Is this mite or thrips damage on these young leaves?

[u1556]

See the black dots which I think is the bugs, plus yellow appearing spots, these are actually white/transparent in color and appear like bites on the leaf.

See picture of the scratch-like damage plus small black spots which I think is the bugs....

These plants are grown on a balcony for now so can't really control the inflow of these pesky bugs, they probably just flying in. But may need to move the plants soon into the woods.


Can someone recommend some spray that is easy to use ? Maybe on amazon(uk) ?

 

[MassMedMan]

i use green clean for mites. you can find it on amazon. I couldnt open the pics btw.

 

[indica vet]

Looks like mites to me , pyrethrum spray make sure no withholding period

 

[prote]

my family has always been fruit farmers and when the organic trend started we experimented with different organic pest control sprays , mostly homemade teas but the one that worked the best for aphids and mites was a weak solution of cayenne pepper fresh basil and water , so you make a tea and use as a foliar spray.. very cheap and and worked great...

 

[prote]

just spoke to my grandfather on the farm and his advice to me was instead of using the teas, wich do work but like any organic pesticide needs to be applied fairly often wich i dont think will bother most of us growers as we like the work and enjoy checking in on our babies but for the the outdoor grower that wants less work just plant lucerne close to your plants, it attracts 99.9% of all pest , thus you use the lucerne as a sacrificial plant.. not sure what the US name for lucerne is but in RSA its the most common animal feed grown so is everywhere

 

[prote]

sorry just had a B and now forgot to ad the recipe for the pepper tea ..lol

boil up fresh basil (good handful) , to make a basil tea concentrate, then let cool and dilute with with fresh water, 500ml concentrate to 5l water so a ratio of 1 to 10 , the ad 1tsp cayenne pepper and shake well, shelf life of about a week if not sealed... just put it in a spray bottle and go wild

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

This looks like thrips damage. Black spots is actually there poop. I used a mix of neem and rosemary oils, natural soap and water. Give them a good spraying at lights out. These are my pics when I had them

 

[OldMedUser]

Looks like thrips to me and with little plants like yours you can get rid of them by hunting down the little buggers and squishing them. Mites leave little random dots all over the leaves but thrip damage creates little "windows" in the leaves. Those black dots are the poop and is something mites don't seem to do.

Thrips spend their whole lives in the leaves and even lay their eggs in plant cells on the underside of the leaves is where you are most likely to find the bulk of them. I can spot them easily with just my reading glasses but a low powered magnifying glass helps get it done faster. A pair of cheap reading glasses of about 4x power from the drug store would make it hand's free and be even quicker.

Their life cycle is almost a month so at first you'll find some every day as the eggs hatch but after a week or so it drops off and checking carefully every few days is plenty as the young need almost 2 weeks to mature enough to lay eggs.

It seems a lot more satisfying to kill them by hand rather than spray the whole plant to get a few bugs tho your mileage may vary.

L8r

 

[u1556]

I sprayed with a product that purports to be organic, although, they do ask you to use gloves and glasses when handling it. It is called Nite Nite Spider mites.

I hope it works whether this is mites or thrips and I even think I may have both since I have all the symptoms that both of these produce : random transparent dots ( mites ), black dots ( thrips poo ), random window-scratching-like ( thrips i think ).

My poor plants are so weak as it is, and now these pesky leaf eaters.

 

[u1556]

Here is another picture about 7 days after this infestation was spotted with left most leaf now having this dried-yellow looking window patch, which was where the bugs fed the most. Also the right most leaf shows the random dots pattern of mites.

https://oi62.tinypic.com/zyc8j7.jpg

 

[iwltfum]

Here is another picture about 7 days after this infestation was spotted with left most leaf now having this dried-yellow looking window patch, which was where the bugs fed the most. Also the right most leaf shows the random dots pattern of mites.

https://oi62.tinypic.com/zyc8j7.jpg

Thrip damage is also little white dots. The damage looks very similar. With thrips though, you can usually find them jumping around on the leaves and from leaf to leaf. With mites, you will find the majority of them on the undersides of the leaves as little black specks visibly moving (crawling, not jumping or hopping) around (especially if you nudge them a bit). Mites also lay eggs on the undersides of leaves. I'm not sure where thrips lay their eggs. They are both sapsuckers (which means they get their water from the water in the plants leaves and both are important to get rid of. Sometimes and infestation of one, can lead to an infestation of the other.

 

[grimlyman]

Its not spider mites.

I have just used neem oil for the first time, wish I had used it earlier, got rid of my spider mites. But was wondering if anyone has any idea how long it takes for the taste to go out of my plants. I am proud to say that I smoke 90% of what I grow from veg to head, Just smoke some tips from a little topping 3 weeks after foliage spray, and it tasted awful(still smoked it though)

 

[JBUptown]

Its not spider mites.

I have just used neem oil for the first time, wish I had used it earlier, got rid of my spider mites. But was wondering if anyone has any idea how long it takes for the taste to go out of my plants. I am proud to say that I smoke 90% of what I grow from veg to head, Just smoke some tips from a little topping 3 weeks after foliage spray, and it tasted awful(still smoked it though)

In my experience, Neem Oil taste never goes away. I used it during two separate grows with a minimal Spider Mite infestation, and both times the taste was still around after bud washing at harvest and 4 month cures. I'll never use it again, I ended up tossing the buds into Bubble Bags and made ice hash, and even the Hash had a minor taste of Neem Oil. Not for me thanks!

Rosemary Oil - Now that stuff worked wonders, and the taste and smell did not remain at harvest. Mixed some Rosemary Oil (about 2-3 % Oil to 97-98% warm water) and sprayed the leaf bottoms ... Mites were all dead and curled up in 24 hours. Repeated a week, later and two weeks later. They haven't returned since. Spider Mites SUCK!

Best Of Buds
JB