Spider Mites!

[ShapedCharge]

Hey im back with another problem.

Im almost done harvesting the plants, while I was chopping one of the plants down, I realised that all of my eight plants had freckles on their leaves, and some buds are completely covered with spider webs. I know with this grow, Ive been lacking interest (visiting them once every 3 or 4 days). Now I have the world spider mite population in my grow room. I was running around trying to find some lady bug seller but with no luck, Ive purchased a spray which I wont use, due to the buds.

The question is, is all this growing done in vain, can it be smoked, will the spider mites be a tasteful additive?

Thanks.

 

[DrGreenThumb@OZ]

ok as the buds dry so will the spider mites and if theres enough of them may give an awful taste.

spidermites usually stay on leaves so aslong as you trim all the leaves and stem from the buds will help.

Spraying the buds is not good but if you really have alot of mites then to spray and drench them with a soapy freezing ice cold water and saturate the whole plant from top to bottom ESPECIALLY under the leaves where they like to hide and lay eggs... then after an hour or so spray them with ice cold plain water to rinse off the soap and hopefully the dead bugs. then let plants naturally dry and give them a day or so longer under light to harvest.

when I mean ice cold I mean put a spray bottle in the freezer till ice starts to form in the bottle then add dishwashing liquid say 1 spoon worth into the spray bottle and shake up then use the whole bottle on all the plants.Then fill spray bottle with plain water and put in freezer until you see ice forming then after an hour of the soap being on plants then rinse plants again with the fresh ice cold water in spray bottle.

spider mites hate soap and hate the freezing cold so you can kill them naturally.You can use garlic as well in the spray but because your near harvest you dont want your buds smelling or tasting like garlic so that can't be used this far down the track.

when you harvest the buds try and cut away as much of the leaf as possible as spidermite will have laid eggs under all the leaves.When buds are drying you can place on newspaper and next to the drying weed put a lettuce leaf next to the weed as this will attract any surviving spidermites away from your weed to the lettuce.Lettuce holds alot of moisture over time and your weed will be dry so they go for the lettuce.Just replace the lettuce with a fresh leaf every day or so.

 

[cygnus]

Not much you can do now. Most growers have problems at one time or another with the borg. Make sure to thoroughly clean your space with bleach before the next run. I use Avid on all of my vegging plants now and never see any bugs in the grow. It is expensive but I find it worth every penny. I gaurantee every one who has smoked Marijuana has smoked a spider mite or a thousand.

 

[brie]

I have harvested a few times with mites and once dryed and cured no one will notice

 

[ShapedCharge]

Appreciate it boys,

GreenThumb: That lettuce besides the buds sounds like a smart idea, will do bro.

Cygnus: Usually the room is clean, but Ive become uninterested in maintaining things like cleanliness, pH levels. Theres still leaves on the floor from the previous grow . Ive learnt the hard way.

"I gaurantee every one who has smoked Marijuana has smoked a spider mite or a thousand." - Pfahahahaha.

Brie: I think most have disapeared after one night, I was actually getting phsycopathic tendencies about digging a pit somewhere and throwing the trees in and setting them on fire, solely for revenge, that is until I read your comment. Thanks dude.

 

[Smokeone1]

lady bugs help!!

 

[morrisgreenberg]

lady bugs!!!!!!! after your finished with your harvest clean the room down, i mean go nuts! bleach, like everything in sight, then after that i prefer bionide's rotenone pyrethrins, very cheap very effective, spray everything in the room with that and close the door for 24 hours, its very toxic, once room is back to being spotless (this is a 3-4 day cleaning) leave the room alone for a couple days so theres nothing any bugs can feed on like dead plant material or dead roots, once new plants are in you have a few options, i prefer fox farms "dont bug me" a pyrethrium based spray thats very very easy on your plants on not toxic on your skin, soak all angles and underside of plants, 1 week after this spray introduce ladybugs and your done...so as a recap, start off with a super cleaned space, spray new vegging plants with light non toxic spray and add lady bugs, dont want to harm the lady bugs, only need a handful of ladys if no bugs are present they will disapear, maintaining this ladybuig population every 2 weeks will keep these mites away, order them online, only because you dont want to spray plants that are fl;owering so the ladybugs will be your only defense during flower

