mrbubbles87
Well-Known Member
Sadly after over 3 years of success in my perpetual garden I have met my match....BROAD MITES!
In my time gardening I have battled many pests and diseases including spider mites but never have I been hit as hard as this little f*cker hits.
It all started with a new strain that I grew from seed. It seemed healthy but occasionally it threw a mutated or twisted leaf but showed no damage whatsoever. I scoped it with a cheapo 420 micro and found no bugs. The plant overall looked very good so I put it into flower with my normal rotation. In flower it produced PHENOMENAL buds with 0 damage. Yields were a little low but nothing alarming for a first run. It did continue to occasionally show a mutated leaf but still no damage.
Fast forward 4mos and 3 runs later with this strain; which is now my favorite flavor, and I'm starting to see the same leaf mutation on other strains in my garden.
I did my online research and everyone with similiar leaves are saying BM. At this point alarms are starting to go off. I'm asking myself what did I miss?! All my girls go through a rigorous IPM regimen (a lesson learned from my two spotted spider mites battle) where I cycle AZAMAX, insectial soap, neem oil, predator mites and compost teas.
Now this is where it gets scary. I'm doubling down my prevention efforts. I'm scoping, things are looking healthy for the most part and then all of the sudden a batch 4 weeks in flower comes to a screeching halt. The flowers look and smell amazing but there are a few tops that look like just the pistils were burned. The leafs have occasional spots and a few are clawing downwards.
Usually this tells me nute burn or nitro toxicity but I'm using half strength nutes with a lightly amended organic soil. I scope again up to 100x with the 420 scope and can't see anything. Out of desperation I grab my old 10x jewelers loupe and what do you know? I spot little milky sacs beneath the leaves. Paired with the burnt pistils and mutated leaves I'm convinced it's broadmites. I'd feel more comfortable identifying an actual mite on scope or if the plants showed more symptoms but I can't pin it on anything else.
So I've begun all out war and let me tell you guys for the first time in my growing career I'm scared sh*tless. I've spent hours and days online researching. Sometimes I stumbled into glimmers of hope but mostly it looks pretty bleak out there. I see a lot of guys shutting down shop or losing everything.
That cannot and will not happen to me! My family and friends depend on this medicine. I do not have the option of the shutting down shop, starting over or sending people elsewhere.
I began this journey to fight cancer and ironically this is happening on that anniversary. I believe all things happen for a reason so I am going to try and turn this horrible event into a learning experience.
I would like to share this with all of you as a journal. For better or worse I will photograph and document my experience as transparently as possible.
My strategy is to supercharge the health of my plants with teas/nutrients; combat the toxin with 325mg aspirin per gal; spray every 3 days with a rotation of Azamax, Neem Oil, and compost tea, drench with the same rotation; and finally to release massive amounts of predator mites.
Sorry for the huge story but details are important. I will follow up with pictures tonight and further reasoning of my methods.
Wish me luck and please pray for my girls!
(Note to administration thought journals would be OK but feel free to move to the infirmary if necessary.
In my time gardening I have battled many pests and diseases including spider mites but never have I been hit as hard as this little f*cker hits.
It all started with a new strain that I grew from seed. It seemed healthy but occasionally it threw a mutated or twisted leaf but showed no damage whatsoever. I scoped it with a cheapo 420 micro and found no bugs. The plant overall looked very good so I put it into flower with my normal rotation. In flower it produced PHENOMENAL buds with 0 damage. Yields were a little low but nothing alarming for a first run. It did continue to occasionally show a mutated leaf but still no damage.
Fast forward 4mos and 3 runs later with this strain; which is now my favorite flavor, and I'm starting to see the same leaf mutation on other strains in my garden.
I did my online research and everyone with similiar leaves are saying BM. At this point alarms are starting to go off. I'm asking myself what did I miss?! All my girls go through a rigorous IPM regimen (a lesson learned from my two spotted spider mites battle) where I cycle AZAMAX, insectial soap, neem oil, predator mites and compost teas.
Now this is where it gets scary. I'm doubling down my prevention efforts. I'm scoping, things are looking healthy for the most part and then all of the sudden a batch 4 weeks in flower comes to a screeching halt. The flowers look and smell amazing but there are a few tops that look like just the pistils were burned. The leafs have occasional spots and a few are clawing downwards.
Usually this tells me nute burn or nitro toxicity but I'm using half strength nutes with a lightly amended organic soil. I scope again up to 100x with the 420 scope and can't see anything. Out of desperation I grab my old 10x jewelers loupe and what do you know? I spot little milky sacs beneath the leaves. Paired with the burnt pistils and mutated leaves I'm convinced it's broadmites. I'd feel more comfortable identifying an actual mite on scope or if the plants showed more symptoms but I can't pin it on anything else.
So I've begun all out war and let me tell you guys for the first time in my growing career I'm scared sh*tless. I've spent hours and days online researching. Sometimes I stumbled into glimmers of hope but mostly it looks pretty bleak out there. I see a lot of guys shutting down shop or losing everything.
That cannot and will not happen to me! My family and friends depend on this medicine. I do not have the option of the shutting down shop, starting over or sending people elsewhere.
I began this journey to fight cancer and ironically this is happening on that anniversary. I believe all things happen for a reason so I am going to try and turn this horrible event into a learning experience.
I would like to share this with all of you as a journal. For better or worse I will photograph and document my experience as transparently as possible.
My strategy is to supercharge the health of my plants with teas/nutrients; combat the toxin with 325mg aspirin per gal; spray every 3 days with a rotation of Azamax, Neem Oil, and compost tea, drench with the same rotation; and finally to release massive amounts of predator mites.
Sorry for the huge story but details are important. I will follow up with pictures tonight and further reasoning of my methods.
Wish me luck and please pray for my girls!
(Note to administration thought journals would be OK but feel free to move to the infirmary if necessary.