Biological Eradication of Spider Mites Using Mother Nature

Biological Eradication of Spider Mites Using Mother Nature

-A Practical Guide To Farming Quality Cannabis 6 Hemp

Written by: Daniel Enking, Everflux Technologies Founder & CEO Bran Wachsman

Known as Tetranychidae in the scientific world, and simply Spider Mites to cannabis and hemp farmers, these common crop-destroying pests seem to come with the job description. There are many subspecies of spider mites, and our focus today is on the Two-Spotted Spider Mite. Some of the unique species are much more easily identified than others; however, it is generally unwise to try, as their control measures, damage and biology are all the same!

Learn more as Everflux Technologies online articles teach you about how to combat pest issues by using mother nature instead of toxic and costly pesticides. Identification & Life Cycle Spider mite populations WILL proliferate under the right conditions. Unfortunately, these conditions exist in many indoor grows - basically, warm with very little wind. Infestation damage can be identified by the telltale sign of the webbing they produce on your cannabis/hemp fan leaves. Inspecting for spider mites has become a daily chore for many grower teams. What your team needs to understand is that by the time you see webbing, it may be too late!

The Four Life Stages Of Spider Mites:

Eggs – Over the hotter and ideal growing season, they can be found on the undersides of fan leaves along with stalks and stems.

Larva – Newly laid eggs start hatching after the last frost has passed. The larva has six legs, and almost no feeding is done during this life stage cycle.

Nymph – Are similar to the adult but slightly smaller and unable to reproduce at this point in the life cycle. There are two nymph stages: proto-nymph and deutonymph.

Adult – Adult spider mites vary from pale brown, orange, green, or yellow and are about 0.4 mm long with eight legs.

The species females lay between 50-100 eggs throughout their lives with unfertilized eggs hatching as males and fertilized eggs hatching as females.

Spider Mites often begin to hatch their eggs within 72 hours.

The length of a spider mite's life cycle depends specifically on their environmental conditions, with the ideal temperature being the major contributing factor. An entire spider mite generation can be completed in under a week if all conditions are favorable for rapid growth.

How Spider Mites Damage Your Plants

Spider Mites damage plant leaf matter by ingesting juices from the fan leaves. Additional signs of spider mite damage are curled up and "burned" leaf edges, as well as leaves that have taken on a silky leather-ish texture. The silky webbing is predominant when mite populations have boomed within your grow.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Clean your cultivation environment, focusing on all of the little cracks and crevices indoor farmers sometimes miss. We start with washing all surfaces of the cultivation area and inspect ALL plants for spider mite presence, webbing, or damage before planting.

You can also minimize mite damage and reproduction rates by reducing water and nutrient stress as much as possible.  If you are growing outdoors, hyper-focus on your cultivation area and help your plants through hot spells, which will help control spider mite populations.

The Best Method: Organic Biological Controls

This is ideal for spider mite control during your cannabis/hemp flowering cycle. Learn to introduce beneficial mites as a proactive measure after knocking down larger spider mite populations for continued monitoring and successful eradication.

Predatory Mites are an effective organic biological control for use against the two-spotted spider mite. These natural enemies do not injure plants, feed on other insects, or bite human beings.

Once released, these predatory mites will immediately begin searching for water and a food source on the underside of your cannabis/hemp leaves. Your biological control measures of a small to medium infestation should occur naturally within three to four weeks.

As a farmer dealing with massive outbreaks in a commercial facility, a second release is usually required to stay aggressive with organic eradication methods. On severely infected plants, silk webbing and feeding marks will be visible.

You must reduce the pest infestation before releasing your predatory mites. Consider spraying with organic insecticidal soap, BUT ONLY if your cannabis or hemp plants are still in the vegetative growth stage.

Here’s a rough guide for how many predatory mites you will need to control a given infestation:

•  1-2 per Infected Fan Leaf

•  20-30 per Medium-Sized Plant

•  2,000 per 700+ Square Feet

Well Known Spider Mite Predators (Effective for Cannabis & Hemp Issues): Phytoseiulus persimilis Neoseiulus californicus Amblyseius andersoni Neoseiulus fallacis Mesosiulus longipes Galendromus occidentalis

Well Known Spider Mite Destroyers

(MOST Effective for Cannabis & Hemp Issues):

Feltiella acarisuga Stethorus punctillum

 A Last Resort:

Organic Chemical Controls

These methods should be considered a last resort for the organic farmer. Organically derived spider mite sprays examples would be pyrethrins, azadirachtin, and horticultural oil. A focused and

Wood vinegar is also a great treatment for spider mites, and has the added benefit of working against almost any other pest as well. Spray your spider mite infestations at 3-day intervals until the infestation is reduced enough that biological control methods can be used.

