Hi guys - I’ve been around quietly reading, and I finally have a possible issue that I could use the vast amount of knowledge from the members here.
Yesterday after a very trying week and a week of plant neglect due to family issues (My father passed), I opened the 2x4 to find that one of the plants had a bunch of white spots on the build-a-flower topdress. After putting it under the microscope, I found what I think are some type of mite (photos attached). I do not see any on the plants anywhere, not yet at least.
Here is a little background - I am attempting growing in organic living soil; I started with Coast of Maine Stonington blend in 7-gallon pots (going to up pot to 15 before flip) and have been topdressing with BAS craft blend and using boogie brew teas. I know I was pushing the container size, so I decided to toss a little BAS build a flower a week or so ago to ensure the soil microbiology was strong. Yesterday the pot was dryer than it should have been, and I noticed the spots on the compost top dress. The plants are vegging under a Mars Hydro SP3000, 18 on. Avarage temp of 72.8, humidity of 62, and VPD of 1.16 (data attatched)
From the research that I have been able to do, they look like soil mites, but I am not positive and not sure what to do about them. I dont want to destroy them if there beneficial and i dont want to kill microbiology by getting rid of them if not. I actually just got an IPM kit, including Em5, The Amazing Doctor Zymes, and Tweetmint. I also have AzaMax
I expected some hiccups and am more than happy to learn from them, but if I can avoid
throwing a month-plus away, it would be amazing!
Guys I am not looking for a spoon here (although it would be great… Lol), am willing to put in the time, i just want to fix the issue (if it is one) before its too late.
Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!