Having success with h202 drench for 2 days at 1ml/gal
then switching to caps bennies at dble strength nute root and foliar with gonats
and spray with neem and mighty wash rotating in spynosad.
keeping fingers crossed. I will be doing this every week to 5 days on res changes.
Maintaining foliar with swapping Cap's and mightywash, gonats, spinosad and neem

is that 1ml of 3%?

neverbreak

Wow! You may have just identified a problem I had a year ago and never figured out. Here's my thread on the matter. I never did solve it, and ended up throwing away all of those plants. So you can check out my long list of what didn't work... Closest I came to a solution was with triazicide but this merely suppressed them for a while. I never tried an Avid root drench (though I don't think I'd want to flower or smoke a plant after doing such a thing). Good luck, and let us know if you find a solution.

larebowm said:

does anyone know if predatory nematodes would eat these little f*******

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Sadly, Nematodes will do nothing. The consensus from multiple sources seems to be that Hypoaspis Aculeifer or Hypoaspis Miles predatory mites will do the trick, but only if you release them in numbers 3x that of the Bulb mite population. The local shop has been researching these with me, and they came across something stating that temperatures above 95 F will kill them.

Personally, I am embarking on a massive cleaning process and starting anew. It's early enough in the cycle that I feel OK about that. If anyone thinks they may have had these and they don't have them anymore, I would love to hear what your cleaning procedures and preventative methods were.

Blue Dog, I think you're breaking new ground for many of us here. PLEASE continue to update with new information.

I don't have them anymore. I took clones and discarded all plants with any roots and any media that had been previously used. I cleaned my environment thoroughly and sprayed down surfaces with triazicide for good measure.

Im just curious if that is a bulb mite in the picture that you posted.. from the looks of it but im no professional when it comes to insects and bugs i would say its an immature Predatory Mite..

best of luck i found this pic online that showcase the both.. hope this helps...

EveryOneSmokes said:

Im just curious if that is a bulb mite in the picture that you posted.. from the looks of it but im no professional when it comes to insects and bugs i would say its an immature Predatory Mite..

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Definitely not a predatory mite. Predators move a lot faster than what I've got. The predators are also a bit larger in size, and their heads are shaped differently. Also, most predatory mites don't burrow that deep into the soil. While I cannot be positive that what I have are bulb mites, I haven't found anything online that more closely resembles them. I'm told that there are 1200 species of oribatid mites and that some may resemble what I have, but the growth rate of the oribatid is much slower than what I've experienced. It remains a bit of a mystery, but I will keep everyone posted on what my cleaning & preventative methods are and whether or not they work :)

damn bro, drastic measures, havin to start anew. hope it categorically sorts out the problem for ya.

neverbreak

Here ya go everything you wanted to know about bulb mites

Thanks for the link @salmonslammer. I still haven't found a source for H. Aculeifer, only for H. Miles. Aculeifer travel deeper into soil. If anyone comes across an insectary that carries the Aculeifer, let me know!

@Blue Dog You may be having a hard time finding them because of a name change....

Info from Koppert website, article is from October 2012:

Koppert will be relaunching the soil-dwelling predatory mite Hypoaspis aculeifer onto the market at the end of this year. Thanks to a greatly improved production method, we are now once again able to supply this very effective natural enemy. The reintroduction of this predatory mite allows Koppert to offer the market a full range of subterranean natural enemies of pests including thrips, sciarid flies and the bulb mite.
Hypoaspis aculeifer (brand name Entomite-A) combats thrips and sciarid flies and is also very effective in dealing with bulb mites. The production of this soil-dwelling predatory mite is a complex process. Following extensive research, Koppert has succeeded in improving the production method to such an extent that efficient production and reliable supply are now possible.


The packaging has also been improved. Koppert supplies the product in a newly-developed cardboard cylinder packaging (containing 50,000 predatory mites) using only vermiculite as a carrier material. The company has switched to this packaging material because it guarantees the quality of the mites better and for longer, and the population remains at optimum levels. Hypoaspis aculeifer also searches for its prey in the deeper layers of the soil.

Entomite-M In addition to Hypoaspis aculeifer, for the purposes of the subterranean combating of pests Koppert also has the soil-dwelling predatory mites Hypoaspis miles and Macrocheles robustulus available.
Hypoaspis miles (brand name Entomite-M) is a powerful natural enemy of sciarid flies and has a strong side effect on Duponchelia fovealis. Springtails, thrips pupae, and nematodes are also on its menu. Hypoaspis miles is now also supplied in a new cardboard cylinder containing 50,000 beneficials, and in a bottle containing 10,000 beneficials with a mixture of vermiculite and peat as a carrier material.
Compared with Hypoaspis aculeifer, Hypoaspis miles remains closer to the soil surface.


