Liam Hughes
Active Member
I'm surprised I left this post until #4. Spider mites have been the bane of my existence for years. I used to control the buggers with Aza Max until it became illegal to sell it in Canada. It worked for about a month before I had to reapply. I wouldn't use it in flower as I had no interest in ingesting a chemical of any description.
I then decided I didn't want to use any chemicals, so I use a gardner's solution, being 40 parts water and one part dish soap. Like the Aza Max, you spray it from top to bottom, then bottom to top on the underside. When you're running 50-60 plants at a time, it becomes an onerous task.
Last year I became annoyed with all the spraying (besides, my plants didn't particularly care for it either), so I went to the internet and discovered the answer- Persimilis Mites.
The persimilis is twice the size of a spider mite, red and voracious eaters. They consume up to 30 spider mites a day per predator. You can readily purchase them online from any entomologist. For most people like me (small scale), a container of 1000 will suffice.
The little dynamos will take control within a couple of days. They aren't inexpensive, so I'm very careful to examine any dead leaf as there was likely a spider mite commune setting up shop when the persimilis came along and wiped them out. I use a jeweler's loupe to watch the show and put a dead leaf with a predator on it back on the plant until the next day. It will have moved on.
They are shipped in a largish cooler (compared to what you get in the cooler (see picture) and also come with ice packs. Both will be handy in the summer. If you don't intend to use them immediately, you can put them in the fridge. The entomologist I spoke with said they'll keep for a couple of weeks. I use them right away...otherwise I wouldn't have ordered it.
After a couple of weeks to a month, pretty much everything dies, including the persimilis. I'm usually spider mite free for another couple of months. For me, the 3x $100/yr is well worth the hassle and it's much better for your plants and the quality of your smoke. A note that I found helpful was to keep the humidity at 60% and up to 80% for reproduction. I'm not leaving my grow tent with humidity like that, but I've found that they seem to happily survive in almost any humidity (just don't let it get dry). The persimilis mites only feed on the spider mites. They don't harm your cannabis plants.
I then decided I didn't want to use any chemicals, so I use a gardner's solution, being 40 parts water and one part dish soap. Like the Aza Max, you spray it from top to bottom, then bottom to top on the underside. When you're running 50-60 plants at a time, it becomes an onerous task.
Last year I became annoyed with all the spraying (besides, my plants didn't particularly care for it either), so I went to the internet and discovered the answer- Persimilis Mites.
The persimilis is twice the size of a spider mite, red and voracious eaters. They consume up to 30 spider mites a day per predator. You can readily purchase them online from any entomologist. For most people like me (small scale), a container of 1000 will suffice.
The little dynamos will take control within a couple of days. They aren't inexpensive, so I'm very careful to examine any dead leaf as there was likely a spider mite commune setting up shop when the persimilis came along and wiped them out. I use a jeweler's loupe to watch the show and put a dead leaf with a predator on it back on the plant until the next day. It will have moved on.
They are shipped in a largish cooler (compared to what you get in the cooler (see picture) and also come with ice packs. Both will be handy in the summer. If you don't intend to use them immediately, you can put them in the fridge. The entomologist I spoke with said they'll keep for a couple of weeks. I use them right away...otherwise I wouldn't have ordered it.
After a couple of weeks to a month, pretty much everything dies, including the persimilis. I'm usually spider mite free for another couple of months. For me, the 3x $100/yr is well worth the hassle and it's much better for your plants and the quality of your smoke. A note that I found helpful was to keep the humidity at 60% and up to 80% for reproduction. I'm not leaving my grow tent with humidity like that, but I've found that they seem to happily survive in almost any humidity (just don't let it get dry). The persimilis mites only feed on the spider mites. They don't harm your cannabis plants.
