Cannabis plants, like any other plant, aren’t immune to pests and other diseases. If you plan on growing cannabis plants in your backyard, you must have the proper knowledge to develop a solution to these negative factors that may affect your growth. Such as the case of broad mites.
What are the broad mites? And how does it affect your cannabis plants, and what are the best ways to resolve them? If you want to learn more about these pests and know more about the causes and possible solutions, you’ll have to continue reading further.
What are Broad Mites?
Broad mites are one of the most prevalent pests that wreak havoc within cannabis plants. They are small types of mites known to damage almost all types of ornamental plants and other types of plants. Broad mites are more prevalent in warmer seasons, such as the summer, warm countries, and are very active in a greenhouse set up.
If they aren’t controlled, they make your plants unmarketable and even not harvestable. Most broad mites feed on newer growths, and once these broad mites feast on your plants, your precious cannabis plants become deformed and stunted. What makes them very annoying is that they are impossible to be seen with your naked eye and are even harder to detect with a microscope.
While broad mites are vectors of diseases, the main problem lies within their bite. Broad mites infect your cannabis plants as they suck out all the crucial nutrients from various parts of the plant, preventing photosynthesis from taking place. They will also suck out all the plant liquids, stopping their growth that will eventually lead to their imminent death.
As a potential grower, it is your responsibility to know the first signs and symptoms of broad mites to address these issues early on and avoid damaging the entire plant or even your entire growth.
Signs and symptoms of Broad Mites Infestation
Because these pests are hard to see with a naked eye, you may confuse broad mite infestation with other diseases such as stress, overwatering, bleaching, pH problems, root problems, and other forms of deficiencies.
However, there are a few ways to detect if broad mites are attacking your cannabis plants. This first sign will almost lead you to the culprit; as mentioned earlier, broad mites prefer new growths, as they are the candidates for laying their eggs and feed on. When your cannabis plant exudes a very-wet look, looking like burnt edges, or growing twisted leaves, this is the most obvious sign that your plant is being infested.
Another sign is that when infestation progresses, the leaves will soon start to have discolorations, distortions, and they will curl up, leaves will turn to brown, and leaf tips are dying. The second sign is noticeable, especially when your cannabis plants are at their flowering stage; their leaves are browning and soon die. That’s why, as you see these deformations, discoloration, it is essential to take immediate action so you can save with what’s left.
How to Deal and Get Rid of Broad Mites in your Cannabis plants?
Once you already have the idea that broad mites are the main culprit as to why your plants are wilting, dying, and various deformities. It’s time to deal with them. However, when it comes to broad mites, many miticides are not efficient at eradicating them, and with some miticides, broad mites aren’t listed on the labels.
Although they are some of the toughest pests to get rid of, this can be addressed if you stay cautious within your growth.
- Cut. When you spot a leaf or a particular part of the already infested plant, take your scissors off and cut them immediately. Once broad mites have infected these parts, it is unsalvageable; your only goal left is to stop these pests from further infecting the entire plant.
- Treat vigorously. When you have a persistent infestation that won’t go away without a fight, then you might want to spray miticides/pesticides more often. Although this might not be a good thing for your plants, it’s the only way to go to salvage them.
- Treat them when lights go out. When you spray miticides on your plants before the lights go out, this will help them not all too stressed up as this will minimize the potential of bleaching the leaves.
- Continuously treat them. To eradicate them, you may need to invest in more miticides than usual. This will prevent them from further staying, infecting within your grow for plans, and this is because if you don’t address them head-on, they might strike back with a vengeance, and this time, they are more resistant to whatever methods you choose to deal with them.
- Neem Oil. This type of oil is the most popular way to address broad mites. But there’s a caveat to it, Neem oil is quite harmful to your plants, and some studies suggest they are also harmful to humans. When used to treat cannabis plants, they will a very unpleasant aroma and flavor on your plant’s buds, so highly avoid spraying near the bud sites. Neem oil is an excellent remedy to broad mites and even other types of mites as well. Although they can be an effective treatment for broad mites, lessen the use of this as your plants may suffer.
Conclusion
Broad mites are one of the most annoying pests to treat. Not only are they microscopic thin, but they are also hard to determine. Without proper equipment, it may be impossible to detect them or even treat them.
Luckily, you can easily spot them once your new cannabis grows when they soon develop yellow spots, curling edges, and deformations. As a grower, once you witness these, you must take care of them until they have fully recovered. Finally, if you have taken care of them with all your might, your cannabis plants will reward you with some of the best yields you could ask for!