Home made spider mite spray

Thought I might pass this cost saver along.....

A cpl weeks ago I had a severe infestation of the dreaded "SPIDER MITES" in my indoor flower room. I first tried an alcohol/water mix but with limited sucess. Then I went to my hydro store and my man there suggested FoxFarms spray called "Don't Bug Me". He said its a natural spray with no petro chemicals as the active ingrediant and the shit will break down after a cpl of days and become inert and harmless. I bought a 24oz bottle for 16 bucks and tried it. The shit worked great but didn't last long cuz I had 80 plus plants to spray.

Well as it would happen, the day before I washed my 2 taco bell dogs and dipped them in some flea and tick dip. Since the instruction said I could let it dry on them I read the ingrediants and wouldn't you know it, it had the same active ingrediant as the Don't Bug Me (pyrethrum) but in a slightly higher concentration. I did the math and mixed up a solution comparable to the don't bug me and literaly drenched my plants on the tops and bottoms with my homemade spray. That was two weks ago and as of today, NO SPIDER MITES and the girls are doing well with no loss of any plants. Here are some picks of the girls I took yesterday. They look thin because I trimmed as close as possible to the flowers as I could to get as many mites and eggs off before I sprayed. I was gonna trim them anyway cuz I lolly pop my plants...take a look...

Oh a side note, since the dip is concentrated the cost per gallon of homemade spray is about $1.00 per gallon. Good for outdoor growers who might need a lot of spray .

what is the product name for the flea and tick dip? this sounds a lot better than buying the expensive stuff!

Yeah pyrethrum will kill almost any bug, it is powerful juju. safe too! it comes from chrysanthemums. It will kill anything from lice to butterflies so be careful but to us mammals it does nothing. Some DIY pest control places sell it by the gallon.
http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/product.aspx?iid=214

Many hardware stores sell what is called Buhach (ground up flowers petals of the chrysanthemum which contains pyrethrum). http://www.drpower.com/prdSell.aspx?Name=BuhachInsectRepellent&p1Name=Catalog&Chap=PestControls It is sold in a car board can that holds maybe 24 ounces (fluid) 8 0unces by weight. Many workers in the construction trade use it for mosquito control. It sells like candy in Alaska where mosquitos are often calledthe stae bird. They just dump some of the powder into a can or bucket and light it with a match. It smolders and the smoke repels/kills mosquitoes. For an average room a rounded teaspoon burnt once a week if mites show up will kill them off without any need to spray. Plus it is all natural unlike the link, and it is easier to get contact on all surfaces with a smoke than with spraying. Simple, easy and quick. Cheap enough and harmless em nough to use as a preventative rather than waiting for an infestation. T make a solution to spray you would simply add some to some alcohol and stir or soak, run the alcohol through a filter. Let the alcohol evaporate and add water to make a spray. It is however simpliest to just burn it nad t you are assured of over all coverage with no work involved. I have even seen it used out side by burning with good results. Some out door growers use \a large duster and merely spray it on dry and let the rain remove it.

Poseidon313 said:

what is the product name for the flea and tick dip? this sounds a lot better than buying the expensive stuff!

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Sold under different brand names...Walmart,Petco,petsmart will have it. Any flea and tick dip will do, just read the ingredient lable .

thanks, i figured there were several brands, i'll look around if it becomes a problem. also i like your idea fatman, sounds like something i will definitely try. nothing better than preventing a problem before it becomes a true problem

However most of the flea and tick sprays are as the synthetic spray, total man made from chemicals. So its a matter of natural organic sources or man made chemicals. Labels will usually say if it is a natural source of pyrethrum but they usually won't specifically say the source of the pyrethrum when it is a chemical source.

fatman7574 said:

However most of the flea and tick sprays are as the synthetic spray, total man made from chemicals. So its a matter of natural organic sources or man made chemicals. Labels will usually say if it is a natural source of pyrethrum but they usually won't specifically say the source of the pyrethrum when it is a chemical source.

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Very true fatman. I also want to add that there will be more and more synthetic brands showing up on store shelves in products containing pyrethrum in the near future . This is due to the fact that base element in natural pyrethrum products are in short supply from most distributors in Africa where 90% of this product comes from. This I learned from a distributor of pest control products in my town that I have know for several years.

Bummer. I really like Buhach. That just means I need to stock up as it and Cutters are nearly staples here. We often call Cutters the state Colonge. Drown in it for 6 months per year and no bugs at all for 6 months per year.

I wouldn't ever get the chemical based stuff, thats a no brainer to me. i'm the guy when buying things for my baby that spends 20 minutes reading the label to make sure its ok to use.

I have seen many people get good results just using aromatic kitchen spices and peppers etc ground up in a blender with water added.

i am currently battling mites, been spraying with cold water and physically removing them as often as i can. It seems to be working ok, but i need something better. I was thinking about this Buhach idea, and I am curious will the smoke harm the plant? I have often heard that smoke is bad for plants, but i am assuming the amount of smoke that one teaspoon will give off wont be all the much. I am just curious though cause i have heard smoke to be harmfull.