Where in Denver to buy predatory mites?

Today I went hunting for predator mites(or lady bugs could work). I looked in three different gardening shops, where I've seen praying mantis and lady bugs. However NONE had anything in stock. They all said come back in later spring when the weather doesn't kill them.

What I WANT are Phytoseiulus persimilistor. These are little hunter orange spider mites that eat all of your plant suckling mites, then eat each other until no bugs are left, AND they don't make webs.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I'd prefer not to use lady bugs because they fly and die in your light hood if it's open(which mine is).

I have/had spider mites. I still keep seeing one every so often. So being three weeks into flower day after tomorrow. I'd like to find some bugs to fix this. :thumbsup:

You can always get them shipped to you.

Purchase Our Good Bugs Online - GreenMethods.com

Good luck!

I've seen buds with dead predator mites, not sure if it was something on the growers side or mother natures.

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Originally Posted by COzigzag

You can always get them shipped to you.

Purchase Our Good Bugs Online - GreenMethods.com

Good luck!

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That's where I learned about them. :thumbsup:

Was hoping with all the new growers, someone might have them locally.

However if I hadn't known at all that would have been great help. So thanks.:D

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Originally Posted by TheReleafCenter

I've seen buds with dead predator mites, not sure if it was something on the growers side or mother natures.

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Yea, these won't do that but regular spider mites (the ones I kinda have) Do lay eggs in buds, coat them in webs and die inside the buds. Hence, why I want these now!

I've used soap and water, Neem oil and a hotshots pest strip so far. I still see the occasional mite on a leaf though. Being nearly three weeks into flower I don't want to use poison anymore. So bugs are the way to go!

I'm just guessing, but I think spider mites can become immune to poisons, since these are not dying. I have to think I have poison immune mites.

Do you feel like going for a drive to Colorado Springs, CO? I would call them first.

Check out this website for buying your insects: Spider Mites

Hydro-Gardens
P.O. Box 25845
Colorado Springs, CO 80936-5845
888-693-0578
[email protected]

Way to Grow carries them...just bought 3 viles last week there

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Originally Posted by Jord0713

Way to Grow carries them...just bought 3 viles last week there

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Now that's better. I live in North Denver, SO that place is only a couple miles away. Thanks Jord0713 :thumbsup:

I honestly dont think spidermites (otherwise know as "The Borg") can be fully erradicated through predatory species. Predators do not eat mite eggs, so even if they are eating all the spidermites, your still going to be left with a whole new crop of em in a week or so. Spidermites procreation rate is so rapid that it is seriously an onslaught invasion when they arrive. Ive spent more time than I care to mention, trying to battle spidermites at previous grows, only to come to the realization that the battle was not worth fighting. For how long it took me to get rid of the invasion, I could have already cleaned the whole grow and started a new and probably be further along then if I had tried to fight the battle.

If your still in veg, you have a chance of being able to use products that can rid your plant of these pests. There is a product on the market called "FLORAMITE". It is one of the few products I can say WILL work as long as you are avid about keeping up with the procedures. Again this is something I would only reccomend to someone who refuses to start over and still has their plants in vegetation growth.

However, if your plants are already flowering and you have exposed calyxs, then it is already too late and there is nothing you can do (beyond predators).

But than at the same time you run the chance of the predators dying and getting stuck to the resins on your cannabis flowers. Not to mention, if the predators are eating up all the spidermites, they are leaving fecal matter around or on your plants, even if you cant see it.

Hope this helps brotha. Sorry to hear for the trouble, hope you can get it sorted out. Let me know if you have any more questions.

-Bryan:jointsmile:

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Originally Posted by ColoradoCareMMJ

I honestly dont think spidermites (otherwise know as "The Borg") can be fully erradicated through predatory species. Predators do not eat mite eggs, so even if they are eating all the spidermites, your still going to be left with a whole new crop of em in a week or so. Spidermites procreation rate is so rapid that it is seriously an onslaught invasion when they arrive. Ive spent more time than I care to mention, trying to battle spidermites at previous grows, only to come to the realization that the battle was not worth fighting. For how long it took me to get rid of the invasion, I could have already cleaned the whole grow and started a new and probably be further along then if I had tried to fight the battle.

If your still in veg, you have a chance of being able to use products that can rid your plant of these pests. There is a product on the market called "FLORAMITE". It is one of the few products I can say WILL work as long as you are avid about keeping up with the procedures. Again this is something I would only reccomend to someone who refuses to start over and still has their plants in vegetation growth.

However, if your plants are already flowering and you have exposed calyxs, then it is already too late and there is nothing you can do (beyond predators).

But than at the same time you run the chance of the predators dying and getting stuck to the resins on your cannabis flowers. Not to mention, if the predators are eating up all the spidermites, they are leaving fecal matter around or on your plants, even if you cant see it.

