Thanks Aaron for the info. You're exactly right....hot, dry summer weather
here in VA! I'm looking for hurricane remnants to water the lawn and give
us some humidity!!!

I've got some miticide coming that should do the trick. We'll see!

Thanks,
Garland Hanson

P.S. Aaron, we just moved from Gilbert, AZ to the homeland here in VA. How
in the world do you maintain suitable conditions in the summer in
Chandler???

Also, how do YOU know about the dope growers???


"Aaron Hicks" wrote in message
...
How's your humidity?

If the humidity is good, and you have predator mites, then there
shouldn't be a problem. However, what most people do is get humidity too
low, and the predatory critters don't fare too well. So, the mite
population gets out of control, and people spray. Unfortunately, the
miticide also kills the critters that eat the mites. Vicious circle!

Put the humidity through the roof, get the appropriate predators,
and go from there. There's neoseiulus, phytoseiulus, mesoseiulus, and
galendromus. In particular, Phytoseiulus persimilis (or just "persimilis")
is a good greenhouse predatory control of spider mites.

The only thing harder than pronouncing the name is finding someone
who sells them- and sells good, live cultures. We used to get ours from
British Columbia; the dope growers prefer not to use pesticides on their
plants, and hot, dry artificial lighting really encourages pests- so the
Canucks are way ahead on the biological controls, the way I understand it.

And the only thing harder than finding someone who sells them...
is putting a crowbar in the wallet to fish out enough bucks to try
something that runs a good chance of not working.

As an aside, some of the biological controls are remarkable.
Others are remarkable flops. The art of breeding bugs and using the right
one is getting better.

As for suppliers- do a "Google" search, or call a local
hydroponics store (which will probably just get them in FedEx, same as you
would, and charge you more).

The address in the header isn't valid. Send no email there.

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