Soil Mites

[Oregon Bob]

Has anyone had any success at killing off soil mites? I'm at my wits end with these little buggers... they even get into my tubing & manage to survive there?!? Would like to take a pic to show, but they are so very small... just looks like lice on my pots... can't focus in on the buggers. Sorry about this. Thank you in advance.

 

[Newbud]

Hello dude.
Not too up on this stuff.
I have just had gnats in my coco but they where larvae.
I used hxxp://www.canadianxpress.com/nilnat.html
Was warned to be careful as its strong stuff but found i had to use it at 6 drops to 500ml water, once a day for three days to completely kill em off as they came back first time.

Hope that helps

 

[Oregon Bob]

Thank you NB! I will give this a try. Don't need to get into the whole story, but I am willing to try anything at this point. Oddly, they do nothing to the plants/roots that I can determine. Thank you for the suggestion, I appreciate the response. best regards!

 

[StoneyBud]

Hey OB, Diatomaceous Earth will work wonders for any soft bodied pest that infests your soil.

 

[HippyInEngland]

I agree with Stoney, Diatomaceous Earth.

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43803

I just put a post in the sick plants and indoor sections explain what Diatomaceous Earth is.

Good tip Stoney.

eace:

 

[Newbud]

Good tip,,, if you use soil that is lolol,,, i'll stick to me bottle

 

[billy_fyshe]

if they dont seem to be doing any harm, are you sure they are mites?

without a pic they could be anything, possibly something harmless like springtails

 

[Newbud]

Thats what i was just wondering cos gnats will devestate a plant given the chance, they eat the roots so you carn't say they doing no damage

 

[Oregon Bob]

Thank you everyone... appreciate the responses. I'll delve a little deeper with info...

I'm in coir & pretty confident I've traced the source to 2 bags of cococan croutons I got almost a year ago. Got at least 3 types of mites, though it may have been 5 or 6, springtails & 1 type of nematode. The reason I think the ccc croutons is that the nematodes were found under the bark of one of the chunks. Went downstairs to look up & 10 minutes later they were dried up & dead. THe ccc had moisture trapped in the bag. Upstairs, very careful with filters, never had a bug (still don't except my soil mites).

Definitely not springtails as had them too. These are maybe 1/4 the size of a springtail... so you can see why I'm having prob's w the pics... just can't focus in that small. I use a 25x microscope to see them w any definition. Definitely a mite... possibly a gamasid...?

They breed in the soil & seem to need moisture to stay alive. The only time they crawl on the plants is in search of new food/territory, but just die on the plants or crawl back into the soil. The rims of the pots look like tiny little freeways jammed with white cars...lol, funny. This is w the pops just blow up.

I tried the DE, but they're in the soil. I tried even mixing DE in a drench, but clumps up near the top, kinda like lime does. Thought the DE needed to be dry to be effective, but gave it a shot anyway. I can't tell if the DE barrier did anything as would find the dead bodies in other areas. ****, they live in my pipes now.

I killed them all except this one variety... a year later... sigh. Guess I should be laughing...?