I am IHateBugs and I hate bugs!

[ihatebugs]

Welcome Bugs!

I love bugs even when a young boy. Remember telling my mother there was a spider in the corner and told my mother who went and got the vacuum cleaner and sucked it up and from that point on learned to put them outside myself. Termites and cockroaches are a different story though. As an outside grower sometimes will handpick bugs such as leafhoppers 50 become too carried away on a plant but most of the time it is merely cosmetic and not harmful to the actual plant.

Used to do a lot of painting and on what was told to paint was a lot of the guinea paper wasps under the eaves and instead of using bug spray used a broom to knock their nest down so I could paint without hurting them, yeah kind of weird ain't I haha.

It's just a name, Haha, in general I like insects too. In outdoor crops I don't care so much about having an insect, but indoors I do find it more dangerous as there are no predators.

Welcome to 420 Magazine @ihatebugs

Do you grow in soil or water?
Do you have any images you would like to share?

Here's some helpful info: Welcome New Members - Please Read Before Posting

Here is some information if you would like to start a grow journal How to Make a Grow Journal

If you want to see want other growers are doing, here's that link.

This is where you place your grow journal.

Journals in Progress: Current and Ongoing

And, after you have over 50 posts you can vote and enter our contests to win free grow stuff from our sponsors.

420 Contests: Win Cool 420 Prizes

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,

Tok..

Growing in soil with Janeco and 720W LEDS.

Thanks for all the links, I've been looking and learning things on the forum almost all afternoon.

Hello ihatebugs welcome to 420Magazine.com. We who grow cannabis plants also hate these pests.

Fungus gnats eat cannabis plant roots.

I have put sticky traps on the substrate, I hope they help.

 

[ihatebugs]

People sometimes laugh at my tents setup on top of metal filing cabinets cause I have to use a small ladder to check on them. But guess what they don’t get- spider mites.
If you’re already infested it’s really hard to break their cycle without a break in the growing.
Pretty sure they don’t even need a partner to start a family either so if there’s even 1 left, that’s too many.
If you deal with outdoor plants at all you’re likely bringing them in on your clothing or shoes.
Ladybugs, praying mantis and diatomaceous earth will help but starting at 0 mites is the hardest part.

It's true, although it seems like you've killed them all, one of them always hides in the light bulb or in the extractor and it all starts over again. I have a friend who had this plague before me, he probably brought some eggs on his clothes haha.

I deal with a few insects. Stink bugs which don’t do any harm. I catch them and put them outside. Lady bugs and they’re nice to see. I have seen a few gnats. But I kill them. Had a spider mite infestation once. Things are a pain. Brought a plant in from outside once and it had caterpillars on it. Almost killed half my small vegging plants before I caught them.

We all like ladybugs. I once bought the Adalia bipunctata species to control aphids and it worked quite well.

 

[ihatebugs]

When growing a plant or two outdoors I will put potted Geraniums and Rosemary plants in the area. Those plants tend to repel Spider Mites and any Mites that start to feed on my plants do not last long because I let the spiders and any other insect do its thing.

I'm definitely going to try this tip, thank you very much!

 

[GreenNotYellow]

But once they are there the pest insects tend to breed at out of control rates. Using the common Spider Mite as an example...there rarely are any natural predators indoors so their population has no checks and balances. Nothing in the grow area to catch & eat the mites and nothing that will eat the eggs.

Many common household spiders will catch mites but if the gardener or significant other is removing or killing off every regular spider they see there is nothing to work on the breeding mite population.

When growing a plant or two outdoors I will put potted Geraniums and Rosemary plants in the area. Those plants tend to repel Spider Mites and any Mites that start to feed on my plants do not last long because I let the spiders and any other insect do its thing.

If I have a pest problem on any of my vegetables I only spray the plant affected. None of that spraying the whole area or yard. Gotta leave as many predators as possible.

