White spider mites? Plz help me identify these bugs (pics enclosed)

[hippylee]

I definitely had spider mites about 6 wks ago. Sprayed with mixture of neem oil, SM-90, & Safer`s Insecticidal soap every few days for three weeks and thought I`d actually conquered them.

Then, a few days after my last spray of the plants (so about 3.5 weeks after I started spraying for spider mites), I saw swarms of tiny white dots on the insides of my black plant pots -- I mean hundreds of them on each pot (the plants had just been put into flower one week earlier after vegging for 6 wks -- had to veg an extra couple of weeks while I tried to get rid of the spider mites). It was as if hundreds of eggs had just hatched all at once.

I put tanglefoot all around the edges of the pots and the base of the stems of the plants to stop the little critters from crawling up to the leaves -- that effectively confined them to the soil. But the plants started to look sick... and became wobbly... as if the little critters were eating the roots.

I kept spraying again -- the dirt, the pots, the stems of the plants... sprayed every day for the next 3 days and I still kept seeing the moving white dots. So I added some Eco-Sense liquid pyrethrin to the spray. They are now greatly reduced in numbers but I still see them. The plants are doing okay, but a few weeks into flowering now they are definitely somewhat stunted.

The guy at the local grow shop says spider mites are not all white and he`s never heard of them living in soil and eating roots (but what if they can`t get up to the leaves?).

I discovered that I can take photos by putting my camera lens up to the microscope viewer, so these are the critters -- this is a colony that was on a dead (I mean shrivelled up, brown) leaf that was lying on top of the soil:



Are they spider mites? I can't tell if they have 6 or 8 legs. They seem to have a bunch of thin white spiky hair-like things sticking out of their bodies towards the back.

Also, anyone know what these are? They are very white (not great pics) and seem to be larvae for tiny, thin, long brown bugs that move really quickly on the leaves (and seem to prefer the tops of the leaves rather than the undersides). They`re gone now, but they came with the spider mites on some infected plants someone gave me:





I thought they might be thrip larvae. What do you think?

Thanks guys! All help is greatly appreciated.

[Ms.Fox]

Yes, I agree with you. They do look like spider mites and the last pic does look like thrip larvae. You can use Safer Yard and Insecticide (which can be used up until the day of harvest) GNATROL, or Neem Oil.

[Weed420]

Its spider mites. They can be a bugger to get completely rid of. You can just use straight water sprayed particularly on the uncerside of the leaves,thats where they live. They have about a 3 or 4 day egg cycle so spraying them every 3 or 4 days keeps the critters down. Neem oil or dish sopa and water work good too but again only spray them once every 3 days or so. About a teaspoon of dish soap or neem oil er gallon of water works good.
I had a really bad infestation break out and I've used the HotShot bug repellent to rid my veg room of the critters. It worked excellent.Jus hang it for a week.75% are gone in the first 24 hours, they're all gone in a week. Then just put the bug strip in a sealed bag and use it again next time.

[hippylee]

Thanks Ms Fox & Weed420 :) I just did a search for Hot Shot bug repellent and it looks like there's all kinds of Hot Shot products -- I figure you're talking about the Hot Shot No-pest Strips, yes? I read some reviews and they sound awesome! Anyone know if they are available in Canada? Thanks :)

Edited to add -- is it safe to hang up the no-pest strips in the grow room when the plants are in there?

[Racefan]

Ii doubt they are mites. Mites require plant material to suckle off to survive and a container/root zone will not supply that. They could be thrips or springtails. The same company that makes mite-rid (hydro masta) makes a product called BioSect. It is a product that combines the beneficial insecticidal properties of several botanical oils, including Neem. It can be used as a foliar spray where it will provide a physical barrier to leaf sucking insect pests and provide anti fungal properties, or it can be incorporated into the medium to deter insect pests that attack plants below the surface. I've used the product with great results.
I swear by mite-rid for mites. One application and you've beaten mites. I've been a mite rid fan and user for 5+ years now.

