Hi there,
I am growing under hps 600w and spread predatory bugs out to combat spider mites, it seems as if the predatory bugs have gotten out of control, and I have this leaf issue that I thought was a deficiency in CaMg or Nitrogen but having supplemented this in my feed 2 weeks back, nothing seems to be changing.
Any thoughts?
Kind Regards,
Welcome to the growers networker. Could you give us a little bit more information? Type of nutrients type of media you’re growing in temperature and humidity. And if we can get some pictures of some of the leaves that are damaged as well as a few from further back with the lights off using just the flash. Also if you do have insects of any kind on the bottom of your leaves some photos of that.
Hi @mrwolf welcome to GN. Thats horrible, have you seen no improvement since have the mite infestation? Are there still any signs of mites? You going to have to share more information about your grow for assistance. Hope we can help.
Hi there,
Growing in Coco Coir 18 liter pots, room temperature average 25 degrees C, using Aptus nutrients at 3/4 recommendation, RH around 50%.
Thanks in advance…
hope this is what you wanted. 
hope this is what you were after.
They are looking much better than before to me and your picture updates. What I can see is your leaves are clawing down and some of the soil looks dry ,plus you are using small pots. You dont think the soil is too dry? @happilyretired
Yeah they’re clawing and look little dry but look at all the bugs on the bottom of that leaf. Without looking at those bugs through Magnifier l can’t tell whether they are dead dying or alive. If you put predator bugs in there they won’t kill your plant they just die when they run out of other bugs to eat. So I’d say you have a real problem if they are alive. Plant can cause claw from a infestation that bad.
This far into flowering, The only suggestion I could make as far as the bugs are concerned would be hitting them heavy with Dr. Bonners soap or Captain Jack’s dead bug. And yes they do look dry I would be definitely checking the weight the pots and make sure they’re not dry.
Good luck. If those bugs are alive you need to get after them immediately.
Thanks for the help all, I will give them a feed tonight and see if that sorts out the clawing, I was afraid I was over watering to be honest (around a liter every 2 days or so).
I am using Swirski-Mite Plus as the predatory bugs, I have never seen them multiply like this before hence my concern.
Will keep you all updated as I have just crept into week 6 of flower.
Again many thanks to you all.
mrwolf,
Something doesn’t sound right there…if possible you may want to look at those ‘predators’ nder a strong hand lens or scope. Predatious mites are never going to ‘explode’ without the damaging mites going ape shit…
Another thing to consider is predatious insects or mites are NEVER going to have a negative affect on your plants…
Good luck, I hope you get it under control!
You might want to get a scope and look close. You have a serious bug issue. You need to identify them. Only way I know to do that for sure is with the endoscope. Having something you can take a picture with makes all the difference. You can really study it.
Those look alot like aphids, are you sure you have spider mites and not a combination of pests?
Good catch @treetrunks …
They do look like aphids. Don’t bother with Captain Jack’s dead bug use the Dr. Bonners soap. I would start off with 3 tablespoons per gallon. You will notice immediate Improvement. I think the real problem here is as covered as your plants are they really need to be moved outside and washed off. I know this sounds crazy but all those dead bugs are going to rot on your plant. I just looked back and it doesn’t look like that is going to be an option for you. I don’t know. The Dr. Bonners will definitely kill them but then you need to figure out how to get them off. I don’t know maybe you can use a pump sprayer and just spray up on the bottom the leaves real close and wash them off. That’s about the only suggestion I have to get them off the plant but I think I would be ordering some Dr. Bonners if I were you. 
I would worry about killing them first and then worry about getting them off your plants.
Lady bugs would be an option if you want to go that route but I think it is too late. I don’t know how fast they would eradicate them. Maybe one of the other growers around here that uses them indoor could give a timeframe of how quickly they react to a huge volume of bugs 
If it is aphids you may have to spray a treatment regimen before releasing more predators to hunt down any survivors. Aphids have multiple life stages, can lay eggs, overwinter, grow wings and even reproduce from a single individual instead of a mating pair. There are also many types of aphids and not every product/predator will work on every species. Ultimately I ended up tossing all the plants in the affected room because there was too much foliage to not miss atleast one egg or aphid and they reproduce so rapidly one can easily turn into a re infestation. I vacumed, bleached, mopped and used 3% H2o2 on the entire room and all equipment, walls, roof, floor, lighting, pumps fans ect
That’s a bummer.
They came on this year on my outdoor for the first time. I made it through it but it was tough. It would’ve been easier if I hadn’t had surgery on my foot and I could walk but still wound up with a great harvest. They stayed on the leaves mostly. Once I got to the last three weeks I just stripped the leaves off. Then I treated the plants after that. It worked out pretty good. I’m gonna change my IPM a little bit next year. Now that I have to worry about aphids.
Yep bugs can be bastards! You got to act fast and hit them every 2 days with 3 different products. Mites become immune to poisons. And @treetrunks those are aphids. And they could have even come from ants and the ants lost control of the aphids?? If your plants had that many mites they would be webbed over and there not. Id buy 300-500 lady bugs off Amazon. And get serious about spraying. And I would take each plant outside or into a shower and spray all the aphids off you can then treat the plants with your bug spray. Then nothing bug killer wise after the last treatment after the plants were showered. By then the lady bugs should show up. And there shouldnt be any bug sprays at this point so you dont kill the lady bugs also. I got hit with mites 2x this year and thrips once. But i always keep einstiens leaf shine - neem oil and coco-wet on hand as my ipm. It has Never let me down. I use this combination every 2-3 days or 2x times a week. Keeps the bugs out just in case.
Many thanks to you all for the information you have provided, I will be on top of this and keep you updated on the progress - cross fingers for me…
UPDATE
Lost a lot of fan leaves but managed to stop the infestation.
Going to start flush tomorrow, will let you know the final weight after drying.
Man thats exactly what I was thinking. First off pretty hard to see mites without a scope and that one pic didn’t seem to be to magnified. We sure we’re treating for the right pests??
Hi there,
Yes, I identified the correct bug - Aphids as it turned out, what is really strange is that I used Swirski-Mite as a precaution to spider-mites and instead had this Aphid infestation instead… never had this issue before hence the onset of panic mode.
