temperature mite control

Booganja · 01-12-2001, 10:04 PM

Plants quite ill. Should have taken this action weeks ago.

Lowering temperatures to below sixty, above forty. checking plants every twenty minutes. Estimate 1 to 3 hours necessary to extinguish menace mites.

Would apprecieate comments/suggestions.

Booganja

wolfman · 01-13-2001, 06:52 AM

Are you having a mite problem???

I'm not very experienced with it, but here's some info from a man who knows a lot about growing...i trust his advice, if i were you, i would do the same...

Quote:

Here goes
Spider Mites are tough little SOB's. Everyone has a tough time with them. You have to use a solution that is strong enoughti kill them without leaving crap on the foliage that you will wind up smoking. So with that in mind here is a solution that will kill on contact and leaves minmal evidence behind.
Buy a package of Chewing Tobacco and put the whole package into 1 gallon of warm water. Let it stand in a warm place overnight 12 hours minimum. Filter the solution using a coffee filter and put it into a clean spray device. You can add 4 tablespoons of dish soap to this and spray the foliage down. Make sure you get the mites. Spray the tops and bottoms of the leaves. Once you have done this sparay the floor and walls in the grow area. Bear in mind that the spray may brown the leaf tips and visible pistils. This is a very powerfull contact insecticide. Nicotine is one of the only things that knocks down the mites. You can go to the Garden store and look for a Nicotine Sulphate spray, but it will contain other nasty ingredients that you don't want to smoke.
Good luck - Joker1.5

Good luck!!!

wolf

Booganja · 01-13-2001, 09:21 AM

I should re-read the pest control sections of my various books. I had forgotten all about tobacco juice. Thanks a bunch.
Booo

Booganja · 01-15-2001, 06:51 PM

I tried the tobacco juice with limited results, but the next night I did the following.

1. removed the dead and 50% affected leaves. Interesting note: Mites seem to prefer larger, more mature leaves. This might be because they prefer dryer conditions and don't get around too well on wet or sticky surfaces.

2. Used my tobacco juice as the diluent in place of water for insecticidal soap spray per directions on the bottle.

3. Soaked those babies from top to bottom.

4. Turned off my big 1000 Watt bulb so as not to burn leaves, and to give plants a chance to recover, and let the temperature of the room fall to around 60 degrees with only flouro's to provide light.

The results: I cannot find a live mite anywhere on my plants.

I would still like to try using just tobacco juice under less desperate conditions, but I am extremely happy with these results, and my plants look great 36 hours later. I will be moving them back to a regular light schedule tonight.

I would be less enthusiastic about applying this treatment to plants in flower.

Thanks again for the help Wolf
Booganja

Booganja · 01-23-2001, 01:45 AM

Oh Yeah,

8 days later and no sign of mites. Plants looking better every day!

Yet, the price of mite-free plants is eternal vigilance. I won't let them get such a hold next time.

Booo

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