[BWC BayArea]

Originally Posted by hippylee

I definitely had spider mites about 6 wks ago. Sprayed with mixture of neem oil, SM-90, & Safer`s Insecticidal soap every few days for three weeks and thought I`d actually conquered them.

Then, a few days after my last spray of the plants (so about 3.5 weeks after I started spraying for spider mites), I saw swarms of tiny white dots on the insides of my black plant pots -- I mean hundreds of them on each pot (the plants had just been put into flower one week earlier after vegging for 6 wks -- had to veg an extra couple of weeks while I tried to get rid of the spider mites). It was as if hundreds of eggs had just hatched all at once.

I put tanglefoot all around the edges of the pots and the base of the stems of the plants to stop the little critters from crawling up to the leaves -- that effectively confined them to the soil. But the plants started to look sick... and became wobbly... as if the little critters were eating the roots.

I kept spraying again -- the dirt, the pots, the stems of the plants... sprayed every day for the next 3 days and I still kept seeing the moving white dots. So I added some Eco-Sense liquid pyrethrin to the spray. They are now greatly reduced in numbers but I still see them. The plants are doing okay, but a few weeks into flowering now they are definitely somewhat stunted.

The guy at the local grow shop says spider mites are not all white and he`s never heard of them living in soil and eating roots (but what if they can`t get up to the leaves?).

I discovered that I can take photos by putting my camera lens up to the microscope viewer, so these are the critters -- this is a colony that was on a dead (I mean shrivelled up, brown) leaf that was lying on top of the soil:


Are they spider mites? I can't tell if they have 6 or 8 legs. They seem to have a bunch of thin white spiky hair-like things sticking out of their bodies towards the back.

Also, anyone know what these are? They are very white (not great pics) and seem to be larvae for tiny, thin, long brown bugs that move really quickly on the leaves (and seem to prefer the tops of the leaves rather than the undersides). They`re gone now, but they came with the spider mites on some infected plants someone gave me:

Never seen a thrip that close, but based on ur description of the fast movement and the larvae. yea that's what they are. I dealt with them before. A product called Spinosad knocked em out. Another sign ot thrips are oblong white scars/pock marks on foliage. larger than what a mite would leave and oblong (capsule shaped)not round. Hope this helps. I've dealt with both and can easily look at the damage and identify it. Take pics of foliage where they did the most damage.

[Ms.Fox]

Originally Posted by Racefan

Ii doubt they are mites. Mites require plant material to suckle off to survive and a container/root zone will not supply that. They could be thrips or springtails. The same company that makes mite-rid (hydro masta) makes a product called BioSect. It is a product that combines the beneficial insecticidal properties of several botanical oils, including Neem. It can be used as a foliar spray where it will provide a physical barrier to leaf sucking insect pests and provide anti fungal properties, or it can be incorporated into the medium to deter insect pests that attack plants below the surface. I've used the product with great results.
I swear by mite-rid for mites. One application and you've beaten mites. I've been a mite rid fan and user for 5+ years now.

Agreed. I've heard of other members using this and swear by it. Thanks for the reminder and info! ;-)

[hippylee]

Thanks for the tips everyone. BWC and Racefan - I did some more surfing predator pics and am pretty sure the critters in my first pic aren't thrips or springtails (the second two pics I posted are probably thrips though). The thrip larvae bodies look more elongated in the pics I've seen and I can make out their 6 legs whereas these guys in the first pic are more roundish (oblong) and have all kinds of legs and spiky appendages. To me, they look just like spider mites except for being all white and the fact that they appear to be surviving in the soil -- I just don't get it! Is it possible that immature spider mites are white? I read at Garden's Cure that the two-spotted mites get darker spots if the foliage is really dark green with lots of chlorophyll, so maybe mine don't have spots because, being stuck in the dirt, they don't have access to chlorophyll? And maybe that's why they appear to be dying off? And maybe the eggs got into the soil when I was spraying the foliage and blasting it with water?