Macro-Mite Of all the subterranean beneficials, Macrocheles robustulus (Macro-Mite) has the broadest effects, tackling thrips pupae, the eggs, larvae, and pupae of the sciarid fly, and white worms (important in Phalaenopsis). It also preys on the eggs of Duponchelia fovealis, the eggs of the cabbage fly, and other insects and nematodes. Koppert supplies Macro-Mite in a cardboard cylinder (containing 50,000 mites), with vermiculite as a carrier material. Like Hypoaspis aculeifer, Macrocheles robustulus can be found in the deeper layers of the soil. Its population responds very quickly to pests in the soil.
With Hypoaspis aculeifer, Hypoaspis miles and Macrocheles robustulus, Koppert now offers a full range of natural enemies of soil infestations with even better quality thanks to the cardboard cylinder packaging.


New name Because of new taxonomic insights, the Latin names of the two Entomite products will be changed in the near future. Hypoaspis aculeifer (Entomite-A) will be renamed to Gaeolaelaps aculeifer and Hypoaspis miles (Entomite-M) to Stratiolaelaps scimitus. It is a name change only, the mites themselves are unchanged.

I think this thread has become sticky-worthy. Any good objections and I'll unstick it.

Thank you @Ladyv !!! Interesting, that's what I am looking for. I'll see what Koppert has to offer.

Glad to help....keep us updated on how things go with the predatory mites.... :-)

This almost seems like what I have. I can't post a pic until tomorrow but my clones have been growing stunted, look like they're nute deficient. I noticed a couple real tiny sesame seed looking eggs? I mean real tiny, up top near new node growth on the stem part? This is just for myself and I don't have moms. I'm badly disabled and only do a couple rounds per yr. Should I just scrap it and start from seed? Also how long does it take for eggs to die? I would rather just bomb my tent and rub down everything with bleach and run seed. I'm so sick of clones from the clubs!!! I feel terrible for you big guys running multi lights! I soaked mine in AVID also as a preventive. Sorry to hijack, just looking for some advice and share my experience. I'm open to any suggestions!

Sorry to hear @HappyTrailz . It doesn't sound like bulb mites though, they stay down in the soil and I imagine their eggs are not visible to the naked eye, the bugs are so small themselves. I'm not sure if broad mite eggs are visible without a scope either, I'm guessing not, but I know they do like to hang out in new node growth. I'm sure there is more info available in a broad mite specific thread.

I should have mentioned this earlier, but a good way to check for these mites or root aphids as many of you may already know is to put a quarter to half dollar sized slice of potato about 1/8"-1/4" thick on the top of the soil of each plant near the base of the stalk. Oh, and don't use organic potatoes - unless you're sure they are bug free - I think I used some last round that were wormy and I might have actually introduced this small worm that grew to crazy populations on the soil surface, I think it was harmless, but still strange and another story in itself...

After I cut all of the potato slices I soak them in water for a few minutes before I put them out to hydrate them so they don't dry out as fast- longer lasting bait. Leave the potatoes on the plants for 8-24hrs and then carefully look at the potatoes. Be patient, sometimes it takes a little bit for a mite to finally make a move and become visible. Turn the potatoes from side to side to catch the bugs in the light. Root aphids are almost immediately visible, these mites on the other hand are potato colored and are very very small. The first photo in this thread is actually a mite on a potato. Just for kicks I put some potatoes out on all of my house plants and whoa, that was surprising. Lots of different bugs! A fun and scary experiment. No bulb mites or RAs as far as I could tell which was good, but definitely a few mites which I identified under the scope as mould mites- they are crazy hairy and harmless.

From here on out, I would tell anyone with any kind of phantom deficiencies to throw some potatoes slices on their plants. The bugs don't always surface on all plants, but if you've got a pest beneath the soil like RAs or mites, they are likely to show up on at least a few potatoes. And if they show up on one or two plants, then they are likely to be having a party in all of your plants, without you.

Well i did the potato test... well for 10 hrs, nothing i could see from the naked eye. I have a pic of the egg i picked off the new node growth. It's not very clear, but doesn't appear to look anything like broad, or bulb as far as size goes. Any idea? It looks a lot smaller in person, but definitely no need of a scope like with broad, and bulb? Do fungus Gnats lay eggs? Maybe just plain mite? Thanks all!

Camdawg said:

Hell yeah I got that shit in the shower! Whats the procedure for bug spray and can I use it as a preventative in veg?

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Yes you can Dr. Bronners through out the veg phase. Basic H from Shackley is also very good. Don't get any Dr Bronner in the eyes though :)

Thoth said:

I find DE ineffective. It supposedly works while dry, but that's never the case in moist soil.

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Indeed. The issue with DE is due to the pests size to strength ratio. Simply put in order to be effective the critter needs more mass and less abrasion resistance.
Great for larger pests though.