* Which is only available and can be applied during cold wintry weather....
I'm SURE there's many in the audience that are more intelligent on many different matters and subjects than myself. And this may have been mentioned before. However when it comes to growing things, time & experience are great teachers and at 58 years old I have learned my lessons well. And if there's just one piece of advice I could give it would be...ya got to get out there and just do it!! O.K??
Now on to logical, EZ, quick & efficient mite control and I forgot to mention that this method is COMPLETELY organic as well. So what is it?? Let me add here that this was almost "discovered" by myself quite by mistake. And it was from the seeds of disaster that I happened upon this chance discovery.
It happened about 3 winters ago. Blowing winds and stormy wintertime weather in the Pacific Northwest knocked out our power. And it was out for about 3 days. I was having bug problems in my grow room from a dispensary clone (NEVER again) and though it wasn't yet an epidemic I knew the problems that were dead ahead if left unchecked. The light had just been turned down to my bloom schedule a week or so prior and so I was tossing things back & forth about how I should proceed. Spray poison numerous times on my organic (up to that point) grow to be rid of my problem?? Or can I beat the inevitable and get a good harvest before spider mite Armageddon arrives?? What is a grower of fine weed to do???
And then IT happened....power is out EVERYWHERE. My plants are in bloom and are getting eaten alive and I have enough generator to power the house BUT 2 - 1k lights ain't on the power's out save list or itinerary. Staying warm and eating are higher on that list than 14 plants under 2 lights in the back room. W-T-F AM I gonna do and what about those bugs??? Well....I wasn't worried about the bloom part. A couple of days of dark that early in the bloom ain't gonna matter one way or the other. And while powers been out here for 6 days before, USUALLY it's not out that long. So after 3 days it popped back on, which was quite long enough, thanks. So I adjusted my timers and took a quick look to see how my plants and those bugs were doing. First thoughts were that they actually looked pretty good. Outdoor temps had been in the 20's and my Hi-Low thermometer over in the corner of the 10 x 10 grow room reported that temps had plunged in there down into the mid 40's which is pretty cold for inside a house but everyone was still nice and green and healthy looking except when you got up close and were looking....and that's what I kept doing - looking for bugs. But you know what?? I couldn't now find any and there wasn't a bug left in that grow room anywhere. Not to be....outfoxed I invited another growing expert friend who also was unable to find any mites on these plants. Oh you could still see the damage in the tiny little spots that are a sure giveaway to your new problem but there were no mites to be found in here - NONE.
Now I don't know how cold it does or doesn't get at your place and I don't know what low temps your plants can take. BUT....I would think that IF you could make the temps in your grow room go down below what the mites can live or thrive in (Wiki knows), they're either dying by the millions or they're leaving town for warmer climes, though my guess is that they all went to bug heaven because they can't handle the cold temps that occurred because of a storm and power outage. So lower those temps SAFELY if you can and your bug problem will be solved by the entity that does a better job than anything or anyone else. And that would be Mother Nature.
Good luck everyone!!!
I'm SURE there's many in the audience that are more intelligent on many different matters and subjects than myself. And this may have been mentioned before. However when it comes to growing things, time & experience are great teachers and at 58 years old I have learned my lessons well. And if there's just one piece of advice I could give it would be...ya got to get out there and just do it!! O.K??
Now on to logical, EZ, quick & efficient mite control and I forgot to mention that this method is COMPLETELY organic as well. So what is it?? Let me add here that this was almost "discovered" by myself quite by mistake. And it was from the seeds of disaster that I happened upon this chance discovery.
It happened about 3 winters ago. Blowing winds and stormy wintertime weather in the Pacific Northwest knocked out our power. And it was out for about 3 days. I was having bug problems in my grow room from a dispensary clone (NEVER again) and though it wasn't yet an epidemic I knew the problems that were dead ahead if left unchecked. The light had just been turned down to my bloom schedule a week or so prior and so I was tossing things back & forth about how I should proceed. Spray poison numerous times on my organic (up to that point) grow to be rid of my problem?? Or can I beat the inevitable and get a good harvest before spider mite Armageddon arrives?? What is a grower of fine weed to do???
And then IT happened....power is out EVERYWHERE. My plants are in bloom and are getting eaten alive and I have enough generator to power the house BUT 2 - 1k lights ain't on the power's out save list or itinerary. Staying warm and eating are higher on that list than 14 plants under 2 lights in the back room. W-T-F AM I gonna do and what about those bugs??? Well....I wasn't worried about the bloom part. A couple of days of dark that early in the bloom ain't gonna matter one way or the other. And while powers been out here for 6 days before, USUALLY it's not out that long. So after 3 days it popped back on, which was quite long enough, thanks. So I adjusted my timers and took a quick look to see how my plants and those bugs were doing. First thoughts were that they actually looked pretty good. Outdoor temps had been in the 20's and my Hi-Low thermometer over in the corner of the 10 x 10 grow room reported that temps had plunged in there down into the mid 40's which is pretty cold for inside a house but everyone was still nice and green and healthy looking except when you got up close and were looking....and that's what I kept doing - looking for bugs. But you know what?? I couldn't now find any and there wasn't a bug left in that grow room anywhere. Not to be....outfoxed I invited another growing expert friend who also was unable to find any mites on these plants. Oh you could still see the damage in the tiny little spots that are a sure giveaway to your new problem but there were no mites to be found in here - NONE.
Now I don't know how cold it does or doesn't get at your place and I don't know what low temps your plants can take. BUT....I would think that IF you could make the temps in your grow room go down below what the mites can live or thrive in (Wiki knows), they're either dying by the millions or they're leaving town for warmer climes, though my guess is that they all went to bug heaven because they can't handle the cold temps that occurred because of a storm and power outage. So lower those temps SAFELY if you can and your bug problem will be solved by the entity that does a better job than anything or anyone else. And that would be Mother Nature.
Good luck everyone!!!
