Hey DGC,
Well I took on some cuts a few months ago and did an initial quarantine on the clones, I used sprays at the time (azamax, mammoth bio) but did not dip.
The plants were large and looking healthy but when I started to trim the lowers and take cuts, I noticed some odd looking leaves, grabbed the loupe, and then the microscope and found some russets! Fuck!
I removed the 4 veg plants that had adult mites on leaves and disposed of them. Ouch. We went over all the rest of the plants with the scope and couldn’t fine any adults.
I did an initial knockdown spray with 1:1 91% isopropyl alcohol and water, and about 5-6 drops of dish soap. I also ordered predatory mites, Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) californicus in case you want the exact species!
The rest of the plants show no damage or have any signs of adult mites! But then again…. If it can happen it probably has. The 4 that did go out the door were sharing a tent.
Definitely learned my lesson on taking in cuts, but what can I do from here guys? We did not have an infestation. I saw maybe 12-15 adults in the entire garden and trashed entire plants from it. 😢 Should I be taking any more precautions?? Or just let those predators do their thing?
Thanks everybody
The only things I have found to be effective on these hell spawn is wettable sulfur and DE.
The time I got them they came in a bag of soil and started seeing issues a little while after I transplanted, took me a while to figure out what I had and by then I was infested so the predators had no effect on them.
I would bet if you saw 12-15 adults there were eggs and babies you didn’t see.
If the predator mites don’t take care of them I would use some sulfur but be careful not to get it on anything electronic.
Yes Sulfur!
Thanks guys, I will look into some wettable sulfur. I am going to let the preds do their job for a week or two just because they have already been delivered and I don’t want to waste the $75 bucks I just spent by killing then off.
Very true. If there’s just a few the should do the job. Hopefully they eat eggs too. Good work on knowing what to look for and finding them early.
They can take a toll on plants pretty quick. I lost some genetics that I can’t replace😤
I just hit up Aribco and asked if they will eat the eggs as well! Thanks for making me think of that @killzone
Appreciate the help man, I was definitely seeing some weird leaves and couldn’t seem to correct the issues with anything! Glad I figured it out, I lost 4 plants and 3 I won’t get back.
Russets suck! Hate those little bastards.
As others mentioned, wetable sulfur is probably the most effective treatment for battling them. It will take out your predators tho too so consider that before using it.
I also recommend cleaning the heck out of your space. Tweetmint enzyme soap might be a good option. A good cleaning should help lessen the likelihood of them coming back.
Thanks as always Soup! Il check out that tweetmint and also pick up some sulfur in case the predators don’t win the battle for me.
Thanks DGC you guys rock.