Tip: Do not plant Marigolds near outdoor Cannabis plants. Many insects are repelled by Marigold plants but not mites. They are attracted to Marigolds so the best thing is to plant them further away. The mites will go to that plant or plants and then it is easy to do a selective spraying to kill the ones that have moved there. The theory is that there will be fewer mites who wander over to the Cannabis plants.

well, I might just be lucky, I grow in my basement usually, it's a good humidity, easy to establish light and air drain to cut off the smell, what I did is completely decontaminated the area by calling the local pest control service stating that I've seen some cockroaches and ants there, surely that was prior to any seeds planting, then vented the basement for several days and since then had no issues with mites. Although, I guess if one gets there the things will get nasty. That's why I usually buy the soil for indoors and only experiment with compost outdoors in my garden

Do you think a common house spider will get you rid off the mites?

 

[SmokingWings]

Do you think a common house spider will get you rid off the mites?

Get rid of them? Nope.

Will common spiders get rid of some of them? Yes.

The predator & prey ratio or relationship is such that the predator will capture the prey often enough to keep the numbers in check but the predator never seems to get rid of all the prey.

There have been several threads over the years from outdoor growers who have had what seem to be major problems with a pest insect population that has boomed and is out of control. They are still fighting large populations of the pest even after a one, or more major, spraying of an insecticide meant for that specific insect. They then mention that they have sprayed every plant possible in the immediate area as a way to get rid of every insect possible.

When they sprayed everything in an attempt to "kill them all and let God sort out the good from the bad" they ended up killing the predators that would have kept the pest under some sort of control. Once that happened the pest will be the first to move back in and their numbers are soon out of control again. The grower now looks for a stronger insecticide to spray and kill off everything once again. They keep repeating the same cycle that is contributing to their problem.

Indoor grows are not the same. Most of us do not want a pest getting out of control and end up spreading beyond the grow area. Fungus Gnats, mites, thrips, and aphids can spread to other areas of the house and then cause problems and become annoying. Leaving a couple of common spiders to do their thing just might be a good thing to do. A number of members have already mentioned leaving a spider or two in the growing area or at least catching and moving the spider outside.

 

[JiggiLotus]

well, I might just be lucky, I grow in my basement usually, it's a good humidity, easy to establish light and air drain to cut off the smell, what I did is completely decontaminated the area by calling the local pest control service stating that I've seen some cockroaches and ants there, surely that was prior to any seeds planting, then vented the basement for several days and since then had no issues with mites. Although, I guess if one gets there the things will get nasty. That's why I usually buy the soil for indoors and only experiment with compost outdoors in my garden

Do you think a common house spider will get you rid off the mite

SmokingWings is right about that.
The pray bug isn't going to completely eradicate it's prey. They gotta leave somebody to breed and make more food. It's a circle of life
Spiders don't care for mites or roaches. Ants treat aphids as cattle, they secrete a honeydew substance that the ants favor.. like an insect Gatorade.. " is it in you.." lol
Seriously though if you're wanting a good house bug to eat the tiny predators, go for silver wings and ladybugs. I personally like the ladybugs. They live for 2 years and they're friendly. If you don't mind them flying here n there and everywhere. Warning, personal experience they have the ability to infest your house. During the winter they will hibernate in your walls and breed. Still better than roaches!!! So with that being said, every spring I end up with thousands of ladybugs venturing outta hibernation inside my house. I just open windows so they can be free. This spring I'll Post pics of them. It's like the exorcist movie with the swarms of flys in the windows... Less disturbing though

 

[Phytoplankton]

If you're trying to clean your indoor grow area, in an empty tent, use a pyrethrin based spray (Dr Doom will work) or you can just buy and mix your own. Spray everything in the tent, the walls, the floor, the ceiling, your gardening tools, all the cracks and crevices, everything! Then wait a week and do it again! Barring that, you can use a heavy bleach solution, but again, do it a second time about a week later.

Edit: Mites have a short life cycle in warm weather, but if the area is cold they can become dormant and/or overwinter in the soil or even in the tent. Mites love hot dry conditions, they are not fond of high humidity, but it won't kil them, just slows them down a little.

