I have wondered how long they will survive without a plant to suck the life out of.
Back to fighting them. I am in a perpetual style of growing so there are always some plants in the veg closet and some in the flowering cabinet.
I figure two of the best techniques used to win the battle and get the mites under control was to adopt a schedule and stick with it. Spray once a day for 3 days, then every other day for over the next week, then once a week until I felt that the war was winnable. Then scheduled a spray every other Sunday for eternity.
Still see evidence of some mites on occasion showing up on clones. Since insects and other pathogens tend to attack the weakest plants first that gives me the feeling that those clones are not the best in the bunch. Those get extra spraying attention. Have not seen evidence of mites on the flowering plants in the cabinet but I still spray those every other week up till about 3 weeks before harvest.
Spray over the tops of every leaf and spray below every leaf. Spray until the Neem oil mix is dripping off like it rained.
The second technique that works for me and I swear by is to mix up extra Neem oil when preparing for a mite attack session. After spraying the plants I will spray every wall and the floor of the closet and the flowering cabinet.
