What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Proper way to decontaminate room after russet mite invasion without breaking the ban?

they're not gonna get in your electronics and stuff.
Why would they? nothing to eat in there..
And you don't need to waste 2 months!
clean it every day for a week and you should be good to go....

PS, yeah, you have to get rid of all the medium that has been in that room..

Thanks man that takes a load off my mind and if doesnt take too long to disinfect the room like i thought that'll be even better i figured i wouldnt be able have any smoke till next fall.
 
Perlite is inert volcanic glass i have 4 big bags of it and figured its good if i bake it at 400°F for a hour or two. Nothing should be able to survive that and baking inert perlite wont change it that i know of. Not sure that i can trust dirt from my area for the time being so going back to perlite and hydroton for the near future.
 

redlaser

Active member
Veteran
Hemp, russet, and broad mites are very sensitive to heat. Hot air and water treatments will kill mites, just have to make sure not to overdo the heat part.

111-114 water for twenty minutes is the limit, 115 will kill. Really only practical on unrooted cuttings or some type of dipping method.

115-116f air is more practical as long as the plants aren’t too tall, because with every foot of height there is a 2-4 degree difference in temp.

I’ve never had any of these pests to my knowledge, but I have tried both of these methods 5-6 times to be able to do it correctly.
118f air will have at least 50% losses, multiple thermometers at various heights needed to accurately tell temps during treatments.
 
Hemp, russet, and broad mites are very sensitive to heat. Hot air and water treatments will kill mites, just have to make sure not to overdo the heat part.

111-114 water for twenty minutes is the limit, 115 will kill. Really only practical on unrooted cuttings or some type of dipping method.

115-116f air is more practical as long as the plants aren’t too tall, because with every foot of height there is a 2-4 degree difference in temp.

I’ve never had any of these pests to my knowledge, but I have tried both of these methods 5-6 times to be able to do it correctly.
118f air will have at least 50% losses, multiple thermometers at various heights needed to accurately tell temps during treatments.

Im really hoping they were contained to the one cab i doused the infected ladies with rubbing alcohol, chopped them then stuffed them in a trash bag. I poured a bottle of straight alcohol into the bag and sealed it up. I really hope those lil bastards are dying a painful death in there right now ive never felt so much rage torwards another lifeform in my entire life lol.

The second cab with the NLx ladies shows no damage, all the pistils are healthy and i dont see any running around under 60x. The infected cab was obvious and severe EVERY pistil had shriveld as soon as flowers appeared. If i scoped the budsites i immidiately would see at least a few running around i didnt have to search at all.

I got a fan circulating air inside the first cab with the intake and exhaust fans turned off. After a hour i got temps up to 100f not sure my 400w will get it up to around 120 but im gonna try. Ive even contemplated taking a heat gun to the cab but i might mess the panda film up and have to reskin it. That might be needed in the end but trying to avoid having to reskin it that took a lot of panda film and gorilla tape.
 
Thanks again guys for the help and shoulders to cry on i gtg to work ill heat treat that cab more later and post combat reports as i hopefully eradicate these lil douchebags.
 

~star~crash~

Active member
Not an option for everyone, but when I have a nasty pest in a room and have had to clear out the plants, I just let the room sit empty for a month and usually by then the bugs have died of starvation.

i did that ...shut down the room for 6 months ...they left & died & did not come back i didn't clean one single thing ...you can also use the no pest strips ...They work
 
i did that ...shut down the room for 6 months ...they left & died & did not come back i didn't clean one single thing ...you can also use the no pest strips ...They work

I'll look into those tyty and yeah ill shut things down until they are gone hopefully it doesnt take too long but im not gonna but time and effort into growing them food. Nor do i want future babies suffering so no point in starting anything until this is over. The pest strips might help my hopefully unaffected NL ladies if i lose them i really wont have any smoke for a LONG TIME:puppydoge
 

redlaser

Active member
Veteran
Im really hoping they were contained to the one cab i doused the infected ladies with rubbing alcohol, chopped them then stuffed them in a trash bag. I poured a bottle of straight alcohol into the bag and sealed it up. I really hope those lil bastards are dying a painful death in there right now ive never felt so much rage torwards another lifeform in my entire life lol.