Hope this helps brotha. Sorry to hear for the trouble, hope you can get it sorted out. Let me know if you have any more questions.

-Bryan:jointsmile:

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Actually Bryan, the species I listed (Phytoseiulus persimilistor) lays eggs near the Borg eggs, Then when these eggs hatch the larva consume eggs until first molt into adolescence. Those middle agers ALSO eat eggs ( as many as 20 per day), they also eat the middle aged Borgs (:D). This species always hunts, and is a killer it's entire life cycle. Once it runs out of eggs and mites to eat, they eat each other, AND each others eggs.

I've personally only seen two mites on ALL four of my plants in the last week (those were on Sunday last week). Those two I smashed. Yesterday I spent well over an hour hunting for the little suckers to no avail.

This being the case, I may have nearly eradicated them already, but I doubt that. I'm sure I don't have enough now to support a population of these hunters. So kinda thinking about the ladybugs. They won't lay eggs on my plants, are easy to see, and would likely leave once they ran out of food to eat.

DAMBED bugs!!

Well you are lucky that you found the infestation so early, that is really the only chance to get them is if you catch em before they really get on. Because one a few get on there, they will all start laying eggs, and if those reach maturity ( which can be 5-10 days depending on enviorment ) then you got a problem because then you have anywhere from 50-200 mites laying eggs and then its just become too far gone.


If you are still in veg, I would suggest going and buying floramite and treating your plants. Unfortunaly, I have only seen predators work once, and that was 3x types of predators to attack mites and even then the herb was still tainted from the micro fecal particles and all the other contaminents we cannot see.

Just remember, mites are a nomadic species. They will catch on to your shirt or clothes and come into the grow and latch onto a plant. That is why it is good to shower and change into clean clothes before ever going into your grow, to ensure you dont have anyone sneaking in with ya. Always bomb the room between grows, and never let anyone else into your grow...

Hope this helps. -B

Damn the BORG!!! Sorry to hear you got infected. One method I have heard of is to get a 1 gallon pump/wand sprayer from the hardware store. Use one teaspoon, not a TABLESPOON! but a teaspoon of Ivory dish soap. Mix it with 1 gallon of clean water. If you can, take the pants out side, or use your shower to really spray them down. Afterwards you can rinse them the same way with just pure water.
This will only kill the live mites, not the eggs, so you want to follow up with predators, or another method to kill the eggs.

Hope this helps.

I discovered the mites two weeks ago yesterday. Woke up to one of my clones literally dripping with eggs and mites, Webs everywhere on that one plant.

I washed it and the one next to it with cold water right away. That got rid of the bulk of them but not all. Later that morning I washed them again, using Shackley basic H organic soap. I've had friends successfully remove mites from smaller plants using this stuff. NEXT, I cleaned the beJesus out of every part of my house. Then washed my two plants that were one week into flower, with the same soap. I bought a BAG vacuum with Hepa, so I can throw away anything I vacuum up :thumbsup:. THEN, I placed a hotshots pest strip in that room, sealed it up, and dissolved three pounds of dry ice in the room (best Calculation is 19200ppm for three hours). Then I misted each plant at lights out and turn the humidity up to 60%-ish for the next few days. That next Monday, I discovered my boss is who gave them to me. He was already treating with Neem the previous week. But hadn't informed me he had the BORG!:D So I took a few tablespoons of his Neem and treated with that for the next week.

Last weekend I found one mite (not mature) on the clone that was infested, and one on my LST. Those I smashed! Then I rewashed and retreated all the plants with both the basic H and the Neem oil.

NOW,.. I don't go anywhere near my boss, his plants, or anything he's been near :D. When I get home from work. I take a shower, putting the days clothes in the washer right away. Then I shower and put on clean clothes. Then vacuum everything from the front door, to the flower room.

After I go through all that I can go look at the plants.

I search each plant(without touching it) for around 30 min every day:mad:.

At this point, I'm hoping diligence might prevail. Stories however say I'm likely doomed. I can say this though,.. My boss is still VERY infested. He's having little to no success at killing them, and now has little brown flies all over the grow. However he's paying more attention to his future set up, then to his current troubles. I almost think he's more concerned with the income then the product.:wtf:

Personally, I just want to see them all dead, who cares about selling the eggs, when you haven't even hatched a chicken yet?

Oh and BTW, These mites I talked about always lay their eggs near "borg" eggs. So, if the flowers don't have eggs in them already, these won't lay eggs in the buds. :thumbsup:

Mites can also catch rides on flys / gnats, so if your boss has those flying around + bad mite infestation, he can really cause serious damage to not only his crop but anyones crop near his, or anyone that knows him.

You sound like your on the road to getting rid of them. I wish ya the best. Remember mites shy away from light, so always make sure to inspect the bottoms of the leafs the best. When your washing them, a good trick is to put the lights on the ground and point them to the ceiling, this way all mites will move to the top and they are easier to get at.

