im pulling my hair out

Effendi said:

This is a POLITE and serious question, not intentional trouble.

Hey Sik, have you found that mighty wash to be effective for you friend? To the point of not needing anything else?

I only ask because there is no one way to control the borg and I know ALOT of people with ALOT of their own personal choice methods for combating such issues.

Heard many things about mighty wash and nukem and the like and it seems that the faithful believe in them and live by their effectiveness, has this been your experience?

I stopped playing with the borg in the 1980's. Yes I know there are more natural ways to combat them but I'm well over the hoops that such natural remedies require...lights out, application Q 72 hours for 3 weeks.....only if it's raining and on a thursday...

Forbid and forget.

reminder that this is a POLITE question and response, I'm way past shooting at folks for their own choices, one should do what works.

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I have found mighty wash to be effective if you use it before there is a real serious problem. It's part of a weekly maintenance routine along with neem oil until about 3 weeks into flowering (I don't like to spray developed buds). So yes, if I keep up on it, spray regularly in the early stages, remove any spotty leaves, then I can keep them mite free until finishing.

However, one time I was careless and lazy and let some plants that were about 5 weeks in get infested with those little bastards so I sprayed the shit out of them in full flower and it killed the mites, it also killed the plants They basically just stopped drinking and stopped development dead in its tracks. So yeah, I wouldn't recommend that.

The only thing I've found that can combat mites late into flowering is a vacuum and lots of dedication (about 20 minutes a day). So the only way I've found to get rid of mites is to do everything and anything possible not to get them in the first place.

Ill admit i'm no expert. First it was powder mildew, got a sulfur burner, burned once and I never saw it again. Then it was grey mold, cracking open a beautiful nug to see that almost made me throw up. It was so disheartening. So I got a dehumidifier and that took care of that. Then it was mites. Ugg, when your a rookie by the time you even realize you have a mite problem, it was way too late the be effective and killing them. So it took months of cleaning and vacuuming on the reg before I was able to completely (more then likely not completely) get rid of them.

Also, I don't have a ph meter either. Never really felt a need for one. So I agree with you there to, I just took issue with your tone. There is way too much nay saying on RIU when it's all just opinion. But you clearly do know your stuff so I'm going to give you some rep, and no one can say your plants don't look amazing.

Thanks Sik, my apologies for the tone, no offense intended just lots of muck and mire to wade through to get to the meat of the issue.

And yes, I haven't found anything to deal with mites late in flower, to me, at that point, it's a wash.

I use my preventatives up until two weeks into flower as I never spray anything on actual forming flowers ever.

When it comes to nematodes or other natural predators, I have found your assessment correct. If you wait till you have a problem, the predators can never catch up, if you place predators before there is a problem, they starve to death.

I sat and watched lady bugs walk right over mites through a telescope. One after another, lady bugs do Not eat mites. It's like us eating ants or bugs, we could if our life depended on it but any other time, we humans will pass.

Thanks for the honest opinion on dealing with problems, I can always tell if I'm talking to an honest grower rather than a shill by the answer and your answer says experience.

Thank you and I look forward to future conversations.

Demo.

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Right!?!?! Ladybugs!!! Ha! I did the same thing with the ladybugs. They are cute, but totally useless for mites. I too would watch them ignore whole mite clusters. I would grab whole handful of the cute little guys and drop them on problem spots like paratroopers and they didn't do shit. I searched the web high and low and couldn't find any actual scientific accounts that ladybugs eat mites, but I bought them anyway?

I did the nematodes as well. They are kind of like being sold a pebble to keep tigers away; sure there are no tigers around but how much did the pebble have to do with that? Now the hydro shop has praying mantises but I haven't gone there yet. I've heard of predatory mites that reproduce faster then spider mites, but I've never seen them for sell, plus it seems like you'd just have a predatory mite infestation.

and yes, I'm very willing to talk about my failures. My hope is that someone will read it and save themselves the same headache. RIU is a community.

I enjoyed this talk. This is what it's all about.

yo
i found somthing, its called IMIDACLOPRID
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid
i just water the plants with it when they in veg (2-3 weeks), no spraying, and it works like magic. i used to have tons of spider mite now i dont have even one. it also kills white flys and fungus gnats and every motherfucer who suck juice from leaves.
where i live it comes in a brand call "confidance", that the pruduct name but i think its only in my country. so u will have to find your own brand. i know for sure that it is used in grapes, wine grapes. they water with it at the spring and its preventing all the sucking bugs. if winerys dont mind this stuff, i can use it too.
GL

Gomziel said:

yo
i found somthing, its called IMIDACLOPRID
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid
i just water the plants with it when they in veg (2-3 weeks), no spraying, and it works like magic. i used to have tons of spider mite now i dont have even one. it also kills white flys and fungus gnats and every motherfucer who suck juice from leaves.
where i live it comes in a brand call "confidance", that the pruduct name but i think its only in my country. so u will have to find your own brand. i know for sure that it is used in grapes, wine grapes. they water with it at the spring and its preventing all the sucking bugs. if winerys dont mind this stuff, i can use it too.
GL

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Thats awesome advice. I found several brands on google. Thanks for the tip.

sikkinixx said:

Thats awesome advice. I found several brands on google. Thanks for the tip.

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dont go beserk with this. this is real insectcide and not some organic oil. use as recomended and no more. i use the tomato chart as reference.

sikkinixx said:

Thats awesome advice. I found several brands on google. Thanks for the tip.

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So I wish I didn't know about this stuff but unfortunately I do. Last year in a hydro project we experienced some root critter issues, (like thrips) and we used Imid effectively to clear it up.

We used this product found at Home depot



It's about $20/Quart and measures out at 0.235% Imidacloprid.