Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looking for feedback from people who had/had them and how they treat.
My aquaponics setups is inside the house so predatory insects is not an option.
I'm not 100% sure which variation I have-they're dark/black, not red.


I'm thinking of trying to frequent watering of leaves as I'd read they don't do well in wet environments but does this mean you now have to wet down leaves daily/multiple times a week to keep them from coming back?

Has anyone used the product "liquid ladybug" in aquaponics systems? Does it effect fish or beneficial bacteria?

Any other suggested methods for getting rid of spider mites?

Thank you in advance for your replies!

I've noticed that they seem to mostly be a pest on bean plants for me so I do two crops of bush beans a year. I pull the first crop and just pitch the plants when the spider mites get too difficult to control (by this time I've done pretty well harvesting them). I can control them a bit before this using chili garlic spray making certain I get good coverage especially under the leaves. I replant beans a couple of weeks later for a fall crop.

Predators are an excellent option indoors. You could buy some predator mites (persimillis etc) from an IPM supplier and release them in your growing area.

If it is heavy infestation of mites, I would give them a thorough spray with Neem oil 3-4 days prior to when you expect to receive the predators, just to keep the population of baddies at bay and give the predators a foot up. Just ensure you cover any exposed areas of gravel in your grow beds with newspaper a few sheets thick prior to spraying. Ensure you cover your fish tank and/or sump tank with something as well, so that spray drift can't get into the water.

Have a look at the video below. That was a very heavy infestation I had on a display system, they were easily eradicated with a spray of Neem oil followed by the introduction of persimillis predator mites a few days later.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Perth-Aquap ... e_internal

Sorry, they are in the first video in that link, the one with the leaf. I thought I was linking just to that vid. This should be a direct link:

https://www.facebook.com/13720939299814 ... =2&theater

Thank you for your input, do you home make the garlic chilli spray or buy a pre-mixed bottle? Will look into that (may try home make it if can get ratio info).
I have tomatoes, some herbs that can't get started (cilantro, parsley, dill) cucumber plant and jalapeno plants. Cucumber is hit hardest, with tomato in close second-both are in bad shape and not fruiting yet) Jalapeño just started flowering so yeah none are ready to be ripped out and if I pull them all (did already a few months ago-made a huge mess and causes big nitrogen spike so had to up water changes while waiting for plants to grow back) I just get a new infestation when i plant fresh seeds >.<



Googling persimillis mites first hits (green method.com and arbico-organics.com) talks about specific type of mite they eat and temp, humidity they need-I don't think I can give that in my home... I don't know the exact species of mite infestation I have, and my house is very dry (probably why i have a mite problem to begin with). Will look into these more, not sure I have a large enough infestation to keep the predatory mites from dieing out fast... side questing: they seem to come in 1000 or larger quantities.. I have a small system (8'x2' grow bed total) can I released just a few dozen and keep others in bottle to use later or do they all die off in bottle? didn't see anything from reading the sale sties with an 'expiration/use by date' so to speak

So I bough
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007C ... UTF8&psc=1
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032 ... UTF8&psc=1

recommended from:
http://www.farmxchange.org/diy-aquaponi ... e-methods/

Going to try Neem oil tonight-will turn off bulbs after sun goes down. Reading reviews on amazon and looking at direction I'm unsure if I should use every day for a week or one day wait 6 spray again and repeat?

I'll probably do daily, if I kill everything (plants and fish) well that sucks but I want those [censor] mites dead.

The Neem oil and Azadirachtin in Aza-Max seem like they may be redundant. The scientific name of the neem tree is Azadirachta indica and Azadirachtin is one of the primary active ingredients in Neem oil.

I'm not sure where it came from originally but here is the chili garlic recipe along with preparation instructions - http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7892&p=267402&hilit=chili+garlic+recipe#p267402