Yea, they are evil fuckers. I don't know where they came from, but they reportedly can survive on seeds, and the first time I saw them was on some small vegglings that I grew from seed. Hops are grown in the Colorado piedmont, and they could also easily have spread from the hops fields, since its all in the Cannabaceae family. Or like Spleefman said, maybe it came from ditchweed or victory hemp growing all over the Midwest.
I know that Hemp Russet Mites are closely related to Tomato Russet Mites, they are all Eriophyid mites. My tomatoes had some upward curling this year, and my outdoor Deep Chunks got pretty ripped up by the russet mites. I saw a buddy's outdoor garden that was totally ravaged by russet mites. His tomatoes were all but dead.
As far as getting rid of them in a large scale grow, good luck. I say just burn the building down. :mad0233: But if you are growing for an MMC, you should just do that anyway...
All the essential oil products don't work, including rosemary, lavender, neem, etc. Don't bother with
Azamax, SNS-217, SM-90, etc. Abamectin in veg will kill em and their eggs. In bloom, I used SAFER Liquid Sulphur twice, 3 days apart, then I did a cycle of
Mighty Wash/Power Wash. No trace of em at harvest and no nasty sulphur taste either. I have been checking on a regular basis with a microscope and have become super anal about spotting these fuckers. I think I'm going to just spray liquid sulphur the first week or two of bloom on a regular basis as a preventative instead of overusing Abamectin, so long as I don't actively see them.
More people than you think have em and have no idea what they are!
Green Mopho, Oct 10, 2011
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community...or-hemp-russet-mites-in-colorado.40930/page-2