The second cab with the NLx ladies shows no damage, all the pistils are healthy and i dont see any running around under 60x. The infected cab was obvious and severe EVERY pistil had shriveld as soon as flowers appeared. If i scoped the budsites i immidiately would see at least a few running around i didnt have to search at all.

I got a fan circulating air inside the first cab with the intake and exhaust fans turned off. After a hour i got temps up to 100f not sure my 400w will get it up to around 120 but im gonna try. Ive even contemplated taking a heat gun to the cab but i might mess the panda film up and have to reskin it. That might be needed in the end but trying to avoid having to reskin it that took a lot of panda film and gorilla tape.
If your space has no plants, 120 is no problem, needs to be twenty minutes minimum, I’d do an hour or two. Even hotter if possible, since temps will vary from the top versus the bottom of the space.
To be more effective, repeat the treatment 2-3 times.

If plants are being treated along with the room, 118 is too hot, and fans will make even 116-117 to cause losses. In a small space fans aren’t needed, only larger spaces, and dont have fans blowing on plants at all.
Maybe add another light, or space heater, to hit the temps needed.

And, hate to bring bad news, but the chances of the healthy cab having mites is good if the cabs are at all close to each other. Hopefully not, but it’s a possibility.
 

palmeezy

Member
don't use no pest strips since you sleep in the room.

getting rid of them depends on how you got them. storm shadow has posted the answers and is probably tired of repeating himself.
 
don't use no pest strips since you sleep in the room.

getting rid of them depends on how you got them. storm shadow has posted the answers and is probably tired of repeating himself.

Yeah i saw the sticky on this subforum about them definitely dont want to use those indoors or near flowers. Ive been overloading my brain looking up stuff here and on other forums and the bottom line is there is no 100% way without chopping everything and totally decontaminating the room. Read about all the major insecticides like avid, forbid 4f, azamax ect and how they can become immune and how its not good to spray the stuff indoors.

Im just gonna hope my 2 NLxSSH ladies can finish then hit the room with a 50/50 bleach solution or stronger. The promix soil i got is going bye bye and will use perlite for now in hempys and bake it for 2hrs at 400F first. I havent found anything but predatory mites that can be used in flowering. Cant use neem, essential oils or anything cause itd stay in the buds. Thinking about getting some mighty wash and/or big time exterminator but am unsure if theyd leave nasty stuff in the buds or how well theyd work.

Just gonna observe my last 2 healthy ladies i think thats all i can do at this point tbh......then see if Rick Sanchez can come set off a neutrino bomb in my room
 
If your space has no plants, 120 is no problem, needs to be twenty minutes minimum, I’d do an hour or two. Even hotter if possible, since temps will vary from the top versus the bottom of the space.
To be more effective, repeat the treatment 2-3 times.

If plants are being treated along with the room, 118 is too hot, and fans will make even 116-117 to cause losses. In a small space fans aren’t needed, only larger spaces, and dont have fans blowing on plants at all.
Maybe add another light, or space heater, to hit the temps needed.

And, hate to bring bad news, but the chances of the healthy cab having mites is good if the cabs are at all close to each other. Hopefully not, but it’s a possibility.

Im going to try this in at least the grow cabs. Already got 1 cab up to 100F and if i raise the ambient room temp up it might go even higher. The cab is 2x4ft and 6ft high if i have a 400w hps running with like 20cfls next to it i should get the temps up there i imagine. Not sure i could get the entire room that hot all the space heaters ive seen cutoff at certain temps.

Sadly you are correct sir I have found one of the lil shit gibbons and i took great pleasure in incinerating the flower he was on. But only found one after searching hard and....they still look happy....very happy and they are hitting their 4th week so im going to just roll with it for now got nothing to lose at this point. In my research ive seen people say that the damage can appear almost like tmv and many people mistake the two and for the last few grows ive had the odd leaf here and there that look like what happened this time. Coincidentally i started using the promix vegetable and garden soil( not hp or bx) at the same time so i think ive had them this whole time. The NL ladies were much healthier then the 2 kandy kush girls that were badly infested so i think thats why it was so apparent. Of course i could be wrong and just got the infestation this time but im ditching that promix dirt not taking chances.
 
