loph problems... mites?

[myco]

hey guys looking for a bit of help here this loph has slowly gotten more and more covered

in this slightly orangish skin condition

as far as i can tell from my experience with orange rot that doesnt seem to be what this is (however im no expert)

with a little bit of research im starting to think it may be mites

hopefully someone can confirm this for me or if it is some kind of fungal infection

it seems to be only on the skin i have noticed the skin has become very weak aswell with som very very light touching and attempting to see if i could rub lightly scratch any of it of the surface when i did this i noticed the skin split straight away

this was about 2 days ago within only a few hours the split had dried out and looks fine really

you should be able to see in one of the pics

anyway wat are your thoughts guys mites or fungal infection ?

thanks in advance for any help guys

i love having such knowledgable people around to help with these things

heres the pics

[qualia]

looks like mites to me. i noticed with mine wettable sulphur has more of an impact that mite spray.

[Evil Genius]

Definately spidermites. They bite small pieces out of the skin and change the color into a mix of whitish grey.with dark green. The small wounds start to infect themselves what you can see at the orange spots that would probably develope themselves into orange rot.

Use 70% ethanol-firewater and sulfur.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Evil Genius

[qualia]

whats firewater? alcohol?

[Evil Genius]

Yeah, was supposed to be funny. I meant the stuff that you put into these small alcohol lamps. Spiritus? Forget the word for it again.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Evil Genius

[qualia]

ah ok, my funny bone's fast asleep today.

i remember we just put methylated spirits in our lamps when we were kids.

[Evil Genius]

Yep thats it. I use it for all spidermite infections. Wouldnt use it on very sensitive plants but cacti take it very well. Just dont do it whey they are standing in full sun...

[myco]

cheers guys i thought it must be mites i havent had to deal with the problem before though so i wasnt to sure

so cheers for the help

probly a dumbass question (i probly should just do some more research myself lazy bastard)

but just to clarify

am i sposed to mix the sulphur with the metho

and water it down to 70%

or do i buy 70% metho and just mix some sulphur powder into it

or am i sposed to dust it with sulphur after the metho has been sprayed on it

also would repotting into some fresh soil be a good idea i assume the mites would be in the soil to ?

Edited September 20, 2012 by myco

[applesnail]

Diatomaceous earth! does wonders! sprinkle that on em like icing sugar on a cupcake!

[Evil Genius]

Just buy the one they sell for putting it in lamps. But make sure its actually clear methylated spirits and not the colored petroleum shit aka crude oil or naptha. If its not exactly 70%, it doesnt matter. Even 100% would probably be ok. The one i use is 94% and its possible they only sell it with that or a similar concentration. Just buy the one you get.

Do the methylated spirits thing first. After one or two day, powder it with sulfur. And repeat the whole thing after 3-5 days. Make sure to check regularly for new mites. This treatment only kills the living ones. Eggs are not affected and the suckers need to be terminated as long as they are young to break the cycle.

[myco]

cheers applesnail i'll look into the diatomaceous dirt for the future

for now i have a huge old bottle of the clear methylated spirits here it doesnt say wat percentage it is

i've also got some sulphur so i'll give that a go thanks very much for your help EG apreciate it

[applesnail]

metho is meant to be 95% ethanol and other hydrocarbons formulate the rest..apparently....diggers brand is something like that!

[myco]

cool thats exactly wat i have here the diggers brand i just gave a bunch of things a spray with it

i picked out a few that looked like they had some similar issues happening

i've had alot of stuff inside over winter and to make it easier i have been bottom watering

unfortunately i think by doing this i may have spread these little bastards around a bit

so i just grabbed a bunch of things that looked a bit suspect like they may have been in the begining stages

and gave em a spray i got alot here though

just moving those five or six pots outside to spray made me piss my backs screwed at the moment i can barely walk

so i'll have to slowly go through and check everything else out when i can

Edited September 20, 2012 by myco

[GoOnThen]

Form good old Wikipedia

Denatured alcohol or methylated spirits is ethanol that has additives to make it undrinkable (poisonous), to prevent human consumption. In some cases it is also dyed.

Denatured alcohol is used as a solvent and as fuel for spirit burners and camping stoves. Because of the diversity of industrial uses for denatured alcohol, hundreds of additives and denaturing methods have been used. The main additive has traditionally been 10% methanol, giving rise to the term "methylated spirit." Other typical additives include isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, and denatonium.^[1]

Denaturing alcohol does not chemically alter the ethanol molecule. Rather, the ethanol is mixed with other chemicals to form an undrinkable solution.

It is also unusual to see ethanol at 100% as it will always have some water in it unless it has been dried

Cheers

Got

[2Deep2Handle]

oi Myco.....grab yourself a can of Yates tomatoe dust next time your at bunnings.

Copper oxychloride

Sulpher

spinosad(active constituent in Yates Success) *THIS SHIT ROCKS Organic, systemic, miticide & pesticide

Sprinkle over everything! Sometimes I even leave my cacti looking green from the dust for a few days! :D I prefer to wash it off my actual little buttons though. Means the soil still cops a good drench, and seems to keep the fungas gnats at bay even in my hot house! I have been able to water much more heavy since using this product, as fungal and bacterial infections now seem a thing of the past.

Except for small seedlings....they get a light neeming.

[Gollum]

I also use Miticide(Kelthane) seems to work pretty well.

[myco]

Cheers 2deep

I'll have to try grab some Next time sounds like good stuff

[.dg]

not a fan of metho, insecticidal soap work great for me

i like to spray in the evening, and keep freshly sprayed plants away from direct sun for a day or two

Edited September 22, 2012 by dg420

[myco]

Well as far as wat I can tell from wat EG and others say its perfectly harmless

I can honestly see a big improvement just after one application of metho

Today I will give them a dusting with sulphur

I just gave them a light spraying with a mister bottle all over so they were covered in it

it evaporates away pretty quickly to so I'm sure it can't cause to much harm if any

I'll try get something else next time I can get to bunnings but unfortunately I live in a very small town

the closest bunnings is 120km away and our small local hardware does not have a huge range of anything really

I will check it out and see if I can find anything there but for now I have metho and sulfur on hand

And I trust EG's advice I know he knows wat he's talking about so I trust him enough to try it out

[Evil Genius]

not a fan of metho, insecticidal soap work great for me

Well everyone has his own taste. But as long as you make sure the plants arent in direct sunlight when you apply it, its harmless. Bad experiences? Whas insecticidal soap? Never heard of that.

And I trust EG's advice I know he knows wat he's talking about so I trust him enough to try it out

You gotta be out of your mind to do that! Im insane.

Just kidding. Sprayed the whole greenhouse a lotta times this summer and know many growers who use it too. Even commcercial ones so i guess its pretty safe if you do it in the evening.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Evil Genius