 

[sammyz2646]

Most of the bugs will crawl off once hung. In fact virtually all of them will crawl off those buds. Just dont trim anywhere near your other rooms if you do trim with bugs on the plant. If you had access to c02, you could also(since it harvest time), you could flood them in a plastic bag with c02 or even better, use an old fridge or even a big cooler. In the past when i had bugs, i made a 50 gallon barrel and just flooded it with C02(which would burn the plant if it wasnt harvest time)so make sure to only do this as a pre-trimming affair. If you deprive the bugs of oxygen, they die. Every single one will be DEAD! I like this just because you can kill them (pre-trim) and not deal with a mass of crawling bastards. Keep in mind however, some may prefer letting the bugs crawl off themselves to avoid smoking a few remaining bugs on the actual bud itself that die there. Keep temps lower in the future in the grow area (during an infestation) as the little shits love the heat and reproduce much much faster in the warmer temps. Another good preventative measure is a sulpher burner. They aren't cheap, however they are superb in preventing powdery mildew and are supposed to help detour pests. However, NEVER use a sulpher burner within 30 days of any type of oil. (neem oil). your plants will burn. If you want a good foilar that will be effective, I have found that "Einstein" oil works beautifully. Just dont mix the sulpher burner with oil covered leaves. Ladybugs might work but I have found that unless your light are sealed, these ladys just love to fly into your HID's and soon enough, you just end up with a bunch of OTHER dead bugs to clean up. I wouldnt waste the effort with ladybugs. Good luck Shapecharge!!

 

[ShapedCharge]

Smokeone1: Yeah I know, couldnt find anyplace, all online insect sellers are based everywhere but Australia, (doubt itll pass custom quarantine and they arrive dead if they did). A hydro store can order them but its a little late.

MorrisGreenberg: Oh yeah, Ive got it all planned out for next time. Im talking about everything from "sticky Strips" everywhere, even around the pots, to unleashing 1000 lady bugs for a handful of trees. Im traumatised, the little shits wrapped their webs on the best and biggest buds.

Sammyz2646: Hey Sammy, Ive got the good buds hanging and the rest on the table, would the mites just "fall off" from the hung buds, or do they jump to each one until theyre dry? Im asking because all the hung buds are in contact with eachother and Im hoping this isnt a no no (theyre all infested anyway).

Regardless, Ill know for sure in a few days.

Thanks boys. Enjoy.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

hey sammy nice call almost forgot about co2, i have read several articles and post from people who have tried and they claim that 10,000ppm of co2 for 1 hour will kill any bug in that space, will also kill you thats why only 1 hour...1500ppm is ideal imagine how harmful 10k ppm is. about the lady bugs, get the hydro shop to order, kepp the ones you dont use in the fridge, they will last well over a month almost 2, but many will die, you can mist the package once in a while to keep em moist, also when you release them they like some water, just mist some plants so they get acclimated, if you release your bugs and after a while you cant see them anymore, this is a good thing, means theres nothing for them to eat

 

[ShapedCharge]

Morris, the C02 thingy is too technical, just like the sulfur etc. Ive just had a check up on the buds hanging and theyve managed to get to the ends (the part that I chopped). Ive chopped that off, but its only a matter of time before they get to the freshly cut branch tip. I put the tips that Ive cut of, placed them all in a bucket and pumped half of the spray bottle on them. Its almost summer here, so the climate isnt doing my grow room (uninsulated bungalore) any justice at all.

