Spider Mites, Ladybugs, Outdoor crop help

sukow360

Active Member
I have a few plants growing in my back yard currently, I'm planning to move them asap before they get too big to an outdoor location where I'll only be able to check on them every week or two, But ive noticed they are starting to get mites, I see them on all my plants (most only have a few, a couple are getting worse) all the plants are in veg except for 1 which is my aurora indica (6weeks in flower)
I'd prefer not to use chemicals, so I want to try using lady bugs (my vegetable garden also has aphids) so I'm hoping when they are done with the mites they will eat all the aphids

Here is my problem, I keep my plants between the house and an old broken down van which is about 3 feet away from the house, in the day it gets pretty hot and dry(its a black van), Its not overly hot to hurt the plants... but when I tried releasing ladybugs they couldnt take it.
about a week ago I released 250 of them them at sunset, I misted down the plants with water before i let them go and they all seemed happy at first, they were crawling all over the plants, but the next morning when I got up I went to check on them and they were all over the ground with their legs in the air, I sprayed them down with water and about 20 of them recovered... but have since left:cry:

so my question is how can I keep my plants cool enough that the ladybugs wont die off? I'm thinking about tying a tarp above the plants between the house and van to keep the plants shaded... but I'm concerned that they wont get enough light....

any suggestions would be much appreciated
 

jhod58vw

Well-Known Member
Shade cloth or shape tarp. Harbor Freight Tools sales the shade tart in black and homedepot sales the shade cloth in many colors. Both used on green houses to lower temps and shade a bit but still plenty of light for the plants. Good Luck.
 

millie

Active Member
I just had a spider mite infestation....I made a homemade chilli spray. Here's a link to a recipe https://www.rollitup.org/bugs/475307-how-kill-spider-mites-100-a.html. I made mine by cutting up 3 homegrown really spicy chillis and SIMMERED NOT BOILED them with 600 mls of water for 20 minutes. Shit is really potent and kills the mites instantly. My plants werent affected at all by them but i would be weary using it during flower as it may harm the buds. Spray them with this twice a day for a couple of days and they should all fuck off. Good luck.
 
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