[the_d_o_t]

anyone used red spider mite predators to combat spider mites? I'm 3 weeks into flower and need to do something bout them, whats best method at this stage?

[wee-willy-winky]

wet the blighters
spray them with water they dont like that

winky \o/

[komodod]

cant go wrong with the mites which eat them.

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

komodod, on 14 March 2012 - 01:53 AM, said:

cant go wrong with the mites which eat them.

Oh yes you can, it's a common fallacy amongst new growers that predatory mites actually work in your average grow room. Unfortunately as has been proved time after time here they don't, especially in flower.

Because of the the reduced hours of light the spider mites start to prepare themselves for hibernation and part of that process involves chemical changes to their bodies that make the mite inedible to predatory mites. So no matter how many predatory mites you introduce they won't touch the spider mites and end up eating each other. Additionally most grow rooms are far to dry to allow the predatory mites to prosper as they require very humid conditions to survive, exactly the opposite conditions you want to encourage in your grow room during flowering. You would quickly find your crop getting wiped out with fungal infections if you did raise the humidity to the levels required by predatory mites.

the_d_o_t, on 14 March 2012 - 12:51 AM, said:

I'm 3 weeks into flower and need to do something bout them, whats best method at this stage?

The safest option at this point (3 weeks into flower) would be SBPI, possibly at half strength. Or if you are very accurate with a spray gun and only spray the undersides of the leaves you could consider a mectin based spray like Harka Mectin. Combining it with a half strength solution of SBPI would also be an option as the SBPI would act as a wetting agent and help the Harka Mectin spread across the undersides of the leaves. If you are going to spray Harka Mectin then it is really important at this late stage that you only spray the undersides of the leaves so that none of it will get into your buds.

[komodod]

Felix Dzerzhinsky, on 14 March 2012 - 02:48 AM, said:

komodod, on 14 March 2012 - 01:53 AM, said:

cant go wrong with the mites which eat them.

Oh yes you can, it's a common fallacy amongst new growers that predatory mites actually work in your average grow room. Unfortunately as has been proved time after time here they don't, especially in flower.

Because of the the reduced hours of light the spider mites start to prepare themselves for hibernation and part of that process involves chemical changes to their bodies that make the mite inedible to predatory mites. So no matter how many predatory mites you introduce they won't touch the spider mites and end up eating each other. Additionally most grow rooms are far to dry to allow the predatory mites to prosper as they require very humid conditions to survive, exactly the opposite conditions you want to encourage in your grow room during flowering. You would quickly find your crop getting wiped out with fungal infections if you did raise the humidity to the levels required by predatory mites.

the_d_o_t, on 14 March 2012 - 12:51 AM, said:

I'm 3 weeks into flower and need to do something bout them, whats best method at this stage?

The safest option at this point (3 weeks into flower) would be SBPI, possibly at half strength. Or if you are very accurate with a spray gun and only spray the undersides of the leaves you could consider a mectin based spray like Harka Mectin. Combining it with a half strength solution of SBPI would also be an option as the SBPI would act as a wetting agent and help the Harka Mectin spread across the undersides of the leaves. If you are going to spray Harka Mectin then it is really important at this late stage that you only spray the undersides of the leaves so that none of it will get into your buds.

thanks mate ive not read that before, i have thought about introducing baby praying mantis to kill the gnats and any other bugs around

[the_d_o_t]

thanks guys will let you no the out come, i will go with the sbpi

[forest dog]

I tried them and nothing happened whatsoever, a complete waste of money IMO.

[cf]

forest dog, on 14 March 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

I tried them and nothing happened whatsoever, a complete waste of money IMO.

snap

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

thank you 2hi2try

I think the only person on this site that claims to have had any success is Our Man in Malana, everyone else finds them pretty much useless

[Our Man In Malana]

Coal Cellar growroom, 6' Ceiling, no active extraction, lots of osscilating fans. No CF in those days, the whole street used to stink.
Large SSxHaze in passive hydro under 3x600HPS + 1x400MH.

RH 80+ and water running down the walls, Temp 30c+ (the cellar flooded regularly from grounwater too)
I was growing in dangerous conditions for mould: I lost less than an ounce a harvest to botryis, so I was probably running on the edge.
However these were (accidentally) ideal conditions for tipping the balance in favour of the predators; that's why I keep banging on about getting it as humid as you can - the spider mites slow down (movement, metabolism and reproduction) and the predators do the reverse, going into overdrive.

If I'm paying forty quid for a bucket of five thousand of the fuckers it's because I expect results and a salvaged crop, and I'd rather chuck the lot than spray anything I make hash from.

But, yes, I agree wholeheartedly with your point: predators won't work well unless you take a big gamble with mould. Each to their own.

[guerillabudhunt]

would do.. but the chickens would kill me

[THE BLUE DOOD]

I bought the preditors before I read this thread not to happy that I just wasted my money .but it feels good to know that some thing is running round my room hunting down those f ing little s***s . cost me some hart ake not been able to get rid of them for ages now .