AAAHHH SPIDER MITES!!!

[Opie Yutts]

bud luv, I hear you man. I've always known they weren't safe. Even 35 years ago when my dad hung them in the barn. It sure cut down on the flies, but our horses were usually born with a unicorn horn. They used to not have that nice case around them like they do now and one might have confused it for a big piece of cheese. Imagine taking a bite of one.

As proof that I'm with you I offer this:

- Crap. I have mites. Now what?
The first decision you should make at this point is very important and not to be taken lightly. It could affect your entire life and the lives of those around you. You need to decide if you want to control them with natural, safe methods, or rid yourself of them with lethal chemicals. As far as I know, it is near impossible to rid yourself of mites using natural methods. Please donâ??t yell at me about this, I said near impossible, and I mean without spending a lot of money. Iâ??m sure it can be done and has been. In general, most methods that are natural only serve to control, or knock back the infestation. Whatâ??s worse, it is never ending. Using solely natural methods one is likely to end up battling mites the rest of his or her entire weed farming venture. The good thing is that natural methods are safe. On the other hand toxic chemicals are not safe, but can easily rid your grow of mites once and forever. Using toxins, I know of two methods that can rid your grow of mites. One is definitely easier than the other but both will work. I would not use toxins if I am trying to or planning on having children. Whatever you use be efficient, do it right and do it well, and kill as many as possible the first try. Mites can build up a tolerance to substances and then you are really screwed.

That's from a similar thread where I had some rather lengthy posts about the pest strips, which is here:

http://boards.cannabis.com/hydroponi...r-mites-3.html

It sure is cool to see a pesticide guys take on all this. Thanks again for your insight.

[Opie Yutts]

Also from that other thread, MSDS on the pest strips:

Household Products Database: Health and Safety Information, from the National Library of Medicine

[Opie Yutts]

Wow, I had no idea there would be so many studies of Dichlorvos on humans, even babies, believe it or not. Go here for human exposure studies and case reports.

HSDB Search Results - Frameset

Folks, if it can kill people, it can kill spider mites.

Also, I just figured out where a lot of the confusion on the names of these strips is coming from. For some reason one company (Spectracide) decided to put out 2 identical products and call them by different names. Both have 18.6 dichlorvos. Hmm, maybe Spectracide manufactures the same strip for Hot shot.

1. Hot Shot No-Pest Strip
2. Spectracide Bug Stop Pest Strip

[CannabisCarl2134]

I agree with Opie 100% When I have Spider mites, and Black gnats raping my girls, I used Strips, and they worked awesome, I also made "Garlic spray" which worked 100% as well. But I found Insecticidal Soap, Neem Oil, and Fruit&vegetable spray works the best. Neem Oil, I had 100% Success on killing the mites, with no returns.

[Opie Yutts]

Neem Oil, I had 100% Success on killing the mites, with no returns.

Uhh, are you positive? How long ago was that? Have you had a light cycle change from veg to bloom since? If yes, how exactly did you rid yourself of them with neem oil? Surely not just by misting?

And what are those nugs in your AV and why are they so red?

[CannabisCarl2134]

^^ maybe 2 months ago? It was on my last plant. I sprayed the top and undersides of the leaves, that hard to believe?? Neem oil is by far the best shit for them.

Have you ever used Neem oil? Because there are numerous a post here, and everywhere about how "Great" it is.

Red Nugs, in my AV? ??? Those look pretty purple to me.

[prairieplantsystems]

To find out what the strips do, wikipedia+dichlorvos. Dichlorvos is the main active ingredient in the strips. Any strip you buy regardless of brand will work as long as it has a high dichlorvos content. The one I got here has 19.2% dichlorvos. This chemical is so strong, you don't need continous release of it into your grow room, only use it as a bomb, for a couple of days in a row. Seal up your grow room so there is little air circulation so the vapor released from the strip builds up. I did this for 4 days in a row for 6 hours during the veg night cycle (so the temp would stay down as I switched off the vent system, switched it back to 24h light after) and the infestation I had was eradicated. Dichlorvos is apparently not absorbed by plants according to research on the chemical. It affects neurons, so no risk of it harming your plants, just don't smell it for too long. Air out the high vapor concentration quickly after and don't forget to save the pouch the strip came in and tape it back up in an air-tight manner so you can save the chemicals in the strip for later and also don't release them in your house. The strip releases vapor of dichlorvos, it seems to me people don't understand this, the vapor will reach anywhere air can reach if the concentrations build up to a high enough level.

