62 days - sudden infection - advice needed!

[heady blunts]

hey peeps.

so a few days ago i noticed my og kush x brains damage plant @ 21 days had mite webs on a couple tops. the plant had also been battling with pm for a week or so but i though i had gotten it stabilized. i decided to pull the whole plant rather than put the imminent harvest at risk.

my first round of plants are coming into the home stretch here @ 9 weeks. i was planning on taking them 10 at least (still haven't seen much if any amber trichs, but it's like 99% cloudy at this point).

it seems i was too late tho. this morning i found this pm spotting and little black dots on my widow's lower branch. this is the both the best looking plant and the genetics best suited to my medical needs, so i am understandably concerned. so what do people think? early harvest on the branch? or should i just chop everything to be safe?

 

[StealthDragon]

If you chop any more plants with spidermites, chop at the base and hang the whole plant upside down from an upward pointing stick...like a broomhandle. I did this one time with a plant that had some spidermite damage..I didn't even see webbing at all, but about 6 hours later there were PILES of mites on the top of the handle the plant was hanging from...sick, sick, sick...like an inch deep of mites crawling all over each other. I heard to spray them with dustoff to freeze/blast em off at that point, but I went with a big fireball instead (aerosol+lighter)

like this:

important to tie it to an inverted stick like that, instead of a sting to the ceiling or they'll just crawl away all over your ceiling. Mine all congregated in the red circle and a few trailed down the broom...but I could just put a ring of some cloning gel on it to stop them I guess.

sorry I can't be of more help man...you're sure it's pm and stuff? not like thrips or something else...no offense, I'm sure you know your shit, but thrips leave black dots too, or are the dots mites or mold spots? ... just trying to help. I'd make absolutely sure before doing any chopping...

how are your temps and humidity?

 

[heady blunts]

well i don't actually know that those black dots are mites. they seem more like droppings maybe? i dunno, but they just showed up over night.

i mentioned the mites cause i definitely spotted their webs on the other plant i took out of the cab two or three days ago. (i really gotta stop getting cuts from that guy).

thanks for the fast reply and good advice. i'll def hang em like that when the time comes.

also i'm still a big newb, this is 63 days on my first grow ever, so i will not take offense to any seemingly obvious advice!

the rh and temps have been constant 45-60%/60-70*F

 

[HueJass]

That white stippling on your leaves is a tell tale sign of the mites. Looks like it's too late for you to take any action unfortunately. Start with some Azamax on anything you have in veg or something stronger even.

 

[heady blunts]

That white stippling on your leaves is a tell tale sign of the mites. Looks like it's too late for you to take any action unfortunately. Start with some Azamax on anything you have in veg or something stronger even.

PLEASE TELL ME I WONT LOSE THE ENTIRE CROP!

 

[heady blunts]

ahhh it's not isolated! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

 

[heady blunts]

MOTHERFUCKERRRRR

i just chopped the whole thing. fuck me. any more advice on keeping the infection from spreading while i'm drying? i want to save this shit! i think it's still possible?

definitely learned my lesson. next time it's regular lavender FPE applications throughout the grow.

 

[pinecone]

Once you start seeing webs you have an infestation that is pretty far along. It is hard to give you advice on what to do, but I would likely do one of two things - (i) clean everything up and spray the plants that are ok down with Azamax (or neem) and harvest them at 75 days, or (ii) harvest everything now (mites are not going to stay on a dead plant). Either way you have to thoroughly clean your grow space (and other spaces), bomb, and start taking preventative measures (spraying plants down with neem, lavender, or Azamax several times per week in veg).

Pine

 

[mad librettist]

62 days - sudden infection - advice needed!

don't overreact. you missed some signs before you got webbing, so next time you will know sooner. be proactive now and learn about integrated pest management.

homework for anyone in your situation:

early identification of mite damage

positive ID

knowledge of their life cycle

use knowledge to treat with least lethal method that is effective

use a prophylactic treatment if you have good reason to expect infestation at a particular time

figure out what is pooping in your plants (follow IPM)

remember mites can be smoked, and if you tell no one what is in the brownies the protein won't hurt them.

 

[tr1ck_]

next time it's regular lavender FPE applications throughout the grow.

What exactly is a lavender FPE, I cant figure out the acronym. Your thread has convinced me to learn a bit more about pests and preventative maintanence.

Best of luck with your crop too, hopefully you can salvage it!

 

[Scrappy4]

What exactly is a lavender FPE, I cant figure out the acronym. Your thread has convinced me to learn a bit more about pests and preventative maintanence.

Best of luck with your crop too, hopefully you can salvage it!

