mendo local
Med Grower
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- Jul 24, 2007
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You can see the mites have taken over, but on the last pic is how the tops are. mostly untouched except for on a few. Ideas, Help?
Homemadegravity said:Did you try any of the ideas given to you in your last post about this?
g-13 said:I've always heard that you cant kill them only slow them down til the end of harvest. i just had them in my last crop. the bombs never worked for me neither did all the sprays at the hydro store. the only thing that worked was 1part iso alcohol and 1part water. that really slowed them down and the harvest was just fine. spider mites are closely related to spiders(daddy long legs). the only way to kill them is bleach. so after harvest bleach and water will have the room just like new. i hope that helps you out.
Hick said:Mites lay their eggs on the leaves, not in the soil.
Concentrate your treatments on the underside of the leaves.
Raise the RH and lower your temps. That slows their reproduction cycle.
A female lays about 100 eggs during her lifetime. Depending upon climate conditions, the eggs hatch in as little as 2-3 days, and the adult stage is reached in 7-10 days. The females reproduction is greatly affected by climate and humidity with a significant difference in the days till their maturity dependant upon the temperature i.e.) egg to adult. For instance at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, it takes 30 days for the egg to become an adult, at 70 degrees 14.5 days and here is the astounding number - 90 degrees Fahrenheit they reach adulthood in just 3.5 days! So now imagine those populations increases over a month when the offspring start to reproduce less than a week after hatching - at 70 degrees she and her offspring number 13,000; at 80 degrees she and her offspring represent a staggering potential of 13,000,000 individuals over a single month - huge population increases!
Hick said:Mites evaporate large quantities of water from their bodies, so they must **** juices from the plants. This is easier for them to do in a dry environment. Humid environments (above 60% RH) slow down their metabolism, life span and reproductive rate. Mites may be controlled somewhat by lowering the temperatures (at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit they start to hibernate), thus slowing down their life process considerable. Even if you only decrease the temperature during the indoor dark cycle (when it is easier to lower temperatures), the progression rate of the infestation is slowed considerable
and from PKJ...(thanks joe)
Solution: Phytoseiulus, biological red spider mite control.
Harmless to children, pets and wildlife!
Pronounced: FY-TOE-SOO-LUS
Description:
Phytoseiulus persimilis is a predatory mite capable of eating large numbers of red spider mites, it moves amongst the plants to find its prey.
It is slightly larger than the red spider mite. With a pear shaped shiny red body, it has long legs and is a quick mover. Young stages are oval and very pale pink.
Life Cycle:
Each Phytoseiulus can produce 50-60 eggs in 3 weeks. Egg to adult takes about 12 days at 20ºC (68ºF), and half that at 30ºC.
Many hundreds of spider mites will be eaten by a single Phytoseiulus during its life cycle, and it will eat all stages of red spider mite.
Phytoseiulus reproduces at twice the rate of red spider mite at 18ºC (64ºF) and above.
If all the red spider mites are eaten, Phytoseiulus will disperse and die.