Help please. I cant find a thread for help with my problem. I just started a commercial grow in Oklahoma, indoor, greenhouse and outdoor. The indoor is LED.
I just bought about 100 clones, some of them were more like midsized plants, he was even a “nice guy” and "gave me several older mothers to grow outside.
I just realized last night that I have a mite infestation. I have only dealt with the start of a spider mites infestation that was a real pain to get rid of. Well low and behold, I found spider mites infested on the mothers that he wanted me to plant outside so that they would grow into trees. I realized last night I have what looks like russet mites. I’m freaking out. I’ve only heard horror stories about those. I thought this guy was my friend, and I paid him about 3xs what I should have, but he said he was hurting for cash right now, only to have him give me infested plants. Can anyone give me a good recipe to get rid of these mights? This is my first grow, I stupidly trusted this “friend”, farm, and master grower. I need to see about saving what I can. That was my money for plants. I’ve read about tossing them, but its almost not an option. Please tell me there is a way to get rid of these nasty little bugs! Sorry for the long story. I really appreciate any feedback. Thank you for your time.
Can you provide pictures?
Yes I have a few, honestly, after I realized what it was, all the pictures online match russet mites, and I recognized the others as spider mites ( there were actually tiny webs on the top of a few branches) and I could recognize them. The russet mites are a first, but I know he had them before, but promised me they had fixed that problem. Here is a picture I took of a mom that was drooping a d showing signs of russets. I believe they most likely alall have them and show various signs on each, though they looked like they were perking up when in the greenhouse.20210411_163722|375x500
Hello Sir,
If your plants are not yet in flowering then you could try spraying them with sulfur. Jist buy some powdered sulfur at a grow shop, mix it at the recomended rate, add a mixing agent and then spray the entire plant. You do this once a week for a couple weeks or more. That is the best way to clean those babies.
You might need to incorporate an army of mite predators. You took on a lot of plants for your first grow, and a commercial one at that.
Spray/drench first then buy preditors the more the better really, not sure if nematodes will help but I bet they will. Make sure to tell salesman you have a outbreak not using as ipm so they get the volume right
Thank you guys for your feedback, I have been really struggling trying to find the right fix. Where would I find the sulfur needed? Tractor supply, home improvement place? Or does it have to be a grow shop? Is there a name brand I should look for? I ask because the nearest growshop is an hour away, and they really price gouge, which stinks because im all about supporting small business… also @vonweeden what kind of mite predators, and grow shop too? I ve invested soo much into this, and going from 20 plants, to 600+ including outdoor when its time to plant outside in Oklahoma. Ill be on here alot. I’ve only played around and grown a few outdoor plants, and not in Oklahoma, im worried sick about the morning dew… so I’ll be asking alot more questions. Hopefully I can help others also. Thanks so much guys! Happy growing, fingers crossed I knock these things out, and for good.
@hoppiefrog , does it matter what type of sprayer? Or just make sure they are drenched? The predators, is that at the grow shop too? Or are there other places like home improvement places, amazon, or tractor supply? I’m in the middle of nowhere oklahoma. Lol. Thank you for your help, I hope I can repay you someday! I felt soo defeated to plant all these plants (I think about 60 so far) and THEN I see these nasty things. You are a life saver, as well as everyone else who replied. Thank you!
Get a bunch of lady bugs from amazon. They eat the little bastards and mitigate the damage. Ladybugs can eat a lot of mites per day.
Sprayer doesn’t matter. But they live under the leaves remember spry under. Also get some spinosad hit the plants every 3 days. But mites can become immune to the sprays. So usually a 2 prong attack is the only way to kill them.
I just got a sample of this. So here is a link to get a sample.
I also use
Einstien oil leafshine neem oil mixed with coco wet an emulsifer.
As you can see in the pics i got mites 1 yr ago in 2 weeks it was a shit show!
Do not play around and be vigilante on spraying the plants under leafs. Mites hate water. Spray them of the plants also. It messes there breeding up. Mites like hot and dry weather. Also some diamatious earth dusted onto the plants will help kill the bastards also. Damn…mites “Borg” god damn hate those. Id rather have thrips damn.
It’s not super important as far as type of sprayer, just be through and you will need to google “bio pest management” and mail order your preditors ,call the supplier up and ask for advice on best option to order, but make sure to order pollen to spray plants with to keep them attracted to your garden and not surrounding area.
@PreyBird1 awesome! Thank you. I have one worry, I already tried neem oil, am I able to still do the sulfur?@joshpope2012? @vonweeden I just noticed you said first grow, this is my first commercial grow yes. I’ve done 6-20 for about 12 years, but there is a huge difference, and I haven’t done outdoors other than messing around with a plant or 2. I always used “smite” for my small grow, and my beliefs were always to prevent rather than control, but my “friend” really got me with these plants I purchased from his grow. They were in a separate room in his huge indoor grow, I thought they were separated for me, now I think they were separated because they were infested. Predator mites are going to be grow store too? Sorry for all the questions. I’m just trying to buy everything and get back to the farm! I need to get this right! Love you guys for the help!
As for the drench I would suggest mosquito dunks they are friendly to use non toxic and best of all they actually work
My first outdoor crop I had real problems with spider mites I tried spraying I tried predators they all helped but I never had total control until I bought a fogger. It cut the amount of spray I was using by 2/3 give you 100% coverage top and bottom of leaves. When your plants get 10 foot tall and 6 foot around it’s hard to spray them but the fogger works perfect. If you’re going to go commercial you certainly should have one or two. I also use a couple of different sprays and do a rotation every 10 days. If I start noticing a small infestation a fog early. Don’t forget to treat your pots, top, side and bottom. Bugs are sneaky they can hide in nooks and crannies. You can save them for sure but it won’t be cheap. If you have a infestation I would also do three treatments three days apart at The start. Also if you’re using a fogger if you were indoor and your lights are off you can fog the whole room or greenhouse. Walls fans everything.
No worries go squirt them off the plants with low pressure water. An give them hell.
This works. Others here have used it with good success.
Yes i didn’t think about that. I do have a fogger and i run pyrine in it. Good point @happilyretired the fogger Rocks. I use it in my garden. Like a flame thrower of microscopic fog penetrates even the thickest foliage. I ended up fogging my entire grow to wipe out everything. Wow i forgotten about that Go happilyretired 
I also use azamax but only until they start flowering. Azaax has oil in it so it’s not good for flowering plants.
Fogger changed everything. You have no idea how much money it saves. If you look at the price of Azamax and Captain Jack’s dead bug or mighty mite spray, when you cut your volume by 2/3 you’re cutting your cost by 2/3. Makes that fogger seem like it cost a lot less in the end. Plus if that’s how they sanitize airplanes buses and schools for a microscopic virus, definitely shows how good it covers.
Azamax is neem seed oil, much more effective than reg neem oil and don’t make u want to barf lol. Different active ingredient than neem as well.great stuff for sure
@hoppiefrog
Are you saying that you had no ill affects using azamax on flowering plants?
All the data that I have seen, leads me to believe that using products that have oil in them of any kind tend to cause problems with trichome production.
I have never tried using anything that had any oil in it on a flowering plant.
I would greatly appreciate hearing your experience in this.