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Mystery Pest - Help!


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And yet I have been growing nonstop since 2009, with FFOF and HF - and I don't have any pest problems..

 

DN

 

If I was in this situation, that statement would feel like a slap in the face. It's pretty clear where he got his pests from.... no need to challenge that.

 

Purklize how would you like some endless sky and bubba kush clones? I live in A2.

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Been dealing with Aculops cannibicola (hemp russet mite) over here too.

Not sure if you have scrapped everything yet but you need to be handling everything with gloves or you are spreading them. I've managed to mostly keep them under control by immediately killing anything that shows up with them. They will not die from any known method that doesn't kill your plant. They spend most of their life cycles with their heads in the plant tissue so CO2 etc is futile. Like most pests, life cycle goes quicker when warm, they will migrate to windy parts of the plant as this is how they spread in nature. They WILL transfer via dried plant material, they WILL lay eggs and hibernate winter (I have done freezer tests) and they WILL fool you into thinking they are gone by their vile tactics:

They secrete PGRs (plant growth regulators) into the plant tissue when they feed, so plants that are newly/mid-way infected will look BOMBASTIC and grow big etc. This results in tall plants for them to spread with. This pest is not to be taken lightly and azadachtrin (Neem/azamax etc) is not going to do crap, sorry guys. I've used enough to start blocking potassium uptake to the plant (foliar and soil drench-where the potash problems start) and they just seemed to continue their cycle, exponential as it is.

IF you still have your infected plants, trash them, bleach everything, and do a test run before you start spending a bunch on supplies again etc

Sorry if this is too late, hope it helps,

MPP

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I never had any pests until I tried soil but it wasn't fox farms it was garden soil from Miracle Grow found at Lowes and about 25% the cost of FF at full retail . I do not think this is brand specific . I hope your doing better now . I see people really gave you some good help and information . The Packard Community Clinic helps people with no or low insurance and the AATA has a wonderful program called A - Ride for transportation in the city for individuals with disabillities that make traveling on the buss impossible or very difficult . Sadly I can't tolerate even using it but I am so happy it is there for others who can .

 

Grow Green in Brighton has FF on sale about 50% off right now for those that use it . I am going to try bubble buckets which cost about $15 to make and use 28 watts of energy to run per plant site . Dirt is very hard for people with spine problems but you can always break the weight up into manageable pieces with either soil or hydro if you plan a few steps ahead .

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Tobacco water

 

Get a pouch of chewing tobacco and make a tea out of it. Spray the tea on the plants. Tobacco is very toxic to insects.

 

You could also try the old fashioned "bug juice".

 

In the old days they would gather up as many of the unwanted insects as they could, grind them up and mix the bug mash with water.

 

The resulting liquid was sprayed on the plants.

 

The theory behind this is biological warfare. Statistically, at least some of the ground up insects will have some sort of disease that is detrimental to the bugs health.

 

By grinding up the diseased bugs and spraying them on their buddies it will spread the disease to the rest of the population and they will be weakened or killed.

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I use FF happy frog and I know for a fact that this is not where my mites came from. I had ID'd them as some sort of pest months ago, but all my buddies were telling me not to fret. By the time I knew for sure what they were, (came across the pic that Clean posted) I already had 6 teens in "terminal" phase which is when you see the orange/rust coloration on the newest/windiest growth. They do this apparently because they have reached population levels that are too high for the water secretions of the plant to satisfy the adults and they congregate en masse on the most likely spots to transport them. I know there was a degree of concern that this was an incorrect diagnosis but I give you my assurance you are/were looking at the hemp russet mite.

Something to speed any future inspection (you will want a hand-held microscope that gives 60-100x amazon has ones for 10-15$) You will normally see lots of little spheres of water secreted by the plant. Infected plants will be markedly devoid of these. Also these buggers seem to have done some co-evolution with cannabis, aside from the PGR secretion, in larval form they look almost identical to the hairs that cover the new growth and the stems, making them a CHORE to find if population levels are really low. Clones from an infested plant have 100% shown infestation in my experience, this will only keep them around longer.

MPP

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Did you ever find a way of dealing with them? I've heard a few people say that wettable sulfur will kill them, but at the same time, I've heard they've evolved resistance. I tried gassing clones with CO2 repeatedly and swabbing carefully with 91% isopropanol (which almost killed them). They've been growing for over a month and only now am I seeing any sign of the russet mites. I tihnk they're still there. Wouldn't want to be making that discovery in flower. Maybe I got them from a clone? They only appeared on one plant first for quite some time.

 

I'm torn on kliling these plants. I've taken care of them for so long that it will be hard for me to do, and losing all my genetics would suck, but it seems like I may have no other choice.

