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Spider Mites - Control · Hydroponics Daily

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  Welcome back to the Hydroponics Daily. Today we're going to talk about how can
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  you control red spider mites, the supervillain of the hydroponic world.
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  So first thing to look at is an integrated pest management approach.
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  So don't just rely on one particular method.
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  Making sure that you use a variety of methods will increase your chances of success dramatically.
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  The first one is making sure your temperatures are not too high.
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  Spider mites thrive in high temperatures they
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  have a preference for humidity but high temperatures is their key thing
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  they will propagate far far faster when it's
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  the temperatures are high and later on in the growing season you'll start to
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  see them in the uk red spider mites were not
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  an issue outdoors until the
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  last few years with climate change so normally it was just a greenhouse pest
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  but now you'll see them even in outdoor crops which is a shame it seems to be
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  that and they would die off during the winter whereas spider mites tend to stay
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  around even if dormant now so normally they would need to be transferred.
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  So that for grow rooms that means that there's going to be a
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  bigger population outside to potentially come inside even
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  in areas where there wouldn't be traditionally any spider mites so temperature
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  is a big thing you can control them with chemicals what we
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  call miticides and there are a number of synthetic chemicals
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  on the market however there might not be any authorized for your
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  particular crop and they can
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  have some can be very very potent chemicals because
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  they're not insecticides so they can i think
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  spiders are more closely related to humans so they're often they're like they're
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  like nerve toxins and things like that so you have to be careful you can.
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  Use natural extracts and soap we recommend dr
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  hydrospidamite it's a very pungent natural extract
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  product and has good effect
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  if used as an integrated pest management biological control
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  you can buy lots are predatory mites so you can buy mites that
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  eat your mites you can buy other types
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  of insect of insects yeah or my predatory
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  mites are not insects but you can buy insects that will eat your
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  spider mites with various degrees of success i'm
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  not a big fan of ladybirds i don't think they do much but predatory mites
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  are really good and will will devour spider mites
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  to the point where they can actually wipe out the whole population quarantine
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  is cannot be emphasized enough and
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  is not conducted well enough by hydroponic growers especially
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  of larger plants quarantine is
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  essential keep your plants that you're bringing in your cuttings away from the
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  plants you've got in your grow room already even if you're setting up a new
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  grow keep them in it quarantined away from where you're going to put them because
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  there will be spider mites and and even more so for thrips which can live as pupae.
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  In the soil or actually they lay their eggs inside the leaf so quarantine is
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  essential for them at least with spider mites you can sort of inspect them to
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  check there's no spider mites on and no eggs on the surface or the lower surface
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  of the leaf but these things won't germinate and won't.
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  Emerge unless you keep them warm so keep get you get your
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  new cuttings put them somewhere nice and warm and then monitor them
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  for a few days to make sure there's no pest and disease on them before you
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  put them into your grow room and then as i say my mantra
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  is don't water your plants every day but do monitor them for
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  pest and disease every day check on on the underside of
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  the leaves as many as you can and always use a hand
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  lens this is a times 10 hand lens with both uv
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  and led and that's really good for
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  finding really small spider mites you can buy these from us at utreema in the
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  uk and just monitor your crop daily if you and that's not just so you can find
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  it don't put your head in the sand because once an infestation has taken hold
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  it is far far harder to control it
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  doesn't matter if it's a pest disease a weed or anything it's just
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  so much more harder to control it so if you find it when
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  there's one or two plant pests on your plants then you
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  can stand a good chance of controlling it if you start to see
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  the spider mints balling up on the end of the leaves producing webs
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  then you stand a far less
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  chance of success if you see a few webs on your plants you
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  think oh that's that's probably just a spider it's probably not a spider mite
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  you're kidding yourself it's spider mites get control of it now before it gets
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  any worse and that's my number one tip for hydroponic growers if you can control
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  pest and disease in hydroponics you're three quarters is the way there.
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  So get control of red spider mites or spider mites, two spotted spider mites,
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  and you're on through a winner. That's been Hydroponic Daily for today.