Days from harvest, have mites

[misspiggy412]

Thanks so much ..so bummed..but ..will get thru this harvest bomb ..disinfect..clean.. and order seeds..and be more diligent in inspecting and maybe put on a jump suit for plant care..someone said I could carry from.my dogs...or I think.from.my vegetable garden.
..

 

[misspiggy412]

Think.i might harvest n bud wash. Will.need new area to dry in..???

 

[TorturedSoul]

So bud wash. ??

.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Things might end up a little fishy. I know you meant dish soap. Haha

Smells like fish, you've got a dish - smells like cologne, leave it alone.

On last thing, after your grow is done, disinfect anything and everything for mites. They are, from what I gather, very hard to completely rid yourself of. I would be vigilant for them from now on and maybe be proactive with some predators in future grows. Besides neem during vegetative growth, you can also increase humidity to get those mites so "swole" that they explode. Again, recommended for veg only because you could give yourself bud rot doing it during flower.

They breed like fleas, almost. And that, under perfect conditions, goes: one flea produces 50, 50 fleas produce 2,500, 2,500 fleas produce 125,000 - and then you shoot the pet and move .

I went looking for the perfect solution to red spider mites ("We are the Borg...") with no checmicals, once. I read that, if you can get an infested space up to a minimum of 150°F with very low humidity for at least two hours, they'll all die. At which point I scrapped the garden and set off a flea bomb in every room. Problem solved, but I lost some plants. I wonder if those environmental conditions would actually kill the plants, or just set them back a week or so?

The sad thing is, it's easier to carry in enough to start a new population than it is to carry in the mail. SOBs are everywhere, most places; we're really quite lucky that it's an occasional problem. And they're easier to deal with than russet mites, I think they're called, the ones that started spreading from the West coast (IIRC) a few years back. Those things are REALLY tiny - like a bunch of them could hide on a cannabis seed. Worse, they can successfully "overwinter" on one... get your favorite Class IV HazMat cleanup crew in, kill all the ones in your garden space (and the rest of your house, probably) - then break out the seed collection to start the next rodeo and they're back. I got some seeds from Crap King a few years ago, two strains in their "tiny Ziploc baggie" US packaging. Tossed them into the collection. Pulled them back out three or four months later, was going to grow some out - and noticed some kind of contamination had appeared in the baggies, like a dusting of something so tiny it almost looked like fog. I kind of suspect that's what it is. They've been sealed up ever since. Hate to throw them away, but I'm afraid to open them to this day. And I'd like to push the putz that packaged and shipped them (from their US reshipping point to me) into an elevator shaft on the 73^rd floor when the elevator is up on the 75^th, so that he'd have a little time to see the ground approaching. IDK what was worse, contaminated seeds or his stuffing them into the body of a single Crayola marker, not even sticking the bottom back on properly (it fell off when I picked the marker up!!!), putting it into a regular plain white envelope, and adding a note that stated "STOP! Do not throw this item away. Someone at your address ordered it!" Which, had the contents been seen by anyone who had a brain that was functional enough to even provide for things like a heartbeat, would have been an automatic "WTF IS IN IT? Let's find out..." And I'm surprised that didn't happen, since the envelope had a little tear in it by the time it arrived. Because that's what happens when you stick random objects into a simple, unprotected envelope, and mail them across the country. They don't hand-carry each item separately, FFS, they get stacked, auto-sorted (assuming it doesn't get kicked out due to thickness or something), stacked, jostled, jammed into a carrier with 10,000 other items, rinse/lather/repeat. F*cking clown, I hope he used the money he got paid for that job to visit a whore and got herpes or something. I'm sure glad that company is no longer a sponsor!

Er... But I digress. Red spider mites, yeah. Been there, done that. Kill 'em all. Kill them, their brothers, their sisters, their mommies, their daddies, their sons, their daughters, their friends - and then do it again, and again, and... again. Breeding cycle is like three to five days, and you probably won't kill the eggs, so one treatment won't do it. The warmer it is, the faster the eggs hatch (up to a point, see above). The things will be on your plants and in the ground, too. Okay, they're not quite as bad as fleas, probably only produce 100 eggs in a couple week's time or thereabouts - but that's more than bad enough. And they're one of those critters that aren't really inconvenienced by not having a male handy, too. Female produces an egg, it's not fertilized - so it hatches and that one is a male. BAM! - now you've got a breeding pair. So it absolutely is true that ONE (female) spider mite can produce legions.

Kill them.

I hardly ever accept clones these days. Not really a problem here, lol, because if the subject even comes up, it's usually someone with no seeds asking me to produce a few to give to them. But once in a blue moon, I will. Or I'll get something from the local nursery (like food crop plants, I mean, or something of that nature). If and when I do, they come out of their container, loose soil/etc. gets shaken off, they get bagged, taken directly to the shower, and sprayed to within an inch of their life while I do my best to remove all the soil in the process. Then I shake the water off and hose them and their roots off with Safer's Soap.

And that works.

Usually .

F*cking mites...

Kill them. Kill them dead.[/RANT]

 

[TorturedSoul]

maybe put on a jump suit

Not a bad idea, actually. Used to be able to buy ones made out of Tyvec (that material that they made floppy diskette envelopes out of in the '80s, that you couldn't tear if you were Lou Ferrigno back in his Incredible Hulk days, even though it was nearly as thin as a sheet of typing paper). Or at least remember to never come in from outside and tend to your cannabis garden, or mow the lawn and not grab a broom from the garage/shed and sweep/beat your clothes the best you can, then jump in the shower or at least change clothes/shoes.

someone said I could carry from.my dogs.

Yeah, they hitchhike on pets. They cannot feed on them - like fleas/ticks do - but animals come into contact with them like we do. Worse, maybe. Things will stay on them for a short period of time and, since they can't eat your pets, they'll get off them - often after the pet has come back inside. Or we'll help that process by interacting with our pets.

Be easier if the things were a half-inch long. But they're not. If you have anything approaching normal average vision, be thankful. My eyes aren't anywhere near that good;; I needed glasses when I was six and they've been getting worse ever since. That was 44 years ago, so... I've discovered that I had mites by (finally) noticing that there was webbing all over the plants. And that's pretty much... Not a great day to behold. . . .

 

[The Phantom]

Smells like fish, eat all you wish - smells like cologne, leave it alone.

I grew up with something very similar.

 

[The Phantom]

if you can get an infested space up to a minimum of 150°F with very low humidity for at least two hours, they'll all die

That would be fun, break out that space heaters.

And they're easier to deal with than russet mites

I've heard about them being nasty little things.

IDK what was worse, contaminated seeds or his stuffing them into the body of a single Crayola marker

Ah yes it was you, I remember reading about your experience with a certain company before.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Yes. I usually am one of those people who say/type "DON'T discuss shipping/stealth methods," but that kind of thing, seems like potential purchasers ought to get a warning.

I just noticed that the OP is a "Miss." I hope my juvenile-level comment earlier did not give offense. If so, 'twas not intended to.

 

[misspiggy412]

Yes I'm s Miss. Lol no problem. Well my plan is too either dparsy w peroxide solution..let how gor few more days in dark..then harvest in branches and bud wash them. I beleive that's 3 kinda wash peroxide baking soda..clear rinse..hang to dry...and sounds like I need to scrap my clones and bomb after my stuff dry enough to jar...? What ya think?? Can I smoke it???? There are no webs..seems like this kinda recent...but see one or two on leaves i pulled and looked at...

 

[misspiggy412]

Really starting to think.o cross contaminated with.my outdoor tomatoe plants