One of the great nightmares marijuana grower is suffering a plague of red spider mites or other mite that attacks the cannabis plant. Pests plant marijuana are more common than we would like.
There are many methods to combat these pests, but best of all is prevention. A good grower looks daily plants, especially leaves at its bottom as locating a plague on time can control and even eliminate it more easily.
The first symptoms, to locate a pest, are small yellow or white spots on the leaves, hence we recommend often look at our plants.
To look for in the bottom of the sheet, these points are eggs and adults of mites, besides these parts eaten by and weaken the plant.
Mites and spider mites break the fibers of the plant and feed on plant chlorophyll, sucking its energy, causing nutrient problems, which makes it diminishes productivity.
Mites reproduce incredibly fast, the larvae develop in 3 days and 5 days of life, are mature to reproduce sexually.
When the plant has already reached a point of considerable infestation, they are easy to see networks woven by red spider mites or other, and these suspended from them.
Pests first attack weaker or diseased plants, as the strongest tend to grow faster than they can spread pests and diseases.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent the spread of pests is a good room ventilation and air bothers to pests and parasites because the wind makes it difficult to adhere to plants and its flight is difficult.
It is much easier to prevent a disease that eradicating it.
Despite everything and we have taken all possible precautions parasites get spread.
They usually start by choosing a weak or diseased plant, once established feed on it, reproduce and make an attack on the rest of the field as if it were an army. Infested plant since its first move in all directions occupying more and more space until they have completely infested crop.
Infestation can take effect in a few days as these mites can lay thousands of eggs per copy, if multiplied by its days of life, new mites that create and those who can create each of these … the crop can be destroyed in a few weeks.
As mentioned, prevention is the main weapon of the grower, but so is hygiene, maintaining clean marijuana cultivation dead leaves, leftover products and dirt.
There are many natural products to prevent or eliminate pests mites, some are pre-pest (preventive) and other post-plague (scrubbers).
We will discuss some of these means of prevention or elimination of pests.
One of the most effective and natural ways we know is the use of other insects or mites in our culture, if, as you read each species has other predatory species in the food scale and mites are no exception.
We have the example of the red spider, where the Spidex Phytoseiulus is its natural predators for biological control and is also harmless to the cannabis plant.
The same goes for ladybugs, if you see ladybugs in your cultivation leave them quiet because they are eliminating potentially harmful mites to your marijuana plants.
We also have other methods such as fungicides or homemade and ecological preparations removing mites and are easily home preparation.
Among these home-made preparations, we can include nettle, which by steeping 400 g of dry nettle in 20 liters of water for 5 days, then diluting this extract twice as much water, you can give us a great result, spraying the leaves on the affected plants.
Agrobeta neem oil is also a purified neem seed extract, which can also be found in your Grow Shop of trust, to eliminate mites, fungus gnats and aphids, it is also very effective against red spider.
Horticultural oil kills the slow and sucking insects, mites and its eggs, suffocating and affecting its life cycles.
Abamectin kills russet, red spider mites, leaf miner and nematodes.
Water, a jet of cold water with a pH between 6 and 7 is a good first attack against spider mites, aphids and other sucking insects. Water by spraying the back of the leaves. You can also use steam to remove spider mites, insects and other diseases, do not apply the hot steam directly on plants and use a vaporizer.
There are many more methods for removing mites, but the examples given can leave some trouble by unwanted pests.
By Noelia Jimenez, Team Piensa En Verde
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