There's an epidemic of these guys and broad mites in our community (Sierra Foothills) right now. The local grow shop reports 1 out of 3 of their customers has an infestation. This particular shop tends towards organics and they are recommending foliar sulphur to everyone. They say 9 out of 10 are having success. I just started last night.
We have the russets, only on our clones, not on the seed plants (all are outdoor). I was able to see the critters with a 30x loop, though I have really good eyesight and they were
just barely visible. I picked up a 100x scope yesterday and was able to positively ID them as russets.
I misted with sulphur last night for the first time and every mite I looked at afterwards was dead (or at least not moving...). This morning, 95% were not moving, but a couple strays here and there were alive and ambling.
Here's a copy of my conversation with the helpful people at the grow store:
Here's the reply:
So there are lots of attractive designer type products that claim to kill mites. Some actually work. I am not family with the above three, but I do have some ideas.
The first one is rosemary oil and geranium oil, both awesome killers of insects. Plant some in the garden with pyrethrum for next year and some german chamomile which seems to repel mildew. There are products sold in town here that have those ingredients, the SNS line has them.
Suffocating oil. Just like headlice mites do not like oil. The most effective are mineral oil (yuch), Canola, coconut, sesame and fish oil. Adding things like rosemary, lavender, coriander, eucalyptus, basil, cinnamon, all help, kill and or repel. SM90 is one like that, organicide is another. Adding cocowet to any spray helps a lot, as does adding
yucca or molasses (which plants love).
There are also biological that help. Met 52, Swirski predatory mite, predatory nematodes, a thrips predator cucamaris?, lacewings, mantis', and thriple threat-which has three predatory mites-only one the californica one-works on russets.
Despite all this, Sulfur has by far been the most effective for folks. Especially when one adds
yucca or cocowet with it. Be sure NOT to add an oil. Lime can also help.