Spider Mites Week 6 of Flower....

[GMO]

I totally agree with a predator of any kind attacking the weakest of the group first.

I've see a few bits about this on social media of late, healthy plants not being able to be affected by pest. I just can't see how some growers, especially in areas like sheds, lofts etc, can be growing sick plants as much as they must be for this to be the case. And to be doing back to back for long periods of time.

I think if I have perfectly healthy robust plants and I visit a friend who has a mite issue, or introduce a clone that has them, my healthy robust plants will become dinner as well.

Yes, it may take longer for them to take hold in a healthy groom. But they will none the less unless something intervenes, like us with pest control.

I can see how a plant in a natural setting, in its native area may be able to fight off pests much more effectively. A rose bush that's in perfect health in my back garden for an example. But I really do think this is a genetic thing more than anything else. I'm really interested in this and will have a read up.

Yeah its a very divisive topic the whole "too healthy to get attacked". the concept is that if plants are completing photosynthesis that there arent sugars (the food for lower classes) if they are completing the formation of protiens then they are no longer a food for medium class and if they have aggressive secondary metabolites that they would no longer be a food source for higher predators

im not sure how true this is, but it makes alot of sense. Not being a visually unhealthy plant but a plant having or not having the food source a type of insect needs would in my mind clearly define whats food and whats not. IE brix measure to know which category a said plant falls into at any given time

if brix can be raised for a period of time, pest can become "candied" by taking in more sugars than they can digest and die on the spot

[Keeno]

higher predators

What does this term mean?

[GMO]

higher predators

What does this term mean?

Things like grass hoppers and locust. things that are chewing the cellulose and lignin rather than piecing for sap

[Wayne36]

Yea not sure if it was either sick maybe dying could be strains it's a possibility but like I said I have two in the same garden side by side and didnt see any on them I'll try looking again today to see if theres any on on the other two again maybe I am missing them but they definitely on the one in the pic not infested but they are there havent checked in a few day so I will again

[Tictok]

Thank you everyone for replying to the thread it's and interesting topic.

For what it's worth, the old school NL5 cut that came back to me infected was this huge tree of plant in a 10ltr pot and it wasn't the happiest plant and I should have noticed something was wrong.

Adding this to my 2 x 4 flowering tent in the loft and it was only this plant that remained affected whereby an old school and very healthy NL5 plant next to it was unaffected.

I took two cuts and put them in a 2 x 2 veg tent with some Guerilla Fume (Lucky Dog) and a HashplantD (Bodhi) before I realised there was a problem.

Opened the veg tent one morning to find strands of web between the plants (apparently how they move from plant to plant).

After predator mites, spraying etc. all is clear but they definitely moved to the other healthy plants with a vengance. The HasplantD is now in flower and stretching nicely but I'm still spraying occasionally and will continue for a few more weeks.

I'm convinced (anecdotally) that the health of the HasplantD has pulled it through (that or Bodhi's good vibes). The Guerilla Fume is a finicky plant and a right pain to dial in, but these seem to have pulled through ok. Just proves that hammering them with everything and bleaching the tent may have saved the day.

Just a note, but if using predator mites you cannot obviously spray canna cure or similar as it will kill them too. You have to wait about 5 days after using them.

Also found out that if you keep an untidy tent with dust and soil on the floor, then the little buggers love to live in there also.

[Egzoset]

Hi there,

According to Google, diapause is "animal dormancy" serving as protection against frequent adverse environmental conditions, during development. Hence the ultimate goal being to produce more eggs.

So i gather the "adversity" needs to be made multi-factorial, in hope the nuisible insects won't be tempted to settle back in to begin with...

One text, as i recall, seemed to revolve around avoidance of UVA in fear of UVB. That's possibly one factor i find particularily well suited for the purpose of fighting spider-mites, and perhaps a few others, starting with glandular trichome boosting.

Personally i've theorized that low-concentration Colloïdal Silver sprays close to 1 ~ 3 ppm might not suffice to trigger some phyto-hormonal/ethylene-based (sex) function, which would be counter-productive in a context where female plants are the main source of noble molecules (and no pollen for autofem seed production is required). Alternately, my reasoning was that maybe vegetation wouldn't suffer too significantly from exposure to CS if it's immediately followed by a generous wash 'n rinse procedure performed within a "safe" period, which of course was more subject for experimentation, but i expected a maximum returns range near 5 ~ 6 minutes, so... The plan was to kill eggs with CS within such relatively brief moment (on a vegetal scale) while also stressing uninvited guests until the rest of them chooses not to return ever again.