Keep your chin up vance, dedication will overcome.:jointsmile:

Thanks Bryan.

I just went through my LST, and trimmed off all the tiny sappers! I think I may be doing this a little late. However I found a couple threads where others did it this late and it worked out OK.

I used this to hunt some more too! :thumbsup: In the process I'm happy to say I found no mites! :D (Not to say they aren't there)

Thanks for all the help Bryan. Sure wish I could run into you at the shop one of these days. I'd like to talk to you about a few clones of your Sour Chem. I loved that stuff! :D

I've heard that Azamax and Azatrol are safe to use later in harvest and will kill both the mites and eggs. However I suppose that means you will end up with mite corpses on your buds... at that point though, you're basically jsut trying to salvage what you can.

I saw a few of those bastids on my plants, and I've been carefully examining them daily and hitting them with a mix of Einstein Oil neem and Safer soap when I notice anything. I've only seen 2 or 3 actual mites on my plants (both in veg and flower room), but my G-13 was totally covered a few weeks ago, and I was able to get rid of it (it had small webs near the bottom and all). I'm just keeping a close eye on the situation, but I will definitely be giving my room and house a thorough cleaning for the next batch. I'm 2 weeks into flower and will discontinue the neem/Safer after this week to be safe (assuming I end up having to do another application) -- another 6-7 weeks will be enough to work any residue out and if I have to, I can hit them with Azamax towards the end. I'm mostly just keeping my temps low (get up to 77 or so during the day and down to ~63 at night), trying to keep them moist, and hitting them with a fairly strong fan since the mites don't like that.

Aside from an actual humidifier, what is the best way to increase humidity? I'm in a grow tent with a pretty strong exhaust fan (replaces the air about 3x per minute), so it seems like whatever it is, it would really need to produce some humidity to keep up, especially with our dry semi-desert air.

Vance I think I already posted in the other section but I totally eliminated mites with a No Pest Strip installed for 1 week (ventilation off at night). I used at the switch to flower. Now been 32 days since treatment and haven't seen so much as a sign of them.

I did catch them very early though. Within 2 days of getting my clones home. I saw the damage and a couple larvae/eggs, but never even saw an adult. So maybe that helped. Of course I was also hitting plants w neem, pyrethrins, iso alcohol, etc.

no sprays or poisons are going to work because of the eggs. predatory mites are definately the way to go. 4 years ago i had spider mites and got the preddy mites that fly. it takes about 4 weeks to cycle through-so not good if you're halfway through flowers-but they eat ALL the mites, ALL the eggs and then they eat eachother.

That being said, i had a patient that had thrips and got nemotodes from a place down in durango.

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Originally Posted by MMJinColorado

I've heard that Azamax and Azatrol are safe to use later in harvest and will kill both the mites and eggs. However I suppose that means you will end up with mite corpses on your buds... at that point though, you're basically jsut trying to salvage what you can.

I saw a few of those bastids on my plants, and I've been carefully examining them daily and hitting them with a mix of Einstein Oil neem and Safer soap when I notice anything. I've only seen 2 or 3 actual mites on my plants (both in veg and flower room), but my G-13 was totally covered a few weeks ago, and I was able to get rid of it (it had small webs near the bottom and all). I'm just keeping a close eye on the situation, but I will definitely be giving my room and house a thorough cleaning for the next batch. I'm 2 weeks into flower and will discontinue the neem/Safer after this week to be safe (assuming I end up having to do another application) -- another 6-7 weeks will be enough to work any residue out and if I have to, I can hit them with Azamax towards the end. I'm mostly just keeping my temps low (get up to 77 or so during the day and down to ~63 at night), trying to keep them moist, and hitting them with a fairly strong fan since the mites don't like that.

Aside from an actual humidifier, what is the best way to increase humidity? I'm in a grow tent with a pretty strong exhaust fan (replaces the air about 3x per minute), so it seems like whatever it is, it would really need to produce some humidity to keep up, especially with our dry semi-desert air.

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I feel as if a huge misconception on the way to use Azatrol/Azamax is flying around. IMO, its definetely a waste to even spray either one of these products on your plants as azatracin which is the active compound seems to only be effective when used as a nutrient feed. It is supposedly supposed to be a systemic line of defense that your plants actually incorporate throughout its entire structure in order to prevent any mites from even being able to feed. I find that using azatrol early in the vegetative life cycle ( IE using a solution once every 7-10 days to feed) up to two weeks before i throw into flower really really helps with preventative maintanence. Also, since you are feeding with it it also helps to kill the mites located in your soil which used to be my hardest endeavor in the eradication efforts. However, I have heard reports that Azatracin can actually diminish the production of trichromes but I ve not noticed this in the 2 years ive used the product. I also use Final answer and neem oil as straight foliar sprays. I hang Hot shots things in my outer room areas (IE where no plants are) as they are extremely effective but are also carcinogenic.

