spider mites?!?!? please help

i just got these two ladies not very long ago at all. and my hubby said they have spider mits i have no clue what they are! so he went to this web site that told him to use either malathion! wont this harm them????? the web site said the organic alternative is to get ivory soap and put flakes of it in water and put that over the plant...!!! does it have to be ivory soap i dont have any ivory i have irish spring.

any advice would greatly help thanks a ton!

I've use insecticidal soap (neem oil is second) - twice a week for two weeks, then once a week for two weeks. I spray everything in the 'garden' at the same time: avocados, tomatoes, etc but I don't use it in the flowering tent. I usually spot 'em when the first webs start right at the crotch between a leaf stem and the branch (misting with water will make them really obvious) and that regime works every time. K.I.S.S.
By the time I see spider mites themselves, the webs are already there. I don't see webs in your pic....

I'm no expert, YMMV, etc.

I don't see spidermites or damage from them either. If indeed you do have mites I have found that Neem oil, Azadirachtin work well.
Abamectin works too.
A step up and inorganic are shuttle o, forbid 4f

azamax and a spray bottle. Works wonders and you can use up until the day before harvest.

Ladybugs on amazon. 12 bucks with shipping. Stops mites for a month with 1500 ladies. Best solution ive found to date. All others seem to fail and cost a fortune. Ladies are cheap eco friendly and not harmfull to your lungs.

I've ordered them (750) for my green house but they didn't stay very long. I like how they inspect the plants all over. It's pretty cool. I want to try breeding them someday for my garden.

get a pyrethrum bombs and all your problems are gone...... they are extremely effective

Mighty Wash
No more mites

In addition to Azamax i have also used a 50/50 mix of water and rubbing alcohol. Mites are very,very hard to get rid of completly, .
I also do not see mite damage in your pic. The little black specks look like crap fron some other insect. Mites are extreamly small .

dadio161 said:

azamax and a spray bottle. Works wonders and you can use up until the day before harvest.

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Do not use Azamax in flower. it is an oil based spray and will coat your buds and it will not wash off. Just like neem. Your buds will taste like shit. Abamectin is probably the safest to use in flower. Abemectin is a tea of fermented bacteria. Brand name is Avid. If with in the the first two weeks of flower you can use just about anything you like since there are no flowers yet.

Alienwidow said:

Ladybugs on amazon. 12 bucks with shipping. Stops mites for a month with 1500 ladies. Best solution ive found to date. All others seem to fail and cost a fortune. Ladies are cheap eco friendly and not harmfull to your lungs.

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Lady bugs are a waste of time. They will eat mites if they come across them but that is about it. Lady Bugs prefer aphids. Not a realistic approach.

arson. 100% effective

1anonymous1 said:

get a pyrethrum bombs and all your problems are gone...... they are extremely effective

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Don't ever use any bug bomb. First of all they can and will burn the shit out of your plants. Second pyrethrum will indeed create super mites that other treatments that would effective can be considered ineffective.
Heres a method to keeping mites at bay.
1) Learn to clone and not get clones from the community.
2) Use effective miticides. (Forbid 4F, Shuttle O, Avid, Azamax, and Cold Pressed Neem Oil.)
3) Rotate those miticides.
4) Spray every 5 days regardless if you see mites.
5) Continue spraying at least a month after seeing last mite. (eggs keep hatching)
6) Keep ambient room temperatures below 75 F. (mites reproduce slower at cooler temps)
7) When plants are small (solo to 1 gallon pots) dip plants into a bucket of miticide for excellent coverage.
Lose the hand spray bottle and get a pump wand sprayer.
9) Between miticides spray clean cold water.
10) Although this could be hard for most it should be the easiest. Get rid of an infested plant(s). Losing few to save the many. Even if it's in flower. Could save a crop.

i know you cant really see anything on this picture. the reason i posted about the spider mites my hubby was concerned that that is what was on them. i know while i was taking this picture i did see on the top of the leaf a very tiny bug moving across it. not to sure what it was tried to get a picture of it could get get close enough. and way it was a black speck that moved kinda like what i was under the leaf here that i thought might show up better. anyways, my hubby got so worried about it and impatient he went ahead and spray it with the pesticide we had! hoping it didn't kill the plants. so far no change other than i don't see any tiny black specks moving. hmm not sure if it worked or not! i want to get one of these though it seems unanimous everyone suggests these Forbid 4F, Shuttle O, Avid, Azamax, and Cold Pressed Neem Oil.

Whatever you do dont use forbid, 4f or any type of systemic like that in flower. That stuff is bad for you and stays in the plant for months.

Also be prepared to have spider mites again. Theyre ridiculously tough to get rid of.

that is just awful. no wonder my shop donated them to us! so can these little bugger completely ruin the plant? or will they still bud?

they'll still bud but if things get out of control you'll have webbing every where and all over your buds if not taken care of.
sometimes you can see them crossing the webs *yuck!!!*

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CouchlockOR said:

Lady bugs are a waste of time. They will eat mites if they come across them but that is about it. Lady Bugs prefer aphids. Not a realistic approach.

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Well then your doing it wrong. Your room needs to be sealed. Place screen over the air intake so they dont fly out and your done. Ive taken gardens from webs everywhere to not even able to find a mite in a week. If you put them in your greenhouse expect them to fly out. This is common sence but ive saved thousands due to the awesom power of ladybugs so dont tell me its a waste of time.

sherylsue85 said:

that is just awful. no wonder my shop donated them to us! so can these little bugger completely ruin the plant? or will they still bud?

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Ya, they will ruin the plant if nothings done. The plants still bud but the buds will be small and worthless. The leaves all die from the suckers and they dont transfer the plant energy from photosynthesis to the buds due to the poor condition of the leaves. Then theres the webs. Webbed out buds are just gross. If you do get webby buds you can use a vaccum to remove the webs, just hold on tight.

did i do my plant any damage by praying it with the malathion insect spray?