mountainmarci
New Member
I do not have this yet, but many people in the area do. Nothing seems to help. Are there photos of affected plants? CONTROLS?? Help, and thanks!
Broad Mite
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iwltfum
New Member
I believe the cannabis species of broad mite is the hemp russet mite, which can be quite a buggar. I've had them twice before and the only way I was able to get rid of them was vaporizing sulfur.
Symptoms:
-Exaggerated clawing of fan leaves or deformed new growth
-Leaves get a leathery, rough, or billowy texture to the sight (particularly on new growth)
-Mosaic patterning or yellow/green splotching on fan leaves
-Canoeing of fan leaves
-Underdeveloped buds
Control: 5 hours sulfur during the dark cycle once, then again after 24 hours. Then 5 hours during the dark cycle once a week for the next month or two. I woudn't do this if your grow room is attached to your house or if your plants are more than 3-4 weeks into bloom. Pyrethrin bombs work well too, but again, don't do it in bloom or near your vegetables, toothbrush, ect. You should get a couple pyrethrin bombs and fog the room(s) every other day or so for a couple days. These mites replicate fast and are sexually mature as soon as 2 days after they hatch, so you have to catch the ones you missed or that hatched after the first bomb, before they are able to lay eggs again, or else you will not be able to get rid of them.
ADDITION: I hear sulfur sprays work all right too, but they are too messy for me. Feels like I'm spraying cake batter all over my room. Which ever method you use, stay on top of the applications or it will all be for nothing.
Symptoms:
-Exaggerated clawing of fan leaves or deformed new growth
-Leaves get a leathery, rough, or billowy texture to the sight (particularly on new growth)
-Mosaic patterning or yellow/green splotching on fan leaves
-Canoeing of fan leaves
-Underdeveloped buds
Control: 5 hours sulfur during the dark cycle once, then again after 24 hours. Then 5 hours during the dark cycle once a week for the next month or two. I woudn't do this if your grow room is attached to your house or if your plants are more than 3-4 weeks into bloom. Pyrethrin bombs work well too, but again, don't do it in bloom or near your vegetables, toothbrush, ect. You should get a couple pyrethrin bombs and fog the room(s) every other day or so for a couple days. These mites replicate fast and are sexually mature as soon as 2 days after they hatch, so you have to catch the ones you missed or that hatched after the first bomb, before they are able to lay eggs again, or else you will not be able to get rid of them.
ADDITION: I hear sulfur sprays work all right too, but they are too messy for me. Feels like I'm spraying cake batter all over my room. Which ever method you use, stay on top of the applications or it will all be for nothing.
iwltfum
New Member
I forgot that I had some pictures of some of my plants that had them:
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mountainmarci
New Member
Thank you so much! I am growing outdoors, and other people growing outdoors are having this problem. What could be sprayed on outdoor plants?
iwltfum
New Member
I'm really not sure what your best bet would be outside. I tried alcohol sprays on my plants (1tbls 99%iso per gallon of water), and it seemed to work ok to bat them down a bit, but I never got rid of them until I used the sulfur. Maybe a sulfur spay like Safer?
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mountainmarci
New Member
Ah, thank you! I will pass this along to my medical group. This has been a big topic of discussion, and various remedies have beaten it back a bit, but never totally gotten rid of them.
iwltfum
New Member
Someone told me a while back that they don't happen outside and that they are only a contained garden type pest, but I have seen them on my tomatoes, peas, and lettuces - all of which are growing outside. Quite annoying. I wish I had some solid advice to give you. If you find them in your garden and you are able to move your plants, then I would make some kind of structure around them, cover it with greenhouse plastic or something and hit them with the sulfur or pyrethrin. The sulfur spray requires full coverage every time in order to be effective, and sometimes, with a nice big, bushy plant, full coverage can be almost impossible.
This is my second year dealing with broad mites and russet mites , I have ben growing in the same holes for years. Never to spray for bugs. We had a grape arbor next to my patch and there are wine orchards above and below us I learned that grapes are the main carrier of broad mites, we tore all the grapes out ,we checked with a microscope and the grapes were covered . They are invisible until they get older, then they look like whitish watermelon seeds , they can reproduce in as fast as 3 days depending on the temperature , it's hard to tell them from russet mites . A microscope is helpful, you can better tell when they hatch . We wound up spraying every night with 35% hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice. We mixed 1&1/4 oz. peroxide to 1 gal water and 1 oz. of lemon concentrate to 5 gal ice water. We tried a lot of things at first but this is the best so far. We are actually beating them down and the plants look great. We got suckered again this year thinking they had a chemical (nitrogen) burn. So what do we do but cut down on the nitrogen , weakening the plant further. After several arguments we got a microscope and there they were . We gave them some food. I would like to kill the little bastards but this is the best we can do so far. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or knowledge.
iwltfum
New Member
That spray sounds interesting. I've used to iso, but not with lemon juice. Maybe hot water would be better. I've read that you can kill the mites and eggs by applying very hot water (+100f) or very hot air to the foliage.
I heard that too, last year we made a hot box to kill them before hanging , we had them for over 1 hr. at 140 degrees and most were still moving. I am going to try co2 next. I's one thing to control them but after harvest they keep on eating , they can be eating after it's in the bag. I put them in the freezer all night and that didn't kill them. A lot of products say they can kill them , but so far most were water and a lemon juice thing. I think spraying them with water does a lot , hot or cold . we use a fairly high pressure spray to reach the taller plants .
iwltfum
New Member
They can over-winter in some pretty extreme weather so I don't see the freezer helping out too much unfortunately. Crazy that some were still moving after the 1hr at 140degrees. Makes these things sound indestructible. Like I said, the only method that I've had considerable luck with is the sulfur burning. I had them for about a year before I bought a sulfur vaporizer and, within weeks, I had them under control and they stayed away for about 3 years. Now they are back and the sulfur seems to be working, but damn, these bastards are a scary notion for outdoor growers. I haven't been able to stop them outside - pretty much at all.
I could not imagine a little clear blob of liquid could freeze solid and still live ,they are amazing. That hot box ran my electric bill up with 3 electric heaters . They are supposed to multiply faster with hot weather so we are cooling them down with ice water, couldn't hurt . We have them knocked down pretty good but I am trying to kill them immediately after cutting them down before we hang them . Otherwise they will keep eating , even after they are dry . I am planning some sort of co2 bath , co2 is supposed to replace the oxygen . I don't know if it would get the eggs inside . Would the sulfur burning change the taste if we put a concentrated dose in a big enclosed box . The eggs are inside the leaves and it seems like nothing can get to them until they hatch . I saw another poster who was going to try co2 , I wonder how he did. They are almost indestructible .
iwltfum
New Member
Keep us posted on the co2! Yes, the sulfur will change the taste if the plants are more than two or three weeks into bloom, but not otherwise. The later into bloom that the sulfur is applied, the worse it will taste. The sulfur taste is particularly profound in extracts made with a plant that has been exposed to sulfur in late bloom.
