Spider mite's

[Doctor Who]

Spider mite's.

I am almost a fracken expert on these little frackers.

Mistakes
1. I started a combo soil grow and hydroponics in the same growroom. big ass mistake!

2. I assumed I could eliminate them. you Can't!

3. Tried just about everything at a cost of out of pocket $$$. not cheap!

4. Cost happened and elimination did not. lesson learned

The thing is! you can't know their there til it is to late, why because they are microscopic in size so by the time you see the sign's (and I know from my own experiences with them) you start seeing spotting on the tops of the leaves (their sucking the juices out) and web's, it's to late just pull all your plants out of your growroom and sterilize the hell out it and I mean sterilize the hell out of it then do it over again and everthing you used on those plant sterilize ot through them out.

Warning" Do not bring the infested plants back into the growroom or house for that matter! even if you think you kicked their ass's, and when handling the infested plants besure sterilize yourself, clothing and hair, an yes they are impossible to eliminate! once they have a foothold on the plants they also own the growroom.

I have to say they are impossible to eliminate once you begin to see the spotting on the leave's your battle to eliminate them will be fruitless give it up! it's Hash or the trash for those plants if you continue to grow them.

I have tried all the recommended cure's spary's and so on, nothings works other than spending your $$$ money.

This is only my opinion and experience talking, SO SORRY, I have learned my lesson with these little MFer's! an at the first sign of infested plants they are history just not wroth the effort to try and continue that grow, your better off starting over because the enfestation will also slow their growth down considerably taking much longer to get to the harvest cycle.

Oh one last thing they will give you the creeps just thinking of a micoscopic pest, ie bed bug's! just try to go to bed after thinking about them see what happens.

 

[Roseman]

You learned alot, man. Great Post!





Growers really need to work hard on being prepared and on PREVENTION up front.

 

[Weed420]

I stopped my infestation with just a HotShot strip. Its deseigned for spider mites. That was about a year ago and haven't seen them since. I won't use them in the last month of flowering though. Even just straight water misting will slow them down but you have to act fast. They breed worse than rabbits and can take over a room in a day or 2. They also hibernate in soil so generally once you get them you'll probably always have them. Just keep a close eye on the plants and at first sight spray them with some water to slow them down and then get serious on them.

 

[Doctor Who]

You learned alot, man. Great Post!





Growers really need to work hard on being prepared and on PREVENTION up front.

Thank you Roseman, prevention up front is the key.

 

[Doctor Who]

I stopped my infestation with just a HotShot strip. Its deseigned for spider mites. That was about a year ago and haven't seen them since. I won't use them in the last month of flowering though. Even just straight water misting will slow them down but you have to act fast. They breed worse than rabbits and can take over a room in a day or 2. They also hibernate in soil so generally once you get them you'll probably always have them. Just keep a close eye on the plants and at first sight spray them with some water to slow them down and then get serious on them.

I will give that a try if the problem presents it's self again, I just haven't seen anything on the market that claims complete elimination forever that isn't a serious pesticide even then these serious pesticide don't claim completely elimenation and can be harmful, all you can do is be vigilant and try to action is something I learned in scuba driving, most people react! where action is needed and not reaction to the problem.

 

[Weed420]

I will give that a try if the problem presents it's self again, I just haven't seen anything on the market that claims complete elimination forever that isn't a serious pesticide even then these serious pesticide don't claim completely elimenation and can be harmful, all you can do is be vigilant and try to action is something I learned in scuba driving, most people react! where action is needed and not reaction to the problem.

Nothing can rid them forever. They hibernate in cracks and dust and soil so all you can do is try to keep the room as clean as possible. I like to use bleach after each grow to help keep it clean. But I haven't seen a single mite since using the HotShot strip a year ago.

 

[Doctor Who]

Nothing can rid them forever. They hibernate in cracks and dust and soil so all you can do is try to keep the room as clean as possible. I like to use bleach after each grow to help keep it clean. But I haven't seen a single mite since using the HotShot strip a year ago.

Okay cool, are they found at hydro shops, I am planning on using a bleach with water go real high on the ph of the water! and steam system that will eliminate them from a grow tent but is has to be thorough and is real slow going, not to be used on plants though it will kill a plant dead.

 

[ToastyRoadie]

Not sure if garlic would help, I was reading this...


Spider Mites and Garlic | eHow.com

 

[Chkn915]

Not sure if garlic would help, I was reading this...


