Spider Mites - Indoor Tent Operation placed Outdoors in garden

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H

hurry

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Hi all, new here. I have 5 years of indoors growing experience, but I set up my tent in the garden this time which makes it more exposed to pests

Last year I lost my crop due to spider mites which took over at around 3-4 weeks into flowering. Not knowing what to do, I ended up spraying ic3 with the lights on and having my plant burn.

Does anyone have any recommendation or tips to manage pests in an exposed grow op? Some of my thoughts are:

- Setting up a humidifier with ic3 and using a timer so it's only on for 2-3 hours after Dark period starts
- Spraying manually with insecticide soap / ic3 for prevention, and in case there are mites - release Ladybugs

Maybe there's some product out there that can work similar to a humidifier but instead it sprays the solution on the plants (set up with a timer) so I don't have to do manually?

Appreciate all the help. Thank you!
 
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hurry

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Yes exactly. I'm in a city so can't get enough sun for outdoors. No room in the apartment for putting the tent indoors.
 
mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

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I think I would spray every 4 days or so.

I'm not sure if ladybugs are the best choice. Check out the Arbico Organics website for ideas. If you have an insectary in your area, buy from them. I don't think Arbico has its own insectary, they just get beneficial bugs and resell them. But the website is a wealth of information.
 
H

hurry

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I think I would spray every 4 days or so.

I'm not sure if ladybugs are the best choice. Check out the Arbico Organics website for ideas. If you have an insectary in your area, buy from them. I don't think Arbico has its own insectary, they just get beneficial bugs and resell them. But the website is a wealth of information.
Thank you, will look into it.

Any recommendations what to spray with? I have insecticide soap for veg and then will do ic3 for flowering, but ic3 needs to be applied daily I think (hopefully every few days would be enough), and I have to do it right when the lights go off to not burn my leaves. Trying to find a way to automate things.
 
mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

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I have no idea how to automate anything like that. I think I'd go with some kind of beneficial mite or insect. By early flower, you're not going to want to spray your plants anyway.
 
H

hurry

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Well last year I the mites came at around 3-4 weeks into flowering

I was thinking using a humidifier with essential oil diffuser, and putting ic3 as the essential oil .... and putting that on a timer so it only turns on when the lights go off

That might be enough to prevent the mites coming to the grow area in general

If mites still come, I might hose down my plant with water so the population is decreased, and spray daily with ic3

ic3 is organic and from what I read it won't negatively impact the flavor... but let's see
 
Anthem

Anthem

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I think what you want to do is what some of the large commercial guys do. They tend to use some extremely bad stuff around the outside perimeter of the building, not in the grow rooms but outside the building. They basically create a line of defense. The bugs get close to your tent and they just run so I would spray with some bad stuff about 3 or 4 feet around the tent. create a line of defense bugs do not want to enter. Also you better add some sort of hepa filtration because a black tent outside is going to just cook inside during the day!!! I would plan on at least 4 or 5 air changes a minute with a tent outside for starters.
 
H

hurry

9
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I think what you want to do is what some of the large commercial guys do. They tend to use some extremely bad stuff around the outside perimeter of the building, not in the grow rooms but outside the building. They basically create a line of defense. The bugs get close to your tent and they just run so I would spray with some bad stuff about 3 or 4 feet around the tent. create a line of defense bugs do not want to enter. Also you better add some sort of hepa filtration because a black tent outside is going to just cook inside during the day!!! I would plan on at least 4 or 5 air changes a minute with a tent outside for starters.
Thanks for the tip, yeah spraying bad stuff around might be the way to go. It's placed on a concrete patio, so it's not like the bad stuff will be killing other plant life
I have a hepa filter for my inline fan , I'll duct tape the other tent vent holes that are not 100% sealed. Still, it's a Zip up tent so it's not perfectly sealed

The tent itself is 4x2 with 600w, doesn't get exposed to direct sunlight, it's in the shade, and with 400+ airflow . I'm in NY weather, only running my veg in early spring when it's colder.... once it's summer and hot I'll be flowering until November , and will make sure the lights are off between 8am-8pm
 
Kampbe1l

Kampbe1l

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i alternate between white oil and diluted isopropyl alcohol spray applications. several applications. other controls includes lowering temperatures, less air flow, etc.

need to keep on top of such spidermite infestation, they are nasty bugs.
 
GreenMtnGuru

GreenMtnGuru

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You are setting yourself up for perpetual failure.

There are plenty of ideas and designs on this site for a micro-grow that would supply you with 2-4 zips of frostiness every 90ish days. Please consider this option as opposed to the clusterfuckery described above.
 
Archergirl74

Archergirl74

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Don’t forget that if you spray your plant down you have to watch out for bud rot! Recently lost a whole plant due to this. I believe I should have cut and hung the plant directly after spraying it down.
 
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