Pretreating soil

I've used FFOF in the past and am thinking of using it again. This next crop I thought soil alone, no nutes so I can't break things. KISS No more simpler.

However, every time I've used this soil the plants got the spider mites.

Is there anything that can be down to soil as a pretreatment that will destroy the spider mite potential, yet not sterilize the soil?

Spider mites are probably already in your home.. they like dry airid climates.. so the best thing to keep them away is keep your RH up and do preventitive spraying every so often with citric acid .. you coukd treat the soil but my guess is they are coming from somewhere else.

You sure you don't mean fungus gnats?

Nope_49595933949 said:

You sure you don't mean fungus gnats?

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Yeah fungus gnats are always in ffof, happy frog, humbolt..

I’d wager on the side of fungus gnats. Unless you’re 100% sure they’re spider mites. Every bag of FF soils I used in the past gave me a gnat infestation.

1dude1seed said:

I’d wager on the side of fungus gnats. Unless you’re 100% sure they’re spider mites. Every bag of FF soils I used in the past gave me a gnat infestation.

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Spider mites web-up the plant while fungus gnats fly around defying gravity. Am I missing something?

rmax said:

Spider mites web-up the plant while fungus gnats fly around defying gravity. Am I missing something?

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That's probably not from the soil.

At this point in the game I treat soil with Mosquito Dunk solution after each transplant to prevent fungus gnats. Works every time.

I guess the spider mites could be living in my house and are laying dormant until FFOF is brought in. I think this is harder to explain than the other. All soil from Big Orange has had fungus gnats in my experience. So who knows?

What about using Avid or Forbid 4F the first water like the mosquito dunks? Will that wipe out possibilities?

Might sound odd, Check you don’t have rhododendrons or azaleas in your garden. Those are constantly covered in them, you would only have to brush up against them once or twice and you’ll track them in on your clothing.

rmax said:

Spider mites web-up the plant while fungus gnats fly around defying gravity. Am I missing something?

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Correct. But without seeing the plant, or actually reading everything with my full attention, I didn’t know if you knew the difference.

With that out of the way, I’ve never had mites from FF soil, just fungus gnats. If you in fact do have mites, I’m sorry. Burn the bitch to the ground lol I hate them bastards.

As said earlier spider mites like it hot and dry. They live along dusty roads naturally. Look for wherever they’re laying over in the grow area. And if you’re in flower consider predator mites for control. Would also suggest not loosing the entire order of them at once but over a period of time that allows any eggs to hatch. Because predator mites are strictly meat eaters and go away (die) after there’s no more meat to eat.

I add diatomaceous earth to my soils. I've read it can add needed minerals to the soil as well as making for a shitty home for all the not so friendly critters in a grow, cheap as well!