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Spider Mites: Cannabis Garden Pests

Spider Mites: Cannabis Garden Pests

Spider Mites are small, annoying pests that find their way to new areas every year. These mites have been a growing problem for cannabis growers for decades, with their range and resilience increasing every year. These problematic pests can appear and rapidly being reproducing thousands of mites, even as many as a million, in a single month. Unresolved conditions associated with these pests can quickly lead to devastating results in the garden.

Spider mites, like many mite varieties, favor stressed plants and hot, dry conditions. As more climates around the country shift warmer as the years pass, more areas are experiencing these pests when previously, they haven’t been a problem.

Spider Mite Infestation

Signs of Spider Mites

It’s typical to notice damage to plants before seeing these pests on them. Spider Mites feed on the contents of the epidermal cells of the plant. The feeding process removes chlorophyll and causes small white spots to appear on the surface of the leaf. Once real damage has been made, the leaf will not recover nor regain its green color.

Spider Mites received their name based on the webbing they form when infesting garden plants. This is an easy way to help specifically identify these mites. Visually, these mites can appear tan, green, or red and typically have two spots on their backs. These marks on their backs are another easy way to identify these mites from other variants. Spotting adult females are easier than males as they are larger and rounder.

Eggs are often laid in groups underneath leaves or within their webbing. These eggs are often round and straightforward, usually only 0.1mm in diameter. This variant of mite hatches with only six legs, eventually growing and obtaining an additional two legs in adulthood.

Prevention Tips and Tricks

  • Closely monitor your garden and treat or destroy any infested plant areas.
  • It is okay to lose a little of your garden to pests if you are growing outdoors, nature happens.
  • Experiment with safe sprays and treatments to prevent devastating damage. Spider mites are very resilient and have a high chance of adapting to treatments used.
  • If you think you’ve eradicated your problem, keep a close eye anyways. These mites are known to come back full throttle.
  • Shop with our “pest resistance” tag online or instore for an additional layer of defense.
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
https://www.advancednutrients.com/articles/get-rid-spider-mites-cannabis

Hemp Russet Mites: Cannabis Garden Pests

Hemp Russet Mites: Cannabis Garden Pests

Hemp Russet Mites are tiny pests that are apart of the eriophyidae mite family. Eriophyids are known to be pale bodied (yellow and pinks are common), cylindrical with a sharply tapered off rear, and exceptionally tiny. Unlike many mites, Hemp Russet Mites only have two pairs of legs near their heads, rather than four.

Hemp Russet MitesThe life cycle of these little pests can be completed as quickly as one week under favorable conditions such as high humidity and temperature. Due to their quick lifecycles, these mites can produce multiple overlapping generations every year where present. Hemp Russet Mites are particular and typically only affect cannabis and hemp plants. Being they are host specific, they are known to be one of the most harmful arthropods in the Hemp Industry. With these pests being so tiny, using a magnifying glass is exceptionally helpful when trying to diagnose a potential problem.

Signs of Hemp Russet Mites

During low mite populations, damage will be difficult to notice. With larger populations, the affected area will be exceptionally more noticeable. Hemp Russet Mites will fed on the surface of the leaves by piercing and extracting cell contents. Symptoms of these heavier populations include:

  • Bronzing (Russetting) – This can occur in stems as well if fed on
  • Reduced Leaf Size
  • Brittle Foliage
  • Upward Leaf-Edge Curling

These pests do not produce webbing, unlike many other mite variations. Large infestations will also have an abundance of cast skins (exuviae). Since these pests are so small, exuviae can appear dark and powder-like on leaves and stems. This can be helpful when narrowing down the culprit. If not treated quickly enough, they can significantly reduce the plants yields and quality.

In smaller quantities Russet Hemp Mites prefer the underside of the cannabis/hemp leaves. But, as they expand their colonies, they move to other areas of the plant such as upper sides of leaves, stems, and buds.

Prevention Tips and Tricks

  • Be mindful when cloning parent plants by carefully inspecting clippings.
  • Remove and destroy any infested plants – without a host plant, these pests will die out relatively quickly.
  • Limit movement of people and supplies within the area of cultivation.
  • Intensely researched noninvasive predators for these harmful mites. If you choose this route, please do heavy research – as importing invasive species, of any kind, to your area can be extremely harmful to the environment. This is recommended for the more experienced gardener and should not be the first step taken.
  • Horticultural oils and dips to kill mites. These pests can take a lot to get rid of them.
  • Shop with our “pest resistance” tag online or instore for an additional layer of defense.
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES:
https://agsci.colostate.edu/agbio/ipm-pests/29895-2/
https://extension.usu.edu/planthealth/ipm/notes_ag/hemp-hemp-russet-mite-

Aphids: Cannabis Garden Pests

Aphids: Cannabis Garden Pests

Aphids are incredibly small, soft-bodied pests that are known to take over a wide variety of garden plants, including cannabis. A variety of colors can be found on these guys as the seasons keep moving. These pests may or may not have wings and can be found on Cannabis leaves and stems; feeding off the fluids of plants with their “piercing-sucking” like mouth. 

Cannabis AphidsSigns of Aphids

During the feeding process, none to very little injury occurs to the leaves. While many other pests show obvious signs of intrusion, with white flecking or surface scarring, on the damaged area of the plant. Along with loss of fluids, a significant number of these pests can result in wilting, slowed growth, and even leaf discoloration.

The quickest way to diagnose aphids in your garden is watching for a sticky fluid, known as honeydewHoneydew is excreted continuously as feeing occurs among the colonies. Tiny droplets of honeydew form and disperse along the surface of the leaf. This fluid leaves behind small, but noticeable, shiny spots. 

During their life cycles, aphids continue to grow and periodically shed as they produce a new, larger, exoskeleton. These exoskeletons are referred to as “cast skins”, and collect around colonies of aphids before falling to the leaf below. This is another great sign that aphids have invaded your garden, if honeydew is not spotted. 

 

Prevention Tips and Tricks

  • Be mindful of over applying fertilizers that promote vegetative growth and flushes. As new growth draws aphids in.
  • These pests are common in many gardens other than cannabis. If you tend to more than just cannabis in your garden, be aware of them potentially spreading from plant to plant if affected.
  • Prune and trim off heavily infested buds and leaves off your plants.
  • Depending on how many aphids are present, check out a cleansing solution to remove the pests from your flower.
  • Research noninvasive insect species that are safe for cannabis but menacing to aphids. If you choose this route, please do heavy research – as importing invasive species, of any kind, to your area can be extremely harmful to the environment. This is recommended for the more experienced gardener and should not be the first step taken.
  • Shop with our “pest resistance” tag online or instore for an additional layer of defense.

 

 

OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES:
https://www.koppertus.com/plant-pests/aphids/cannabis-aphid/?utm_term=redirect
https://www.dripworks.com/blog/common-cannabis-pests-and-diseases?srsltid=AfmBOooJGFU5582GNHSMUNAq_NPyzIEXDCjO5ongOaOPKJZwwU2AD2l0
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/aphid-treatments-for-flowering-plants.106698/