If you are talking about flowering plants it is ALWAYS more cost effective to cut down the one plant that intially shows mite damage at onset as compared to cutting down everything 3 weeks later when the whole room is infested. I then treat my plants in flower that dont have dmg ( as long as they are at least 2 meeks out still) with Final answer. But like I said, it is much safer to lose one plant then your entire perpetual harvest.

The absolute hands down best remedy for spider mites though is to have healthy plants with no dead leaf matter. Mites are really only attracted to a plant that is not 100% so if you can keeps your temps low, your room clean, and your bitches happy you should be looking good.

Has anyone heard about a Colorado Native beetle that is a mite ravager? Ive heard a few stories but have never actually been able to track them down. Im looking to not release them in my garden but everywhere in a thousand foot radius of my actual building.

Hi,
from same area as you are and discovered the little shits yesterday....little white spots looked like paint spatter from a roller. after a lil research and a look x 100 at the back sides and man...what a drag....spider mites.
I could not find any stock of preditory mites as well...only lady bugs...but they may still be yer ansewer....you say your lights not covered?....dose it have a slot to slide the glass in? if so...goto D7L art supply...there you can buy a sheet of single pain for 30 an change...mine are 12 x 18 so I was able to get 4 pcs cut...total 50 and some change with tax. this will do 2 things....one keep the ladybugs out of yer lights and 2 lower the heat in the area to further help cull there reproduction....you can also drown the lil buggers with a spray bottle to the undersides of the leaves...this those some to so the hiding places arent as abundant.....x 100 you can see them nessled along the main shoots of the leavestucked in ther eweb and wedged in...truthfuly these things remind me of bed bugs only for plants...good luck with them...I know Im gonna need it...lol

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Originally Posted by Vancefish

Today I went hunting for predator mites(or lady bugs could work). I looked in three different gardening shops, where I've seen praying mantis and lady bugs. However NONE had anything in stock. They all said come back in later spring when the weather doesn't kill them.

What I WANT are Phytoseiulus persimilistor. These are little hunter orange spider mites that eat all of your plant suckling mites, then eat each other until no bugs are left, AND they don't make webs.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I'd prefer not to use lady bugs because they fly and die in your light hood if it's open(which mine is).

I have/had spider mites. I still keep seeing one every so often. So being three weeks into flower day after tomorrow. I'd like to find some bugs to fix this. :thumbsup:

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i have never had a pest problem.so i ask can you see these mites with the naked eye? can you only see them with a x scope?just wondering as i like to know these things.

I've still not bought any preditors.

My wash, Neem, wash, Neem, with Hotshots strip. Seams to have done the trick. I'd run right out and get the lady bugs, or mites, If I did see any though.:thumbsup:

However at this point, I'm not sure I'd have anything for them to eat (except each other).

I scan my plants every day, both top and bottoms of the leaves. Although I've seen what could just be dust(and I remove it). I've not found anything actually moving in over two weeks. I've also been sealing up the room with the HOTSHOTS strip about every 10-12 days. That gives any eggs time to grow to immature(takes 8 from hatched larva) without poison. Then kills them before they molt to breeding adults (eight more days in). I can't use Neem anymore being over 4 weeks in. So, if I see any of the little vamps(even one), I'll buy bugs.

Echter's in Arvada has also been helpful. They said they'd have ladybugs starting this week. They always guess what I'm doing too ("so,.. um,.. your growing,.. um,..Ya know,.. um") :S2: I always try to be on the down low, so as not to scare off the employee. Here they aren't like that. AND they set up an area with all the common MJ nutes, meters, flood table style hydro equipment and mylar too. They have lights right there as well, But I thought they looked a bit spendy, and no 1000w.

Either way, I was happy to find a trusted greenhouse/garden supply. Who has knowledgeable staff, and treats an MJ grower as they would any home gardener. :thumbsup: (watch the products though, Like any garden supply, they may sell you a $7 bottle of molasses for $35):D

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Originally Posted by palerider7777

i have never had a pest problem.so i ask can you see these mites with the naked eye? can you only see them with a x scope?just wondering as i like to know these things.

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Sorry palerider, I somehow missed this question.

The answer is yes you can see them with the naked eye. The adults look like tiny brownish moving spots. The immature ones look like a white spot, but you can see a black/gray spot(I assume is their guts). You can also see eggs on the leaves, and clusters of eggs near the central vein of the leaves undersides. Once a plant is infested (as my clone was when I first found them). There are mites and webs everywhere.

This site has some good pics: Growery - How to Kill Spider Mites - Get Rid of Spider Mite Infestation on Cannabis (Marijuana)

This one is amazing: Oaksterdam News Network - Getting rid of your uninvited guests