Trick, fpe is fermented plant extract. Check out organics for mites thread for lavender fpe, and use search for fpe extracts in general, we've had some real nice threads on the same in the past months......scrappy

 

[Scrappy4]

Hey HB, shit happens, what you going to do?
Here's what I did. I neem dip all clones coming in to my area, I moniter leaves with a child's toy. It is called an eyeclops. Mine cost $26. It hooks up to a tv, and you use it to get a magnified look. It works very well, you can see eggs, baby mites and adults. This is along with regular neem applications, cleaning my grow/flower area each cycle. And of course the regular normal maintenance. And finally I took some cuts from my wife's lavender plants to make my own fpe.........good luck, and stick to whatever program you decide on........scrappy

 

[RipVanWeed]

Take it easy Heady,

I've seen a lot worse that still smokes fine. I always trim mite damaged buds real tight.

I live in SoCal and constantly fight mites. They are a fact of growing. I have Japanese Black Pines in my yard and I've read they harbor the same kind of mites that are attracted to MMJ.

At first I chased 'em with various sprays and chemicals, even tho I was trying to grow organicly. Did the major bleach wash downs a couple of times.

Now I subscribe to the program of spraying Lavender, RoseMary, and Sage water. Accepting the presence of mites in the garden relieves the stress. Just another step in the process.

Get a loupe or magnifier of some kind and learn/study your enemy. I used to think I could detect mites with my bare eyes, Well I can see some, but not all.

As I tend my plants my eyes are always alert for the telltale white spots. Once you recognize the signs, snip off an infected leave and with some magnification you'll prolly be able to see the whole life cycle of mites right on that one leaf. Eggs, translucent spheres anchored with fine webbing. Tiny white babies, I think they molt their skins on their way to adulthood, and the adults. Be aware that they don't just live on the bottom side of the leaves, it seems that if I've sprayed that plant before, I find more mites on the topside of the leaves.

Oh yeah, while tending, if I see ANY of those tiny white mite spots on ANY leaf, that leaf is removed from the garden. If you leave damaged leaves on your plants, ya can't tell if the damage is continuing. By excising a leaf here and there, as needed, I can go a long time with no spraying.

A plant that is finishing seems to attract mites to the little inter bud leaves, sometimes it's better to pull that plant from the room and put it in the backyard for the last week to protect the other girls.

I don't know where you live, but most likely if you grow long term, mite control will become just another garden task. As is watering, feeding, pruning....

Join the War on Mites!

Good Luck,

 

[Darkstarlive]

diligent observation.
There are evil forces trying to sabotage your efforts..
fight the good fight..
best of luck...

 

[SOTF420]

Yes always some evil forces trying to derail I agree!

I saw a few baby mites crawling around on my smartpots from some FFOF and immediately hit them with a really strong mix of organic neem oil at like 2 tsps a gallon (you can buy at the health food store) some mineral water, a teaspoon of natural coconut based soap (castille brand is best get the lavender one) and 25 drops of lavender essential oil in a gallon of water and shake it up really good.

Sprayed the smartpots down till soaked and everything around them then the lower part of plants in veg mostly the main stems and top of the soil (neem and lavender wont hurt anything) plus all main branches and I have not seen one since. POW bitch ass mites!

They never even got to make a white spot on a leaf but you have to watch closely.

I called it my fuck a spidermite spray. Totally organic.

 

[heady blunts]

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

so i've chopped them. i'm keeping the more infested pieces seperate for the time being, and might use them to make hash. most of widow is unaffected. to be extra safe i'm going to trim all the fan leaves and most of the sugar leaves off right now. i'll probably try and pick most of the suckers off my sour purps since they don't seem to have penetrated the buds at all.

i think i was mistaking the "telltale white speckling" for PM. will keep a much closer eye on that in the future.

mad- i'm gonna follow your steps to the T

first step- i've chopped the girls, and shut down the flower cab. after the trim i'll get in there with a bleach solution and get back to ground zero.

step two- make up some lavender and rosemary and sage FPEs. treat all vegging plants. spray down the whole motherfucking room, and the cab, and all doors and shit lol.

step three- get the next round going (and start with clones from someone else.

i live in central CA so i am definitely in mite country. i must educate myself and make sure to keep them in check before they get the upper hand again.

 

[SOTF420]

I can tell you lavender really works


You will get this small bump in the road smoothed right out brother!

 

[pinecone]

As part of your cleanup you might also consider bombing (pyretheum) your flower and veg areas to kill the live mites followed up by a bomb a week or so later to kill any mites that might have hatched after the first bombs. The bombs will kill all mites dead, but not the eggs.

Pine

 

[Microbeman]

One note about pyrethrum type sprays. Although organic, if you don't kill all the mites, they mutate rapidly to be immune to pyrethrum based sprays and it can even double/triple their population. Believe me! I've tracked this. The best defense against mites is a bug friendly garden. Put in some persimilis, cucumeris and other two spot mite eaters. Cucumeris are easy to maintain/raise and go for thrips and two spot mites. In our perpetual soil garden we had resident rove beetles that were delux eaters of all crappy insects; OR go the other route of close scrutiny and picky bug killing.