Tiny Spider Or Root Aphids?!

[Thomburger]

I was looking at my plants today and noticed this tiny little pest on my plant. I've never had a pest problem so I'm extremely worried! Any help would be greatly appreciated sorry for the bad photos!

 

[DemonTrich]

Very hard to make a guess at it. Any frame of reference as to the size, color, spots, etc.

 

[Thomburger]

Very hard to make a guess at it. Any frame of reference as to the size, color, spots, etc.

Very small, but visible to the naked eye. Clear or white and it looked like it had an odd number of legs. Circular or oval was the shape.

I've looked up aphids, thrips, mites and all other unwanted pests. Nothing really resembles it other than MAYBE spider mites but that's a stretch. I started digging through trying to find more using my scope and everything with no success.

Hoping it was a beneficial or just an actual spider.

Attached is a pic of damage I thought was from ph could be from the mysterious insect.

 

[DemonTrich]

If their white/semi-opaque , no spots, and very very small, possibly a hyposasis miles (good bug). If the bug had 2 red or black spots on body, spider mites.

 

[Thomburger]

If their white/semi-opaque , no spots, and very very small, possibly a hyposasis miles (good bug). If the bug had 2 red or black spots on body, spider mites.

No spots that I saw mate, so that's good! Just looked up hypoasmis miles and that could definitely be it. Was small enough to be a mite for sure, but no visisble damage that one would see with spider mites. I will check more after I get off work thanks for your help mate.

 

[Thomburger]

If their white/semi-opaque , no spots, and very very small, possibly a hyposasis miles (good bug). If the bug had 2 red or black spots on body, spider mites.

Saw one the of the fuckers again today. I’m doing a complete and intense check of everything and can only find one at a time. Thinking now it could be broad mites or russet mites. Even with my scope, the bugger was too small to get a good look at. Any time I’ve seen them, they’ve been on the stems or on the leafs, never in the top of the coco. No black spots or red spots so I doubt it’s spider mites. Aphids are big in my area, but this doesn’t seem like them. Also I have a damaged leaf doesn’t look like any pest damage maybe caterpillars? Also some slight canoeing. Any input would be greatly appreciated Demon! Gonna try and snap a few pics for ya. In the mean time going to grab a pack of smokes and make a nicotine tea.

 

[DemonTrich]

You will never see a BM or RM with the naked eye. A 100x scope is needed.

Hyposasis miles hang in the soil and pots, not leaves. Seems like some.sort of leaf muncher (caterpillar, or the like).

If soil drench or foliar with something. I use promis exclusively for the first 3x waterings of any new ffof soil. I haven' seen a fg in 3 yrs with this regimine.

 

[Thomburger]

You will never see a BM or RM with the naked eye. A 100x scope is needed.

Hyposasis miles hang in the soil and pots, not leaves. Seems like some.sort of leaf muncher (caterpillar, or the like).

If soil drench or foliar with something. I use promis exclusively for the first 3x waterings of any new ffof soil. I haven' seen a fg in 3 yrs with this regimine.

Fuck, man. I’m stumped. About to call around to local shops see if there’s anything specific to my area that I haven’t encountered.

So, I would NEVER be able to BM or RM witrhout a scope? Cause I’ve spotted both these buggers with my phone. Granted, they’re tiny as hell. But still I could catch them with me eye and even took that pic with my phone no scope. I’m using 30x to no avail right now. Sounds like RM though, with the canoeing of the leaves? Resembling heat damage. I need to start IPM anyway, this is giving me a good reason . Possibly spring tails? Don’t think they look like that, but I’m running out of options. Any knowledge on aphids? Figured I’d be able to see an infestation of aphids lol.

 

[Wee Zard]

If you only find one at a time, it's most likely a predatory mite.
It's on our side. :)
If you spray with nicotine and kill the predators, you will soon be over run with pests.
(They breed faster)
Looks like momma nature is trying to help you. Let her.

 

[Thomburger]

If you only find one at a time, it's most likely a predatory mite.
It's on our side. :)
If you spray with nicotine and kill the predators, you will soon be over run with pests.
(They breed faster)
Looks like momma nature is trying to help you. Let her.

Trust me that’s exactly what I’m hoping for haha! The only thing that worries me is that I’m showing canoeing on the leaves and it looks like damage that could be from russets. I called around to my local hydro stores they said broad mites and root aphids are in the area not a lot more than that.

I think I’m going to let her run another day and see what happens. If worse comes to worse I’ll go get some Azamax if the problems get worse and start IPM. Anything you guys would recommended to use in conjunction with azamax for IPM?

 

[Thomburger]

If you only find one at a time, it's most likely a predatory mite.
It's on our side. :)
If you spray with nicotine and kill the predators, you will soon be over run with pests.
(They breed faster)
Looks like momma nature is trying to help you. Let her.

I decided to just kill myself with the nicotine instead of the pests, for now!

With that being said...I would want to be preventing ALL mites, predatory or not, from my indoor grow, right? I set up a carbon filter on my intake after I saw it yesterday to try and control a little more what’s going in. My man Everest Fernandez (Just4Growers) on YouTube swears by filtered intakes no matter the cost to efficiency.

I know a lot of people say it’s overkill, but wouldn’t it be useful for situations like this? I have a dog and she is fluffy as all get out, so I’m trying to at least combat the small amount of hair getting in my grow, thinking that’s what they hitched on.

If it is a predatory mite, then I have some explaining to do with the twists/canoeing of the leaves.

I did just transplant them a couple days ago so they could be shocked, but I’m really starting to doubt my instinct as of now.