Spider Mites and Garlic | eHow.com

I would suggest a no pest strip also only if you dont occupy the room, they contain a sort of nerve chemical that could possibly affesct you. If not , I found that when I had them I had to get them under control with minimal bud damage, so I used regular spraying of the plant with a stream not mist of phed water and safer spray, also get some plain white paper and lie them under your plants then shake the plants and use a pesticide spray such as dont bug me and or spectracide triazicide" black bottle". when you spray them on the white paper you can effectively kill them without damging your buds and also get an idea if your effectivly managing them. Then when your done and you harvest. spray everything with a 50/50 alchohol/water mixture, I mean drench what you can the alchohol kills them instantly after drying everything continue to treat the grow area with a good pesticide like home defense if you have house pets or like I use spectracide. It seems to have worked for me and I had them pretty bad, I havent had any problems since. Oh and every fall when it starts getting cold do preventative because thats when they start migrating inside to the warmth! Hope this helps!

 

[Doctor Who]

I would suggest a no pest strip also only if you dont occupy the room, they contain a sort of nerve chemical that could possibly affesct you. If not , I found that when I had them I had to get them under control with minimal bud damage, so I used regular spraying of the plant with a stream not mist of phed water and safer spray, also get some plain white paper and lie them under your plants then shake the plants and use a pesticide spray such as dont bug me and or spectracide triazicide" black bottle". when you spray them on the white paper you can effectively kill them without damging your buds and also get an idea if your effectivly managing them. Then when your done and you harvest. spray everything with a 50/50 alchohol/water mixture, I mean drench what you can the alchohol kills them instantly after drying everything continue to treat the grow area with a good pesticide like home defense if you have house pets or like I use spectracide. It seems to have worked for me and I had them pretty bad, I havent had any problems since. Oh and every fall when it starts getting cold do preventative because thats when they start migrating inside to the warmth! Hope this helps!

Hay that is some bad ass information Bro, I will try those things here also I have been using flora mite which is suppose to killing the queens on contact and last 28 days killing the mite's when the egg's hatch and can be used up to 7 days prior to harvesting, but plan to add these methods in along with the spraying, I did start the next grow in a new tent after the last grow so hopefully I can keep ahead of these little MFer's, as I build the new growroom in the garage I will keep all of this in mind.

You have love this site and forums the gold mine of help that can be found.

 

[Sanwan]

Every day I inspect for these devilish insects! Knock on wood I have been blessed.... hell, Sanibel posted about them and i got up and went and sprayed just for the hell of it!! lol Anyhow, more good info to have on 'em, thx.

Here's to everyone staying pest free!

 

[SteveMcGreen]

I have a brand new bottle of FF Don't Bug Me hanging from my hydro toolbelt just in case i get invaded... I don't actually have a toolbelt it just sounded neat, altho now i'm picturing a batman style utility belt loaded full of shots of ph down, and instant read meters and a squirt gun full of don't bug me.

 

[Daffodil]

do u have pics of the infested plants i kinda would like to see what that looks like so i have a good idea what to look for in case it ever happens 2 me

 

[Doctor Who]

I have a brand new bottle of FF Don't Bug Me hanging from my hydro toolbelt just in case i get invaded... I don't actually have a toolbelt it just sounded neat, altho now i'm picturing a batman style utility belt loaded full of shots of ph down, and instant read meters and a squirt gun full of don't bug me.

do u have pics of the infested plants i kinda would like to see what that looks like so i have a good idea what to look for in case it ever happens 2 me

No my camera can't get that close up needed to see that, but all I can tell you! is that you just have to keep an eye on the plants inspecting them constantly which you should always be doing anyway, when you inspect them turn the leaf over and look close if you a bunch of little tiny white things those may be egg's!

If you see that or as you look at the leafs backsides you see little tiny black speck there is a big chance their queen mite (you are infested) that is the only time you'll see them when their queens and when their big enough to see and where there are queens there are egg's lots of egg's and they hatch within 5 days ! so you see how fast this can happen.

Now all that can be avoided! by keeping the grow room in low temp's under 70 degress is best, humidity is a factor also, and use preventave actions that covers more than just for mites, and use treatments that you are comfortable with using in your home and around your childern and pet's and anyone else.

And the Hydro Toolbelt very good sounds market able lol.

 

[Daffodil]

hmmmm......what brings mites...as u know im using my BP....cus i saw some random spots on a couple of my leaves and i thought when using my microscope saw a black spot in the middle of the underside of one of my leave moving the glass around i just saw trichomes....which im in veg so i thought that might be weird...do trichomes start showing up on ur leaves before u go 12/12? im pretty sure what im looking at is trichomes but now u've got me worried...my apartment is clean as can be granted i moved in like a week and half ago. and they did a though cleaning before i moved in...but i did have my plants at another house that isnt so clean...ima go home and do some more checking here alil l8er after im done partying lol. illl get back 2 u..

 

[Daffodil]

iv heard these hot spot strips are bad for u and iv also heard they could b bad for ur bud because of what they release in the air any knowledge on this?

 

[Doctor Who]

I forgot to say pull the leaf off that looks to have them and use a 30x scope to check the spots out if that's them the scope will show them to you.