Nobody beat these buggers yet? I've decided to keep a journal on these things, for the time being I will do it here. So first let me say I'm not sure if they're russets, cyclaman, or broad mites but I'm 99% it's one of them. I've been chasing phantom deficiencies, suffering from poor yeild, bad smoke-taste, and the distinct crackling I had back in the day when I was new and couldn't beat spider mites. The thing is I had no webbing, none of the distinct spider mite damage marks most of us suffered to some degree when we were new, and I've been on the same nutrient program for years and it's dialed in pretty good, so none of this made any sense. I did some research and found this is happening more and more of late so I'm gonna do the community a solid and document exactly how I combat this, win loose or draw.
First of all the symptoms Ive seen are
1. Loss of vigor, plants not as thirsty, deficiency like symptoms
2. decreased quality, not as bad as regular untreated spider mites but still a noticeable difference.
crackling when smoked.
3. leaf tips curling under, rust spots that will even turn black on my white widow.
Phantom cal mag def is the worst but other deficiencies also. I grow in coco so I chased this non issue for some time. Leaf deformities, all of my ak47 fan leaves have one blade only, my purps have three. general leaf tip twists etc.
4. From what I've seen or really havent seen they're small, very small. they may even hide I'm not sure but I use a 60-100x micro and I only seem to find eggs and Ive seen a few translucent looking things but they didnt move so I dont know if they were anything. I have noticed black looking flakes or something that could be dead ones or poop. this seems to concentrate on the main vein on the underside of the leaves.
5. Likes to pick on certain strains, my lemon haze and widow cant take it but my old school super skunk and bubblegum take it like a champ but still suffer from decreased vigor, taste and have that unacceptable crackle.
I run a pretty in depth IPM system so my problem never got out of control. I've been able to pull three harvests that were good enough but this is not something I'm willing to live with.
First let me run through some of the products that have helped me knock it back but cant seem to finish the job like they always have with standard spider mites. Azatrol is an excellent product and the cornerstone of my IPM system when things are running as they should. Mighty wash, liguid ladybug, azamax, and neem. I'n my opinion all of these products will serve your purpose with standard spider mites, but they're unable to finish off whatever I'm dealing with.
As my first post mentioned I recently bought avid, floramite, and just last night I ordered forbid. My plants are in veg and I'll veg one week more once I feel like its safe to go to flower. Last nite I did a second round of avid with dutch masters perpetrator, followed by a watering with plain aspirin water with cal mag, I use ro water. The aspirin offsets the negative effect of the venom or juices or whatever these little devil bugs put into my girls. Today my plants look great, No new leaf curls, no new cal mag def really night and day difference. I'm still going to follow up with two rounds of forbid just to make sure. I will also use something around my house on all the bushes and even my lawn. I'll do this last because I have rabbits squirrels and other creatures that I'd rather not disturb but If it comes down to them or my girls in my basement it's gonna be them.
If any of you use these products I strongly suggest you read the safety instruction thoroughly. I will not be staying at my grow while this spraying is taking place. I will also allow a minimum of 70 days between the final application and harvest. I wont go into detail on the cleaning but I bleached everything and am throwing out all old stakes, pots can filters etc.
For those of you suffering sleepless nights trust me I feel you. I take great pride in what I do and these fuckers can get the best of anyone in my opinion. I've been in this since the late 90's and I've never seen anything like it before. I honestly thought all the super mite stuff was just bunk spewed by lazy people that couldnt deal with two spotted or red mites but thats not the case. If your chasing deficiencies, changing water sources buying new hoods, nutes, and growing medium like I was and still nothing changes you may be dealing with this.
I plan on frequently updating this and I promise to do so till the end, I hate how some of these posts just fall off. Some days there wont be much to report so I wont. I didnt have any notes or organisation so If I left something out please sound off. I will be applying forbid on wed so Unless anything substantial happens I'll post wed night or thurs.
Ok first let me please ask all the organic way ie ladybugs, garlic, dish soap people to refrain from judgment for I used to be one of you but I can promise you haven't had russet mites yet. I've been battling for about 6 months now and I recently stepped it up a notch from the mighty wash, azatrol-azamax type of products to avid and floramite only in early veg. I'm only using the avid because I heard floramite is for spider mites and not these devil bugs, I applied the avid 3 days ago and am suiting up soon for round two. Will this work or should I scrap it cut my losses and start from seed? I dont live at my grow currently so I'm spraying walls and everything with the avid. Im also interested in the heat treatment but my grow area is rather large and I'm not sure how I could raise the temps to 120 for an hour. This is TOTAL WAR and I'm open to any and all people who have successfully battled these, but I swear if you recommend lady bugs or some stupid shit I will find you and cock slap you, JK but seriously please dont.