Attached is a pic of what could be larvae and an overview of my problem plant.

 

[DemonTrich]

Filtered intake means a hepa filter, not a scrubber. Scrubbers don' eliminate spores or bugs. Hepa filters can.

 

[Thomburger]

Filtered intake means a hepa filter, not a scrubber. Scrubbers don' eliminate spores or bugs. Hepa filters can.

Noted!

 

[Wee Zard]

Nice plant!

I grow outdoors, in the tropics.
Prevention and working with nature works for me.
I do see occasional signs of mites, of course, but when I get my glass and flip the leaf, 9 times out of ten, all that's left is husks. We do have carnivorous ants here that even eat the eggs.
If I were to apply poisons, it would kill the ants, lacewings, ladybugs, and hypoaspis mites.
I use dryer sheets to repel fungus gnats, root aphids, and to thwart thrips.
I mix my high PH tap water with low PH rainwater about 50:50 and store it in barrels.
I grow Bacillus Thuringiensis in the barrels so it gets applied with every watering.
A layer of worm castings repels small white flies, and Citric acid controls white powdery mildew.
Best cure for pests is prevention and a balanced system of pests and predators.

JMO, It's just what works for me.. :)

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[Thomburger]

Nice plant!

I grow outdoors, in the tropics.
Prevention and working with nature works for me.
I do see occasional signs of mites, of course, but when I get my glass and flip the leaf, 9 times out of ten, all that's left is husks. We do have carnivorous ants here that even eat the eggs.
If I were to apply poisons, it would kill the ants, lacewings, ladybugs, and hypoaspis mites.
I use dryer sheets to repel fungus gnats, root aphids, and to thwart thrips.
I mix my high PH tap water with low PH rainwater about 50:50 and store it in barrels.
I grow Bacillus Thuringiensis in the barrels so it gets applied with every watering.
A layer of worm castings repels small white flies, and Citric acid controls white powdery mildew.
Best cure for pests is prevention and a balanced system of pests and predators.

JMO, It's just what works for me.. :)

Aloha,
Weeze

Nice, mate. I would be all for introducing predatory mites and IPM but it seems like it’s a little too late. All signs are pointing to broad mites. Busted out my 100x and still can’t find the buggers though. All of the new growth is twisted to hell and misshaped. Still haven’t confirmed it, but that seems to be the hardest part, apparently. I’ve looked all over the new growth and can’t find any sign under my 100x.

I’ve read that they’re still visible under 30x, but barely. I’ll be buying a nice scope and plucking a couple leafs off and see what it’s like under 1000x. If I can’t find anything then, idk what to do. Might as well start IPM, though.

Accepting all thoughts and prayers. Last thing in the world I want to do is wage chemical warfare on the bastards. Fucking miticides are expensive lol.

 

[Thomburger]

Still can’t confirm and everything basically looks the exact same. If it’s not broad mites, it’s no pest. With that being said, 30x is big enough to see them and their eggs, right? Cause I can’t find anything I’ve spent hours and hours looking the past few days. In the brown spots there are ovals, but they’re so small I think they’re just trichs.

 

[DemonTrich]

No broad and russet you will need a 100x to see them.

 

[Thomburger]

No broad and russet you will need a 100x to see them.

Thanks Demon for all your help it’s really appreciated. If you’ve had them, are they pretty quick invaders? Not as fast acting and signs don’t show as quick as SM from my understanding.

With that being said, a couple of those hours were spent under my 100x (before the friggin lens fell out, Chinese crap) and still no sign.

I’m showing signs of nitrogen toxicity, heat stress, and calcium deficiency. All of which I could make an excuse for, other than broad mites. None of the “wet” look. The new growth that’s coming in doesn’t look bad either, some actually looks really good. All of the signs of stress are on older, more developed parts of the plant. The calcium deficiency started from the bottom which of course is normal.

I’m pretty sure something is chomping at my leaves, though.

Going to order one of those USB scopes for my laptop and hopefully get a better look.

 

[Wee Zard]

Good plan.
I have 3 different kinds of USB microscopes.
Every grower should have one.

Here's what you are up against if it is B. M.s
That is a tiny white fly, with hitchhikers.
Cyclamen mites are that small too, but the eggs don't have the wee diamond pattern

Had them on a late flowering girl.
Took her in and put her in a shower stall with a no pest strip for an hour or two, every other day X5.
Did the trick and caught all the new hatch.
Have also read that 120 °F. air temp. will kill them, but have not tried that personally.

Also read that bio-war can kill them.
It did work on a root aphid infestation, so it's a good bet.

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[Thomburger]

Good plan.
I have 3 different kinds of USB microscopes.
Every grower should have one.

Here's what you are up against if it is B. M.s
That is a tiny white fly, with hitchhikers.
Cyclamen mites are that small too, but the eggs don't have the wee diamond pattern

View attachment 761262
Had them on a late flowering girl.
Took her in and put her in a shower stall with a no pest strip for an hour or two, every other day X5.
Did the trick and caught all the new hatch.
Have also read that 120 °F. air temp. will kill them, but have not tried that personally.

Also read that bio-war can kill them.
It did work on a root aphid infestation, so it's a good bet.

Aloha,
Weeze

Yeah these fuckers look terrible.

I don’t know if this is much of a sign one way or another, but from what I’ve read they love to go after the new growth and the males carry the females to the top of the plant. That being said, here’s a pic of new growth on one of the plants.

Are the cheap USB scopes good enough on amazon?

Thanks everybody again.