 

How can I ensure they don't return if I kill everything? I grow in my bedroom, so I don't want to use a sulfur burner or gas it with a bug bomb.

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Did you ever find a way of dealing with them? I've heard a few people say that wettable sulfur will kill them, but at the same time, I've heard they've evolved resistance. I tried gassing clones with CO2 repeatedly and swabbing carefully with 91% isopropanol (which almost killed them). They've been growing for over a month and only now am I seeing any sign of the russet mites. I tihnk they're still there. Wouldn't want to be making that discovery in flower. Maybe I got them from a clone? They only appeared on one plant first for quite some time.

 

I'm torn on kliling these plants. I've taken care of them for so long that it will be hard for me to do, and losing all my genetics would suck, but it seems like I may have no other choice.

 

How can I ensure they don't return if I kill everything? I grow in my bedroom, so I don't want to use a sulfur burner or gas it with a bug bomb.

 

Did you keep a male by chance?

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I'm interested in hearing it caff, however with this pest it should be noted that there are reports of this pest laying eggs on or somehow in the seed coat. Would be a bummer to test that and find it true. Also regarding my experience, I basically kill anything that shows them. I used bleach/vacuuming etc on the area but what I noticed was that every plant that came up with them had been in the vicinity of plants that had them before. Once all those were gone I haven't seen any since, but I scope my plants at the very least weekly. Scoping your plants is also a good way to keep an eye on the stomata if you are interested in that kind of thing.

MPP

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So your experience has been that all control measures fail once a plant has been infested?

 

Thanks for chiming it with help guys... I really appreciate it... it has been a really depressing pest to fight. Thankfully a kind individual on this site gave me a clone of something very special which I have growing in a separate area, so I won't be left with nothing.

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So your experience has been that all control measures fail once a plant has been infested?

 

Thanks for chiming it with help guys... I really appreciate it... it has been a really depressing pest to fight. Thankfully a kind individual on this site gave me a clone of something very special which I have growing in a separate area, so I won't be left with nothing.

 

Nope. This may be the case, but my experience alone has lead me to this conclusion:

my primary method, premature host termination (killing the plant before it would die or reach near-death, which happens when the population level of the pest has overwhelmed the plant's water carrying system and they start migrating AKA zombie plague time) works & will target the removal of the species via early discovery and plant termination (I would throw a trashbag over it to remove it from the room, SERIOUSLY) while using precautions like gloves, handwashing and sterilization. If you do need to keep infested meds, consider pasteurizing them and baking with them, as this will kill them and their eggs. In large outdoor infestations prescribed burns are ordered (there are reports from the 60's and 70's in academic journals).

I also use chemical cleaners and a vacuum + filter to clean the areas but I'm advocating/practicing the equivalent of shooting someone when they get bitten by a zombie (a la zombie flix of course) and I'm saying so far I haven't seen them come back but all my original lines are no more. Just friend's phenos but still. The heartbreak comes as the borgs (aculops) release/secrete PGRs into the plant which make it look so amazingly wonderful.

One clue that a plant has them is that it is just starts shooting up new growth REALLY fast without photoperiod change (flowering stretch). Also early signs I have found--low population meaning it takes you a while to find them but they ARE there and some helpful tips:

 

1. Some leaf distortion but lots of under/lower canopy small leaf proliferation (again this morphological change not correlated with photoperiod change)

2. Also early in leaf examination where 1-10 were found, and I have found this to be true for other insect-laden plants, the normal water "droplets" you would see underneath the leaf will be totally missing. I've seen this on plants with thrips, spider mites, and russet mites. But its a good quick indicator (assuming the plant has been watered recently) that there is bugz.

3. Obviously if you see a larval/pupal/mature mite you know they are there. If you can make your room colder they will progress through phases slower.

4. Remember plant 2 plant is most common so don't take clones, save no seeds from infested females, and pretty much axe the lines that got them and you will be replicating my method. As I was developing it I discovered many mistakes I was making and was able to eliminate bad behaviors.

5. If it wasn't clear already you will be scoping each plant in 5-10 locations (Stems, new growth leaves, petioles--leaf stem area, and preflowers<--very tasty) Id say every 3-5 days if you plan to save any from the area that you think are hit I think this would be a minimum. Labeling the plants and check date etc helps keep it straight if you have diverse stock etc. Good luck!

 

Hope this is more detailed help, I share your pain most thoroughly. I had immense success with my first run ever and fell in love with the strain and promptly lost it. But there is always better out there, find yourself some nice clean seeds and you will know for sure you aren't bringing in someone else's bugs/mold/bacteria/viruses into what could be a clean start.

MPP

 

edit:

nice timing on the post time...that was after typing the whole rant too heh

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Thank you very much for yoru advice...

