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F@#$ing broad mites

austin87

austin87

Got some problems with a couple plants:
 

 

 
These are my 2 yellow bubblegum 7 pot peppers, at first I thought it was a calcium deficiency so I hit it with Cal Mag but when it didn't get any better I came to the conclusion of broad mites. I haven't bought a microscope but I've inspected every inch by hand and naked eye and can't find spider mites, webs, or any other visible pests.
 
I have Azamax and Mighty wash on the way from Amazon. My plan is to cut off the most affected growth and carefully remove the leaves from the garden to be destroyed, and treat all the plants. A couple of the others are showing very minimal curling on the tips of the newest growth so I want to get ahead of it on those.
 
Otherwise I'm looking pretty good with my cayennes, cascabels, and shishitos all about to flower.
 

 
***this is partially taken from a more complete post from my glog (http://thehotpepper.com/topic/59475-austin87s-2016-grow-log/) on the overall health of this season's grow***
 
can you get a closer pic?

it does not look like mite damage to me, but i cant see close enough for that characteristic mottling and distortion
what you are looking for is the wiggly waggly mid rib
 
queequeg152 said:
can you get a closer pic?

it does not look like mite damage to me, but i cant see close enough for that characteristic mottling and distortion
what you are looking for is the wiggly waggly mid rib
Click to expand...
 
Here you go. I'd appreciate any help as I can't seem to figure out what else it could be.
 

 

 

 
 
thats probably a calcium/heat issue. but you might wnat to get a chap magnifying thing to look out for mites in the future.

water in some calcium nitrate imo. 100mg/l calcium to start with and bump it up some more if you like. ideally your plants should be getting like 200 mg/l calcium, but your soil is probably providing some already, just not enough.
 
queequeg152 said:
thats probably a calcium/heat issue. but you might wnat to get a chap magnifying thing to look out for mites in the future.

water in some calcium nitrate imo. 100mg/l calcium to start with and bump it up some more if you like. ideally your plants should be getting like 200 mg/l calcium, but your soil is probably providing some already, just not enough.
Click to expand...
 
I've been applying a foliar spray of Neptune's Fish and Kelp 2-3-1 + Cal Mag (2 Tbsp Neptunes + 1 tsp Cal Mag as directed diluted in 1 gal water) every few days and will begin watering it in soon.
 
My mix is mostly ProMix w/ added compost and perlite, plus I added some bone meal and Osmocote at transplant (they are in 5 gal grow bags).
Also, should I remove the affected leaves or just let them ride?
 
foliar feeding is for like... deficiencies, and you are suppsed to use salts not organic stuff in a foliar. i wouldnt do that anymore to be honest here.

just water your stuff in.
make sure your cal mag solution yields between 100 and 200 mg/l calcium.

dont remove the bad leaves. they just look shitty. they will still produce sugars and shit for your plant.
 
I am dealing with a pretty good sized Broad Mite infestation at the moment. I took it to someone who thought it was herbicide damage(hell, did I wish it was just that from the farm across the road or grass fert people,) put it under a 80x mag... There was my mites like I thought. Avid on the way for me, too bad I couldnt over night that shiz.
 
did you get a surfactant too?

helps a huge amount. keeps the abamectin from dripping off the leaves and beading up. what you want is a thin film coating the leaves.
 
I wasnt recommended a surfactant also. I was told to just mix abamectin in a spray bottle and go at it at night, then wait 3-4weeks before eating anything. And that Floramite would be good to mix, but at 200$ a quart, I dont know If I want to go down that route, especially after 85$ per 8oz of Avid. Then I heard of another product called Che...cheleaut? I didnt see its spelling, just verbal pronunciation. Suppose to be abamectin and floramite together?
 
What would you recommend? I already have Avid ordered and on the way, suppose to be here sometime this week.
 
All my plants are outside, most are in containers, some are in the ground. I have broad mites on everything from sunflowers to peppers to tomatoes, to my wifes flower bed. New growth looks good, but Im sure its just a matter of time before the mites populate more and consume the new growth. I have a bunch of good bugs around, and I am worried about killing them, maybe they are why I have okay looking new growth? I dont know, I think I would lean more to the "mites population isnt big enough yet" scenario.
 
omg you bought a whole quart?

thats enough to spray like 10 acres of lemon trees.

there are guys on amazon and ebay selling these tiny 1 ounce bottles. i bought one way back in like 2012. im about half way through it lol.

the application rate is like 2ml per gallon maximum.

idk why you would not reccomend a surfactant unless the formulation has a surfactant inside it already like the name brand roundup.

i bought the generic abamectin called e-pro. it calls for various spray adjuvants depending on what you are doing.

thing about most professional herbicide/pesticides... they are not formulated to be drop and go like residential shit. depening on how you spray you might need an anjuvant or might not so they usually leave the surfactants out unless they are there to keep the active ingredient from separating out or something like that.

sorry to say this... but judging by the PHI reccomendation you got, this guy probably does not know much about abamectin. the PHI is 7 days last i checked for most fruits.

i think its 21 days for leafy greens or some random shit like that? i cant remember exactly.

abamectin WILL kill most insects if they touch the spray so id spray in the evening. it will burn off in the sunlight after a few hours. but yea, alot of what ever colonizing your plants will probably die in addition to your spider mite problem. lol i was spraying abamectin once and had to spray over this small spider web. its web got coated in little dewy droplets. that spider is 100% dead, but fuck it. you cant take a shit without killing something.
 
actually abamectin wont kill on "touch" just to clarify. i mis spoke there, it has to be consumed for the most part.
large insects will not be killed easily, caterpillars are basically immune to it because they are so massive in relation to the amount they consume in the plant tissue... but you spray ontop of a shit load of lady bucks or what ever. they are invariably going to consume aphids that are contaminated by the abamectin, or what ever else lady bugs eat.