[bud luv]

Good links, Opie.

No Pest strips are meant to disperse dichlorvos into the air. Here is a study on the effects of dichlorvos respiration: /SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS/ After inhalation of dichlorvos, breathing and eye effects are the first to appear. These include tightness of the chest, wheezing, a bluish discoloration of the skin, small pupils, aching in and behind the eyes, blurring of vision, tearing, runny nose, headache, and watering of the mouth. After /ingestion/ of dichlorvos, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea may appear within two hours. After skin absorption, sweating and twitching in the area of absorption may occur ... within 15 minutes to four hours. With severe intoxication by all routes, in addition to all the symptoms /previously mentioned/, weakness, generalized twitching, and paralysis may /result/ and breathing may stop. In addition, dizziness, confusion, staggering, slurred speech, generalized sweating, irregular or slow heart beat, convulsions, and coma /may result/.
[Mackison, F. W., R. S. Stricoff, and L. J. Partridge, Jr. (eds.). NIOSH/OSHA - Occupational Health Guidelines for Chemical Hazards. DHHS(NIOSH) Publication No. 81-123 (3 VOLS). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Jan. 1981., p. 1]**PEER REVIEWED**



Basically you don't want to be around anything that inhibits your cholinesterase levels, which Dichlorvos doe. In addition to seriously weakening your immune system, it is a verified carcinogen in animal experiments.

Check out this study: Not pretty

/HUMAN EXPOSURE STUDIES/ Humans exposed at concentrations ... varying from 0.14 to 0.33 mg/cu m for 30 minutes each hour, 10 hours a day for 14 days, showed no changes in cholinesterase or in number of physiological functions. ...On the other hand, when 28 human volunteers were exposed to dichlorvos by inhalation at a concentration of 1 mg/cu m, single exposures of 7.5-8.5 hours resulted in plasma cholinesterase depression of 20-25%.
[American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Inc. Documentation of the Threshold Limit Values and Biological Exposure Indices. 6th ed. Volumes I, II, III. Cincinnati, OH: ACGIH, 1991., p. 446]**PEER REVIEWED**

And finally, here's a little something to make you sleep better at night:
CASE REPORTS/ Two workers in Costa Rica died after splashing a concentrated formulation of dichlorvos on their bare arms and failing to wash it off promptly.
[DHHS/ATSDR; Toxicological Profile for Dichlorvos p.57(PB/98/101124/AS) (September 1997) ]**PEER REVIEWED**

[Opie Yutts]

quote=CannabisCarl2134

^^ maybe 2 months ago? It was on my last plant. I sprayed the top and undersides of the leaves, that hard to believe?? Neem oil is by far the best shit for them.
It's not hard to believe that you sprayed the leaves. If you mean that you sprayed the leaves and that killed all the mites, then yes, that is hard for me to believe. Neem oil makes the mites run away, and the only way it kills them is if they get caught in the stickiness and drown. Good luck after hibernation, but if you are extremely lucky, you might not see any when you change light schedule. They may have decided to relocate to happier hunting grounds, but don't get your hopes up too much.

Have you ever used Neem oil? Because there are numerous a post here, and everywhere about how "Great" it is.
Aarrrgh, you've got to be f'n kidding.

Red Nugs, in my AV? ??? Those look pretty purple to me.
Perhaps it's my monitor, but either way they look pretty good.

[Opie Yutts]

Check out this study: Not pretty

/HUMAN EXPOSURE STUDIES/ Humans exposed at concentrations ...

I still like the human baby studies most. It just doesn't get much better than that.