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SPIDER MITES! · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hi, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily. Today we're talking about the super villain
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  of hydroponics, the red spider mite.
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  Or as it's known scientifically, Tetranicus urticae. I know that so well I didn't even have to Google it.
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  So, the common name is a bit confusing, as is the scientific name.
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  Red, they're not always red. They're not spiders. They are mites.
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  Not to be confused with red mites, which attack chickens. These
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  are red spider mites they attack your plants and
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  then the scientific name urticae that means nettle
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  stinging nettle so that's where they were first discovered on so
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  stinging nettle i think it's closely related to hops and
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  cannabis it's in that family certainly in that group and so
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  you can see the sort of plants that they love and so
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  i say it's not always red the young they're red when they get older
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  and they sort of they sort of take the color of the plant there they are
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  eating anyway they've got the other common
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  name for them is two spotted spider mites and that's
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  because delightfully these two little spots here on their back are where they
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  keep their feces so they don't poo it out anywhere and they keep them in little
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  sacks and when they're young they might have six legs and then they develop
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  eight legs as they get older being an arachnid they have eight legs though so they're not an insect.
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  And being an arachnid they're harder to control as
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  well so they feed off your plants they feed prefer preferentially
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  off the lower side of your leaves
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  so that's where you should look for them always but they will feed off the upper surface
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  if the population builds up and
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  they they're and it depends on the
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  species they're attacking but they like to live close to
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  the to the main midrib or any of
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  the veins really so you'll see especially if it's pronounced the
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  veins are pronounced then they will live closely to there
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  and stay away from any predators and then
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  as the population really builds up they'll congregate
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  on the leaf tip and they'll form little balls and any
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  animals that are passing or you you they will transfer onto you as you go and
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  they will also produce webs not all mites do this spider mites do and this will
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  allow them to travel between plant to plants infecting all the plants in your
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  grow room and they will cause the leaves to grow.
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  Deformed and the flowers to be deformed in
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  a way that is beneficial to them and protects
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  them from pests and from predators and
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  from you from controlling it these are hydrophobic webs
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  so if you put any sprays on so it's always good
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  to to control it early on because once these webs are
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  formed it's game over and it's very difficult to get
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  all of the spider mites out of your grow room they're everywhere once
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  you start to see them like this the tips it's it's
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  a big problem these these balls are how they transfer between they'll if
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  you're in the garden and you go into your grow room that's how
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  you transfer them into your grow room it's normally on
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  you or pets or things like that so that's uh red spider mites it's probably
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  the number one issue for pests when it comes to hydroponics and what else can
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  we say about them we'll talk about control tomorrow so there are a number of
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  different ways you can control red spider mites thank you very much.