 

I just killed all my plants - even the Bubba Kush in the closet. A very sad day... somehow they spread to the closet, even though i was diligent about cleaning, and OCD about not touching infested plants in the tent witohut scrubbing my hands immediately after. I guess it's going to be seeds now... I was thinking of getting Sannie's Herijuana, it's cheap (I can't be spending a hundred bucks on seeds), low odor, and supposed to be very sedating. Any other suggestions? I am looking for the most narcotic pure indica possible.

 

Very frustrating... ever since I got my card almost a year ago all I've wanted is to grow out a pure indica. I still haven't been able to. All my hybrids went through fine, but the GX got sick with spider mites, root aphids , then russet mites... and now the Bubba Kush is toast, too.

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Thank you very much for yoru advice...

 

I just killed all my plants - even the Bubba Kush in the closet. A very sad day... somehow they spread to the closet, even though i was diligent about cleaning, and OCD about not touching infested plants in the tent witohut scrubbing my hands immediately after. I guess it's going to be seeds now... I was thinking of getting Sannie's Herijuana, it's cheap (I can't be spending a hundred bucks on seeds), low odor, and supposed to be very sedating. Any other suggestions? I am looking for the most narcotic pure indica possible.

 

Very frustrating... ever since I got my card almost a year ago all I've wanted is to grow out a pure indica. I still haven't been able to. All my hybrids went through fine, but the GX got sick with spider mites, root aphids , then russet mites... and now the Bubba Kush is toast, too.

 

Mazaar-i-sharif is one of my favorite pure indicas. She was a bit fussy when we got her back in the day, and did the obligatory skunk #1 cross. LSD from barneys reminds me too much of the skunk side, so avoid that cross imo. I haven't seen dutch passions, but there is always a chance of finding that mazar dominant cross.

 

Pure Kush is another excellent one, but you will have a hard time finding it in the original clone only form.

 

Chem Dawg is something you are more likely to find (and I swear pure kush is/has chem dawg in it some where).

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Well it's hard to heat the room up enough with a space heater. Are there are portable gas heaters that are safe to use indoors? Does anyone know?

 

I think part of the reason its taken so long for the russets to show themselves (i thought those plants were clean for two months) is because it's been so chilly in there (low to mid 60s). I want to make sure they dont come crawling off the walls or something so I figure I gotta make their eggs hatch with warmth (maybe humidity too?) and starve them for the next couple days/weeks.

 

Lukcily I did get decent stuff out of the grow, the russets appeared after I flowered my last plant.

 

44414358.jpg

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Sorry to hear, but glad you took action. Watch all of your product, consider it radioactive for it could have eggs even if you never saw them. (this doesn't mean don't consume, just be OCD regarding it and your new run) I can confirm on the temperature effect, they have a hard time around below 65F. Also remember that they transfer via wind so maybe plan the next run(s) accordingly and monitor irregular growth spurts/leaf curls/insanely fast rooting under isolation when it occurs (quarantine) and even if they do come back you should have the upper hand.

Best of luck to you and safe living to all,

MPP

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Thanks again for the advice, you've been very thorough and I appreciate it immensely.

 

How did you go about cleaning your space? I have hardwood floors so I can't really scrub them with harsh cleaning chemicals, and my bed is lofted in the room, so I can't use toxic bugbombs or anything like that. I was thinking I could try to get the temperature in there up to 140F+ as I read that temp for 4 hours exterminates bed bug infestations... not sure what else to do. My biggest concern is obviously the eggs as they can survive for a long time (over winter) attached to seeds as i think you mentioned... gotta make them hatch and die of heat exhuastion somehow I guess. My nightmare is being clean for a few months, then flipping over to flower and brushing an egg onto my arm from somewhere in the room, and then gettinng it on the plant...

 

How long has it been since you saw a russet mite in your garden?

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How long has it been since you saw a russet mite in your garden?

Quite some time thankfully, more useful might be the question:

What was the longest time between contact and visible infestation? (plant to plant is the only I have seen--this includes you breaking up dried material from infested, and then handling your grow, human mediated plant to plant) --- 1 month, This was at fairly cold temperatures.

I recommend bleach and a vacuum. Nowadays I consider most dried medicine to be suspect just because there are so many opportunities and egos involved that favor unforeseen transmission. Start your next small, from seed no need to take in more clones :(

consider it a test run and u can clone from a nice looking sprouted plant, keep vigilant with the scope. if you kill plants that have babies you know that the likelihood of it having spread is approaching zero. your diligence will bring you new confidence, your experiences amounting to that which many veterans have faced, lending you a taste of their hardships

remember you can always pluck off a leaf for full inspection, watch for any REALLY fast growth spurts as even the babies will secrete the PGRs.

MPP

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