Tiny white translucent bugs or mites on sides of smart pot

[Zanegi]

judging by the latin, Id say they are just after some mold you are growing.

are you in fabric pots too?

No I am using living soil in plastic autopots, thousands of them now. I am wiping the pots down with bleach and water to reduce the number as they are getting out of control. No harm to plants however I did see a few on the leaves. I did read this on biobest website about predator mite ABS System - which contains the predatory mite Amblyseius cucumeris, also contains the prey mite (Tyrophagus putrescentiae) as a food source.

Thinking of ordering some cucumeris to maybe reduce the amount of these? I have emailed Biobest to ask about this but have not heard back.

 

[10gal]

worth a shot maybe, I dont know how else you would deal with them in that kind of set up.
maybe neem oil the pots down?
but i am sure they are inside munching and a breaking down some out your organics which is what you need

grow hydro bro no bugs
well less

 

[Herbshuttles]

hey guys, sorry I haven’t posted in quite some time. Took a break to ease the frustration of my issue. Upon harvest, the bud seemed undeveloped. The hair colors and trichomes suggested it was at peak time to harvest but the bud itself was almost non existent; it was mostly sugar leaves and hairs bunched up. The hairs were still long suggesting the plant needed time but they were all darker in color (no white or light color) and it was weeks past the amount of flowering time for the plant. It was weeks and weeks past it’s strains normal harvest time and the normal harvest time of the majority of strains in general. Not to mention most of the leaves were lollipopping themselves at a fast rate. Basically all signs, asides actual bud growth, pointed to harvest. The smell was ok prior to harvest but left and never came back during the curing process. I’m not sure if it was the spectrum of my lights, if they weren’t a good enough quality, if the bugs did them in or what. I used nuke em as well, which is supposed to be safe for use. But whatever the reasoning behind, I was left with bud that was basically a culmination of sugar leaves, hairs and stems that didn’t smell like anything and didn’t get me high.

Did you ever figure out how to get rid of the Tyrophagus putrescentiae? We are having the same problem.

sadly I have never figured out anything on this issue. There’s no info out there on it and every “professional” I’ve spoken with about the subject looks at me like I’m crazy and like they’ve never heard of this type of mite in the soil.

So I just took a moment to do some quick research on Tyrophagus putrescentiae.
I'm sure you found the same literature as I did but I will regurgitate a little of it here for those who have not.
This species of mite thrives in hot, and humid environments.
Under ideal conditions, with temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) and humidity above 85%, it can complete its life cycle in under three weeks. It appears they are of no real threat to our cannabis plants due to their diet. They say this mite thrives in these conditions due to being the ideal conditions for fungi. Their main food is fungi. It makes perfect sense now why you have a thriving colony. Once exposed they exploded in numbers due to the cloth pots you use. I'm not saying someone in plastic containers would never get them on the surface but due to the nature of the cloth bags they grow fungi very easily.
Now you say you found one on a leaf. Perhaps they are migrating due to ideal conditions?
What is your Humidity, and temperature averages?
Maybe they are even beneficial to us??? Perhaps they won't harm the plants but instead help keep the pots clean?
If you want them gone naturally I bet lady bugs would feast on these.

At first I thought that might be the issue however I had a dehumidifier in my tent as well as a fan and a gauge to tell me the temp and humidity. I ALWAYS kept it at optimal levels for bud depending on its stage, and levels that mold supposedly wouldn’t thrive in. I never saw anything that appeared moldy either. Also to my knowledge (and the reason I bought fabric pots) one of the benefits of fabric pots is to prevent mold and and root rot by allowing air to pass through and water to dry out faster. Plus I was using coco which dries out very fast.

I also would like to add that on a previous grow I had plastic pots and had a similar outcome

 

[Herbshuttles]

worth a shot maybe, I dont know how else you would deal with them in that kind of set up.
maybe neem oil the pots down?
but i am sure they are inside munching and a breaking down some out your organics which is what you need

grow hydro bro no bugs
well less

Nothing worked for me, Everyday I’d wipe these suckers down with all those types of oils and chemicals and they just came back stronger the next day. This made me want to go hydro but I was worried the overall quality wouldn’t be as good as I was looking for. But I mean, what were the chances of me growing dispensary quality bud as a beginner ? Maybe I got a little ahead of myself...

 

[Herbshuttles]

Also it should be mentioned that lead was found in my water supply. Im sure that didn’t have a pleasant effect on the plants quality