Bugs and Spotty Leafs

[Matthew Ewert]

I just harvested my green beans and snow peas and I have started to notice an influx of blackish/brownish bugs or pores on the bottom of the leaves of most of my plants. When I wipe them off or squish them, I get brown spear on my fingers. I have also noticed the center of some of the plants are turning yellow and getting spotty, all my levels are normal and in good ranges in terms of PH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and temperature. I don't know about my magnesium or iron levels...

[Alex Veidel]

Bugs or pores? I'd recommend getting a magnifying glass (or if you've got a microscope, all the better), so you can properly identify what it is. If it's smearing that easily, it could be insect manure (maybe caterpillar or spider mite, depending on the size). If the leaves aren't spotty from some deficiency, it could be spider mites....

If you've got time to post a picture, then that's usually helpful.

[Alex Veidel]

Leaves look like this?

[Matthew Ewert]

Yep, my leaves look the same. Definitely spider mites... I looked at them under a magnifying glass, crawling all over the place... I have a bunch of lady bugs but they are still all over the place, any recommendations???

[Alex Veidel]

Well, depends on how you want to go about it. If you like sprays, then I've had fairly good success with using spinosad. It's quite safe for fish, so you don't need to be too concerned about overspray like you would with oil or soap based sprays.

Personally, I recommend using predatory mites to control spider mites. I don't know how big your system is, so you will have to decide whether the cost is worth it or not. My favorite combination is to purchase P. persimilis and N. Californicus together and release them at the same time. P. persimilis is a ravenous spider mite devourer and is great for taking care of your need for a quick fix. Since it requires large amounts of spider mites in its diet, it cleans up the majority of the mess, and then dies off from lack of food. N. Californicus is a much slower species that can go for long periods of time without food and can live off of flower pollen, so it makes for a great preventative against future surges in spider mite populations. I haven't had any issues with spider mites since introducing them (I'm growing indoors though, with a consistently warm temperature).

Here are some links from my favorite bio-control company:

https://greenmethods.com/californicus/

https://greenmethods.com/persimilis/

[Alex Veidel]

And here is a good spinosad product:

http://www.amazon.com/Monterey-LG6135-Contains-Spinosad-32-Ounce/dp...

[Matthew Ewert]

Thanks so much for the help!