UVA would be less stressful for plants but i just don't know for sure if that will even change the insect's behaviour. You can safely bet i still wonder, but that was in a time when i still intended to home-grow for a hobby, an eldersone to be exact - which implied i wouldn't do it at the cost of any agravation because it was supposed to be a pleasant/convenient source of serenity - actually i had started to think of a custom-built cultivation space on wheels for that specific purpose. The closet would have looked as some breed between a solar bath and a dish washer! With an internal satellite allowing plants to leave that space and collect natural photons behind a large sunny window. With an option to return under artificial lights during cloudy days. Etc., etc.

Anyway IMO the capacity to diapause is a limited resource, so the trick would be to stress them a max and still avoid hurt the plants. My guess is The Borg can't afford to remain dormant forever.

For such a challenge i envisioned UV lamps operating (on a timer) in brief bursts not long enough to damage vegetal tissue.

Assuming any maximum-returns replicable combination of CS concentration & spray duration even exists my plan used to be about a mix of insect-stressing agents as those. Perhaps with the benefit of a few more, to push a bit further...

Just account for their resilience residing in the diapause state plus the eggs; i kept a vague impression the exceptional survival adaptation had something to do with slowing down their metabolism, in turn reducing intake from the environment until adversity gets effectively inhibited.

The mentions of predatory species makes a lot of sense except there's going to be micro-poop from digested spider-mite bodies. Well, lets admit at that point it's simply too late, but anything slowing them down without hurting cannabis production would seems like a fair solution candidate to me and i recall mentioning colder temperature too, so that makes 3 stress vectors for the critters.

So far ozone and plant health added to the soup. So, it's starting to form an arsenal and that raises the matter of Integrated Pest Management.

Good day, have fun!!

[Stickylemonz]

Found same thing in my groom…. Week 3 of flower, I think I’m gonna get some ninja bugs to go fuck em up https://www.dragonfli.co.uk/blogs/news/ ... o-use-them

This stuff is great and I think it's sorted. I used Canna Cure initially, the large NL5 plant was mainly affected on two branches so I think I caught it in time. Harvested and it's curing now and under inspection there were no mites in the buds.

This left the veg tent (I'd taken cuts of the NL5 as I've been keeping this cut for almost two years) which of course had brought the little buggers into this tent.

More canna cure, then 1000 predator mites from dragonfli and I cannot find mites anywhere.

Both tents got bleached so I think I'm over the worst of it. Famous last words but everything is getting monitored closely.

Many thanks for all the posts and advice. Looks like the pre 89NL5 is preserved!

So glad it worked mate!! In the end I just brought a hot shot bug repellent thing and seems to have worked:) it kills anything that moves lol but don’t use if in organic as @GMO will comfirm it ruined his soil as it killed worms I take it haha

[Tictok]

Found same thing in my groom…. Week 3 of flower, I think I’m gonna get some ninja bugs to go fuck em up https://www.dragonfli.co.uk/blogs/news/ ... o-use-them

This stuff is great and I think it's sorted. I used Canna Cure initially, the large NL5 plant was mainly affected on two branches so I think I caught it in time. Harvested and it's curing now and under inspection there were no mites in the buds.

This left the veg tent (I'd taken cuts of the NL5 as I've been keeping this cut for almost two years) which of course had brought the little buggers into this tent.

More canna cure, then 1000 predator mites from dragonfli and I cannot find mites anywhere.

Both tents got bleached so I think I'm over the worst of it. Famous last words but everything is getting monitored closely.

Many thanks for all the posts and advice. Looks like the pre 89NL5 is preserved!

So glad it worked mate!! In the end I just brought a hot shot bug repellent thing and seems to have worked:) it kills anything that moves lol but don’t use if in organic as @GMO will comfirm it ruined his soil as it killed worms I take it haha

It almost worked! There must have been some eggs missed because the buggers returned in small numbers.

2000 predator mites have just landed so I don't think they stand much of a chance.

[Egzoset]

Although it's a bit late for asking, how tall the cotyledons??

[Tictok]

Although it's a bit late for asking, how tall the cotyledons??

Not sure what you mean bro, as in when they were seedlings?