 

[JiggiLotus]

Since these threads are beneficial to us all, Hope you don't mind I found some good images to educate the minds eye. There's several 'strains' of them as well..
"same flavors different wrapper".

 

[JiggiLotus]

Since these threads are beneficial to us all, Hope you don't mind I found some good images to educate the minds eye. There's several 'strains' of them as well..
"same flavors different wrapper".

These are legitimately mite-cro sized arachnid's

 

[KingJohnC]

Spider mites

 

[SmokingWings]

Since these threads are beneficial to us all, Hope you don't mind I found some good images to educate the minds eye. There's several 'strains' of them as well..
"same flavors different wrapper".

Looks like the various stages of the life cycle of the common Two Spotted Mite. Can even see their tiny webs that would not be visible just by looking.

 

[JiggiLotus]

Thanks to this I've been learning about the mite-cro world, such a tiny interesting realm!
However due to their size, it makes perfect sense to why they're so destructive. They live life by the seconds!
God truly has an eye for details.

 

[JiggiLotus]

But once they are there the pest insects tend to breed at out of control rates. Using the common Spider Mite as an example...there rarely are any natural predators indoors so their population has no checks and balances. Nothing in the grow area to catch & eat the mites and nothing that will eat the eggs.

Many common household spiders will catch mites but if the gardener or significant other is removing or killing off every regular spider they see there is nothing to work on the breeding mite population.

When growing a plant or two outdoors I will put potted Geraniums and Rosemary plants in the area. Those plants tend to repel Spider Mites and any Mites that start to feed on my plants do not last long because I let the spiders and any other insect do its thing.

If I have a pest problem on any of my vegetables I only spray the plant affected. None of that spraying the whole area or yard. Gotta leave as many predators as possible.

Tip: Do not plant Marigolds near outdoor Cannabis plants. Many insects are repelled by Marigold plants but not mites. They are attracted to Marigolds so the best thing is to plant them further away. The mites will go to that plant or plants and then it is easy to do a selective spraying to kill the ones that have moved there. The theory is that there will be fewer mites who wander over to the Cannabis plants.

I'm glad I read this! I grew some marigolds beside my rose bushes and 2 of the roses declined almost immediately once them marigolds established. I noticed a lot of leaves were chewed on with the roses, one died. So no marigolds next to roses or the marijuana. Good to know!!!
Thank you thank you thank you.

 

[Roy Growin]

I'm glad I read this! I grew some marigolds beside my rose bushes and 2 of the roses declined almost immediately once them marigolds established. I noticed a lot of leaves were chewed on with the roses, one died. So no marigolds next to roses or the marijuana. Good to know!!!
Thank you thank you thank you.

Chives work better, marigolds are only really good to deter carrot fly in the garden, maybe white fly on brassica

 

[SmokingWings]

So no marigolds next to roses or the marijuana. Good to know!!!

Marigolds will repel a fair number of pest insects but mites are not one of them. Mites like marigolds so I have read of gardeners who put groupings of them somewhere in their garden and then spray there and prevent the mites from infesting desired plants.

 

[KingJohnC]

We have trialled both marigolds and chrysanthemums in grow rooms without result.

 

[Canachris]

Welcome Bugs!

I love bugs even when a young boy. Remember telling my mother there was a spider in the corner and told my mother who went and got the vacuum cleaner and sucked it up and from that point on learned to put them outside myself. Termites and cockroaches are a different story though. As an outside grower sometimes will handpick bugs such as leafhoppers 50 become too carried away on a plant but most of the time it is merely cosmetic and not harmful to the actual plant.

Used to do a lot of painting and on what was told to paint was a lot of the guinea paper wasps under the eaves and instead of using bug spray used a broom to knock their nest down so I could paint without hurting them, yeah kind of weird ain't I haha.

I did a bit of painting in my day and I'd use a garden hose to knock off the wasps nest. best to be on the ground than 30' in the air with a broom