Conclusion

When the right proactive steps are taken, controlling and eliminating spider mites using biological methods is not difficult.

It just takes some careful observation and attention to concentrated spray directly onto eggs, nymphs, larvae, your plants, and knowing the right predatory mites to and of course, adult mites, to kill them on contact. use. In this way, you can avoid using any toxic chemicals and/ or ruining the flavor of your crop.

We would like to thank Everflux for sharing this invaluable insights and information to us.

To know more about this technology:

Growing Trial with Bioflux

To learn more about living soil cultivation:

Living Soil Cultivation by Everflux Technologies

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Improving Your Grow with Cover Crops and Companion Planting

-A Practical Guide To Farming Quality Cannabis 6 Hemp

Written by:

Bryan Wachsman

Daniel Enking, Everflux Technologies Founder & CEO

The Best Methods to Improve Your Grow

I still can visualize the first time I watched the Mendo Boys cannabis street team interview a cannabis underground LEGEND, known simply as "Minnesota Nice." The video was about as basic as it gets and filmed with an older iPhone in a humble basement in Minnesota. This original video was another "ah-ha" moment for me as Minnesota Nice pulled out a red solo cup with a small cannabis clone, and I saw that there was some other kind of plant growing at the base of the clone. Mr. Nice began explaining how certain cover crops can pull nitrogen from the air and bring it down directly into the soil. I was confused as well as intrigued about what they were explaining. I watched that video maybe 5-6 times that night. Pretty soon, learning how to incorporate specific companion plants when growing cannabis became my new pet project.

What Companion Planting is All About?

Companion planting is about which specific beneficial plants improve the conditions and overall health of the plant you are trying to grow. Certain beneficial plants protect your plants against common pests by emitting a robust smell. Some other plants will actually improve soil conditions through aeration and nutrient promotion. At the same time, a select few will provide structural support and reduce the need for additional cultivation space.

Companion planting is an inexpensive, planet-friendly, long-term organic solution that provides natural insecticides and fungicides for your garden, grow or farm. Living soil, organic mulch, green and brown manure, and added boosts of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals can all be achieved by planting living things that work together in a symbiotic relationship with your plants. Your plants will respond to this symbiotic approach with greater resistance to disease and pests, noticeably more vigorous growth, and more substantial yields with more essential oil production.

Companion planting causes soil to come alive as bio-diverse micro-ecosystems improve the overall quality of the living soil, water penetration, retention, and bio-availability of nutrients. Healthy living soil companion gardens attract beneficial insects and small creatures that prey on pests that are known to damage cannabis and hemp. Companion plants often help disguise the unique cannabis or hemp silhouette, and the unique aromas from several flowering species help obscure where the pungent aromas originated from.

Cannabinoid producing plants have also found a way to make their own defenses. The cannabis plant creates THC as a natural repellent that deters hundreds of pests from attacking her. However, most common cannabis and hemp pests are not deterred by the psychotropic qualities of this cannabinoid.

Companion Crops

COMPANION CROPS

These plants have the strongest anti- pest effects when planted with cannabis or hemp plants.For indoor grows, they are best grown in separate pots right next to your cannabis or hemp plants.

Mint: Mint is a strategic plant with an appealing smell to humans but is less-than-appealing to most cannabis pest infestations. Mint is also known to help cover-up the scent of freshly blooming bud sites. Please be proactive and remember that mint tends to be very invasive, so plan mint into fabric air pots around your cannabis, rather than directly with them in your raised beds.

Basil: Basil has become a staple in my grows due to its pungent scent that is known to repel and disperse cannabis plant pests like flies, beetles, aphids, and thrips. Basil is also believed to help increase overall oil production and can improve the flavor of nearby plants.

Cover Crops

These crops are the best species to grow in the same bed as your main crop, and provide other benefits to the soil such as nitrogen fixation, improving soil health and structure, and in some cases deterring pests.

Flax - Carter: As a cover crop, flax helps to mobilize phosphorus in the soil and add organic matter. An excellent companion seeding crop for use with small-seeded grasses and legumes due to its early maturity, limited leaf area, and less extensive root system.

