t eating that I’ve seen up on leaves…
So far I’ve tried a bunch of things…but what I’m figuring out is that if you clean the foliage and then stop them from climbing back up the plants can recover and then your forced to learn to do more super cropping instead of using tie downs.
Break the cycle…
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