I don`t have any pics of the damage to the foliage because that was 6 weeks ago when I just got the plants. But it was the white spots on the foliage that alerted me to the bug problem originally. At first I thought it was just some foliar feeding residue b/c I couldn`t imagine the guy who gave them to me wouldn`t notice bugs on his plants but when I looked closely, I saw two kinds of bugs which appeared to be thrips and mites. That crop has since been harvested and the bugs on the new crop are confined to the soil by the tanglefoot so they aren`t leaving the tell-tale marks on the foliage.

I came across this pic at Garden's Cure of a beneficial predator that kills thrips and spider mites called cucumeris -- they look a lot like my "white spider mites"! If you search google images for "cucumeris" there are other pics where they look like my white mites too.



Do you think there is any chance that these beneficials could have come into my grow room somehow to feed on my thrips and spider mites?

Thanks for all the tips regarding the various products that work. I will definitely try them after I harvest the plants that have only a couple of weeks to go. I definitely need to get rid of these things before I move my other plants in (which are currently vegging on my son's top bunk - definitely not good security-wise!). Thanks again -- really grateful for all the excellent input!

~peace!

[AKStickyIcky]

I've been growing and been dealing with thrips on and off and been using sticky pads to stop adults. Then all of sudden I notice white mites in my soil and along the top of my planter pots. size of salt and move fast when startled it can really start moving. Started searching to identify theses mites and compared it to a thrip mite predator and pretty sure thats what you have too. Now I got trips and predator mites. I didn't want either of them so I wash plants once a week with neem oil and soap. it seems they have a hard time breeding with wet leaves. If in flowerin stages I would use lady bugs for a last resort

[Weed420]

Sorry I took so long. Here's the HotShot that I use.
Hot Shot :: No-Pest Strip - 5580
I wouldn't use it in the last month of flower but the rest of the time it should be fine. From what I've read the plant won't absorb the chemical that this releases but I still would keep it out of the flower room for the last month.

[BWC BayArea]

Originally Posted by AKStickyIcky

I've been growing and been dealing with thrips on and off and been using sticky pads to stop adults. Then all of sudden I notice white mites in my soil and along the top of my planter pots. size of salt and move fast when startled it can really start moving. Started searching to identify theses mites and compared it to a thrip mite predator and pretty sure thats what you have too. Now I got trips and predator mites. I didn't want either of them so I wash plants once a week with neem oil and soap. it seems they have a hard time breeding with wet leaves. If in flowerin stages I would use lady bugs for a last resort

These aren't mites. Mites don't live in soil or move fast. Never seen a white one (doesn't mean they don't exist). Keep searchin till u figure out what they really are.

[AKStickyIcky]

I'm pretty sure its a predatory mite (Phytoseiulus persimilis). So called good mite I just order a new 40x microscope so I can confirm it right now just using 5x one. Heres the discriptions of these things


"Predatory mites are about the same size as spider mites, usually teardrop-shaped, long legged when compared to spider mites, and often orange-red, tan, or brown. They move quickly through and around pest mite colonies in search of prey and, unlike spider mites, can move backwards as well as forwards"

[Weed420]

Do you have any pictures of the leaves they were feeding on? My spider mites were always white. Very very tiny. Can barely see with the human eye. Also did you have any real fine webs on the leaves?

[AKStickyIcky]

Its been a week now of spraying and these white predator mites still living in the soil. I beleive they where feeding on my thrip pests but, I got them under control from all the spraying. The plant looks healthy green I wana put into flowing stages but keep getting scared that predator mite get into my bud. now they are not going for any leaves. but you can see them cralling all over the soil and around the top of the planter. has anyone used predatory mites in flowering stages? are these good mites or bad mites? Should I get lady bugs?

[BWC BayArea]

Y would u be concerned about them in getting n the buds when they've been in the soil all this time? Sounds like they eat bugs, not buds. Just wondering.