Millet - White Proso: Millet, White Proso is a warm season bunch grass. The plants grow quickly when it is warm and produce a lot of biomass to cover the soil or till in. It grows well without supplemental water or fertilizer once established.

Vetch - Hairy: Hairy vetch  fixes large amounts of nitrogen, protects soil from erosion, helps improve soil tilth, and provides weed control during its vigorous growth. Research has shown that hairy vetch mulch can increase the primary crop disease resistance and prolong leaf photosynthesis of the following crop. In a no-till environment  indoors, harry vetch is an excellent choice for nitrogen-fixing and companion planting as well as bringing the organic matter back to the soil when chopped down.

Vetch - Common: If you are looking for a workhorse cover crop, look no further than vetch. Few legumes contribute as much nitrogen or biomass to the  garden. Vetch produces an abundance of vining stems and fine foliage that  help protect soils from wind and rain, while improving structure and adding nutrients. Plant vetch as a cover crop or green manure and reap the rewards of healthy, thriving soil.

Cowpeas - Red Ripper: Adapted to a wide range of soil types, Red Ripper cowpeas can handle sandier soils much better than Iron & Clay cowpeas. They also flower and make seed earlier than Iron & Clay. Commonly used by farmers for silage and as a cover crop, but also widely planted as a high protein forage.

Buckwheat - Mancan: Buckwheat is a short-season cover crop. It establishes blooms and reaches maturity in just 70 to 90 days, and its residue breaks down quickly. Buckwheat suppresses weeds and attracts beneficial insects and pollinators with its abundant blossoms.  It is easy to kill and extracts soil phosphorus from soil better than most grain-type cover crops. Buckwheat grows prolifically indoors in  containers or soil beds. It makes an excellent choice as part of a cover crop blend for cannabis.

Pea - Forage: Rhizobium bacteria helps legume (eg. peas, beans) crops such as the winter field peas fix nitrogen in the soil. What this means is that nitrogen in the air is actually captured by the plants and then in turn released in the soil when the plants die or are cut down.

The above-mentioned companion plants also act as camouflage in several ways. The variety of texture, colors, and depths of perspective help disguise the growing cannabis plant. Smaller organic species like indicas and autoflowers will virtually disappear in a well-populated garden. The many fragrant choices of companion plants also help confuse the distinctive cannabis bouquet in a potpourri of exotic smells.

The Benefits to Gain from these Green Companions

As a diverse mini-jungle awash with color, aroma, and functionality or a select few multipurpose species, companion plants will benefit your marijuana in several ways.

Companion plants support growth and vigor, increase oil production, and resilience while repelling bad bugs and attracting the good. Cost-effective and pollution-free companion planting is a bonus to the wallet and the planet.

In recent years, more consumers are becoming informed and alarmed about the pesticides used in commercial cannabis.

This has caused many home growers to take action and opt for an at-home, organic approach to their cultivation of high cannabinoid medicine. These home farmers are learning that trying to avoid chemical, synthetic-based pesticides and fertilizers while still safeguarding cannabis rooms against threats of pest and disease can become extremely frustrating. Detrimental insects, small rodents, and other small animals are drawn to cannabis like we are, so it's essential to diligently monitor the condition of your cannabis grow throughout its entire life cycle. Companion and cover crops can help to significantly decrease these pest threats.

Another Easy Way to Defend Against Pests and Increase Nutrient Availability

Part of the effect of companion and cover crops is that different plants attract and promote different soil microbial life, increasing soil biodiversity. In fact, maximizing biodiversity is ultimately the key to both ensuring proper nutrient uptake by plants and defending against all sorts of pests and disease. Microbes evolved to work in symbiosis with plant’s roots, and so the more species present, the more chances that the right microbe will be there to give the plant the food it needs or defend it from a specific pest or disease.

Bioflux fermented plant boost contains 11 billion microbes per gram and hundreds of different species.

It’s extremely easy to add a little Bioflux to your regular watering once a week, and see the difference it makes for the overall health of your plants. If you don’t want the time-consuming hassle of making your own compost tea or KNF style fermented plant juice, Bioflux is an easy and affordable substitute.

We would like to thank Everflux for sharing this invaluable insights and information to us.

To know more about this technology:

Growing Trial with Bioflux

To learn more about living soil cultivation:

Living Soil Cultivation by Everflux Technologies

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