its actually regarded as safe for benificials. but "safe" usually just means it wont genocide everything like a broad spectrum. with abamectin... after the residual breaks down in the sun, it pretty much only kills shit that consumes the plant sap.







application instructions:


Use ground equipment in 20 or more
gal water/A. Although aerial
applications are permitted when this
product is applied in 5 or more gal
water/A, better control of target
insects is obtained using ground
applications. Users accept all
liability for level and duration of mite
control from aerial applications of
this product.
Apply when insects first appear.
Increased water volumes are
required under certain situations
(severe pest infestations, highly
dense foliage, elevated temperatures)
to ensure thorough foliage coverage.
If needed, a second application may
be made but allow at least 7 days to
elapse after the first application.
A non-ionic surfactant (not binder or
sticker-types) used in combination
with this product provides improved
wetting of foliage and allows an even
deposition of the spray.
T
o
m
a
t
o
p
i
n
w
o
r
m
:
Make
applications up through the time
when newly emerged larvae
are detected.
 
I know it isnt kill on touch since its a systemic miticide. I intend to spray at night and remove all flowers for a few weeks until the abamectin is out of the plant. Im basically looking at no peppers or tomatoes until the end of august it seems. Ive also considered spraying alcohol/water and also spinosad, but since my leaves are so curled/clawed, systemic seems to be the way to go.
 
Should I use a surfacant, if so, what and how would you recommend me apply the surfacant + avid? is a spray bottle still okay? I believe i was directed to use 1/8 teaspoon per 32oz of water, maybe it was 1 teaspoon per gallon.
 
I hate mites with a passion. They attacked my garden a couple of months ago, and killed 7 of my precious pepper plants. I sprayed them heavily with Natria. Most of my plants recovered well, but a few are still getting destroyed by mites (I'm looking at you Red Manzano...)

Good luck with your mite issue!
 
Brocoli said:
I know it isnt kill on touch since its a systemic miticide. I intend to spray at night and remove all flowers for a few weeks until the abamectin is out of the plant. Im basically looking at no peppers or tomatoes until the end of august it seems. Ive also considered spraying alcohol/water and also spinosad, but since my leaves are so curled/clawed, systemic seems to be the way to go.
 
Should I use a surfacant, if so, what and how would you recommend me apply the surfacant + avid? is a spray bottle still okay? I believe i was directed to use 1/8 teaspoon per 32oz of water, maybe it was 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Click to expand...
its actually a trans laminar or local systemic. it does not travel very far within the plant tissue.

you dont have to remove any flowers or anything like that. idk what pepper plants you grow, but removing flowers from pretty much anything other than an annum is basically impossible. they are FAR too numerous.

you dont have to wait for a few weeks, just 7 days.

harvest all your blushing pods right now and let them ripen on your counter top. thats all you need to do.

spinosad is spiro. it is not approved for food crops. i would not reccomend it. its the same price as abamectin anyway... does spiro work better? yea its stupid good... like REALLY effective, but abamectin is good enough, ive never had a problem with abamectin not killing off a mite infestation.

yes i would reccomend a non ionic surfactnat... especially for smooth leaves like peppers. on tomato leaves... at least you have those tiny hairs to hold the droplets, but most plants have a waxy leaf cuticle... and it prevents the micro droplets from making as much contact as you would like.

a surfactant basically allows the little droplets to hug the waxy leaf cuticle flattening out into a sheet instead of jelly bean glob.

I use APE surfactant for everything... and will continue to untill i run out of it. but there are a shit load of surfactants you can use here.

fatty acid ethoxilates are probably more environmentally friendly for sprays though. you might be able to find a small bottle at your local tractor supply or something... otherwise id just order some now and hope they come at the same time.

get a small bottle man. you will be stuck with a big bottle for ever. only buy what you can use in the next few years imho.

if i ever run out of abamectin i might have to hit you up for a few ounces lol. keep the stuff in a cool dark closet or somewhere like that. not ontop of the fridge or window something like that.
 
queequeg152 said:
spinosad is spiro. it is not approved for food crops.
Click to expand...
 
Wait, wait wait... Spinosad is the ONLY thing I found that is organic safe for gardens for killing off fire ants specifically in garden beds.  I did a lot of research a few weeks ago to get rid of my fire ant problem in 2 of my beds and every website on it said spinosad(or spinosad based baits) were it.  Now I dont know if that also counts for using it as a foliar spray, or only as a ground/mound treatment for fire ants. 
 
spiromesifen is what im thinking of. forbid.

i just checked and spino is spinosyn A.

idk anything about spinosyn. but if the label says its ok for food crops then its ok.

rofl idk how this shit is "organic" btw. its made in a fucking bio reactor just like abamectin is.

fucking stupid.
 
queequeg152 said:
i just checked and spino is spinosyn A.

idk anything about spinosyn. but if the label says its ok for food crops then its ok.

rofl idk how this shit is "organic" btw. its made in a f**king bio reactor just like abamectin is.

f**king stupid.
Click to expand...
 
spinosad is what I am talking about.  I wont say the product itself is "organic", but its supposedly biological in nature and seems to be derived from a fermentation of something. Way beyond my level of knowledge.
 
Here is one website that talks about how its produced:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/hortupdate_archives/2004/mar04/Spinosad.html
 
There are lots of others that come up via the google.
 
All I know is when I was looking for ways to kill the fire ants, it was the only product that was label'd as certified for organic gardens.  As we know though there are lots of products certified for organic gardening that are boarderline.
 
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