This isnt going to well, I guess I must buy lady bugs and hope time will kill them.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

well i am battling them myself, thankfully they popped up when all my ladies went away at the absolute end, the other guy is right, they will fall off the drying flowers, they feed on the chlorophyl, that will dry soon, only thing you will have left will be some dead mites, so in a nut shell the drying period will deprive them of food, the battle has to be a multi pronged attack, some sprays and predatory bugs will do you good, mostly everyone gets them, spider mites like dry climate, humidity under 40%, then if you add humidity then you gotta worry about mold over 70%

 

[sammyz2646]

Hey Morris, glad to hear they are crawling off. If you have an abundance, you will see them starting to collect in the same areas and soon even begin to hang in strings. (Hate to admit Ive been there.) Try and hang the buds on a unit that has limited contact with the ground and spray the feet to prevent them from exiting the unit. Once contained, you have control. Just make sure no fans are blowing anywhere near the drying bug infested branches. Anyway, what i did was either use a shop vac that is a small one and KEEP IT OUTSIDE between vaccuums(cold weather is great for killing live mites in the vac too) just vacuum them every so often and then spray the inside of the vaccuum afterwards. One tip is to immediately disinfect EVERYTHING you use after in H202 and water or put all your trimming supplies in the freezer (for live mites) after or outside in the cold.. Don't forget the eggs are there too and even after long exposers to cold, they can survive. Try to disinfect and spray everything after harvest. The best way to avoid this is obviously proper treatment in vegetative or early flower. If you have persistant issues, buy a $20 shop vac for spider mite use only and keep it WAAAAYYYY outside the growing area at all times. Once you get them knocked down its a breeze to avoid them. They are in your yard, on your pets and sometimes on you, and once inside, the only food available is you ladies. Keep in mind that this advice is only really for terrible infestations and is only an emergency type situation. Preventative measures should be your priority.

 

[cygnus]

If you have ever used any kind of bug spray in your room before the lady bugs will all be dead in a couple Hours. Believe me I tried .

 

[morrisgreenberg]

cygnus, this is why i said to spray and let dry for a week before sending the lady bugs to do battle, also its good to spray plants with plain water when you let them free, this will help clean the plants and help the lady bugs drink...to be perfectly honest with you guys, i only recommend the lady bugs cus all insects absolutly freak me out, for the first few days of lady bugs they would land on me and i would freak and they are also cute looking compared to other predator bugs. i am considering getting mantis eggs and letting a bunch hatch so i can heave a complete insect death match war

 

[ShapedCharge]

Morris:

"i only recommend the lady bugs cus all insects absolutly freak me out.."

Thats hilarious bro, I agree though, everyother defensive insects are ugly, freaky looking. Cant agree with the mantis, Id hate to be checking my plants and all of a sudden a mantis or two is a few centremetres away from my head (My trees are over two metres tall, so im pretty much overwhelmed by leaves and branches and ....... hordes of mantis). The ladies will do fine, one question though, do the ladies come as eggs or live?

Cygnus: Thanks Cygnus.

Sammy: Ive done quite a few grows, never had any problem with mites. This is the first and most definately last time theyll ever get a foot hold. Im assuming this infestation was due to bringing three outdoor plants in the grow room, I doubt leaving a dead dry leaves on the ground had anything to do with that (4 months between this and my previous grow).

Ill check up on them soon.

 

[Pseudo]

im trying azatrol, its expensive, but makes a shitload, its suppose to be the shiznit, and its OMRI certified, check it out

 

[morrisgreenberg]

lady bugs come fresh live in a net baggy, just dont leave the baggy open long they make a mad dash for the opening....invision Ben Stiller in Tropic thunder, i would shit my pants if that mantis came at me....i just picked up the azatrol poster today, i hear floramite is excellent at $350...the mantis come as eggs, like little be hives, you would be lucky if 1 out of 10 hatch

 

[wickedpete66]

Spider mites suck. In fact i found the best way to take care of them is some preventive maintenance. once i put plants into flower I spray the hell out of them within the first week. As it is easier to get under the leaves without any buds on them. I then give another spray a week later and them a final spray between weeks 4-5. At this point the buds can still be dried using a window fan and they have not really started to bulk up yet.