Either way im going to not start anything for 4-6wks while i scrub the room and might set off some pyretherin bombs during that time for the hell of it. If they come back after that i might just got find a good tall cliff to drive off of thelma and louise style.
 
Hard part might actually be getting rid of all this bad dirt lol. I dont really want to spread it into the yards and setup a stronghold for these lil demons so i gotta think of another way. Tbh i might just have to dump it into totes that i can easliy open and tip and find some ditch on a lonely county road to toss the stuff into. I have 40cu ft of this stuff.........maybe i can toss it through the window of the store i got it from like those old tire commercials lol.
 
Last edited:
I think i may of just thought of a way to steralize the soil so i can store it while i spread it out in my back yard and or slowly throw it away. Figure if i dump it in plastic totes and pour a 1:20 or even 1:10 soultion of bleach into the dirt that should kill everything right? I can even seal the seams of the lids on the totes to trap the gas from the bleach inside for as long as possible. Anybody know how strong a mixture of bleach id need to kill any eggs? FYI i have no plans of using this dirt again not gonna chance it even after bleach
 

igrowone

Well-known member
Veteran
bringing back the mite memories and the reading i did when i had them
what makes them so tough to get rid of is their size, they embed themselves into the hard to reach spots
so applying any pesticide is very tough to get them all, which means they bounce back over and over
but a few out there had some secrets
one way is the dunk, the plant is inverted and submerged into a dilute solution of pesticide
the inverting is obviously a trick, didn't try it myself but disaster would be quite possible
but the sources of this swore by it, it was a mite flame thrower in their experience
 
bringing back the mite memories and the reading i did when i had them
what makes them so tough to get rid of is their size, they embed themselves into the hard to reach spots
so applying any pesticide is very tough to get them all, which means they bounce back over and over
but a few out there had some secrets
one way is the dunk, the plant is inverted and submerged into a dilute solution of pesticide
the inverting is obviously a trick, didn't try it myself but disaster would be quite possible
but the sources of this swore by it, it was a mite flame thrower in their experience

Yeah for seedlings, clones and small plants in veg thats likely a good way ive read about ice bath dunks that freeze em to death too. Unfortunately dunking or even heavy foliar would be a bad idea since im 4wks into flower. Their too big to even exit the grow cab foliar might be a option but could cause bud rot or leave harsh and weird tastes/chems in the buds. All i can do now is hope they stay healthy and shut down for 6wks and go over my room with a bleach flamethrower and alternate with 91% iso and hopefully eradicate them. Im going back to pure perlite hempys after that and baking the perlite pryor to use.
 
People treat grass for parvo with a 1:10 bleach mixture so id assume if i treat my contaiminated promix with it thatd it be safe to spread into a yard. If i wet the soil throughly with that anything inside should die right?

Getting rid of old soil might sound simple but its actually the biggest problem i got atm. The city has rules against putting it in trash strangely so cant throw away a lot at once and 40 cuft is A LOT.
 

igrowone

Well-known member
Veteran
Yeah for seedlings, clones and small plants in veg thats likely a good way ive read about ice bath dunks that freeze em to death too. Unfortunately dunking or even heavy foliar would be a bad idea since im 4wks into flower. Their too big to even exit the grow cab foliar might be a option but could cause bud rot or leave harsh and weird tastes/chems in the buds. All i can do now is hope they stay healthy and shut down for 6wks and go over my room with a bleach flamethrower and alternate with 91% iso and hopefully eradicate them. Im going back to pure perlite hempys after that and baking the perlite pryor to use.

that may well be what you have to do
now i'm a small grower, and this was for 1 plant in flower that yielded about an oz
but i beat the borg and harvested my plant with good buds
the pesticide was an organic mix of rosemary, peppermint, thyme oils, and one more i forget
you could spray this on a salad and eat it, all the oils have been used for human consumption in 1 form or another
i sprayed the little pricks over and over, they didn't go easy, but they all died nonetheless
and the bud was fine, and tasted all the sweeter for the labor i put in
 

mushroombrew

Active member
Veteran
Yeah i just did exactly that i mixed half 91% iso with water and doused the kandy ladies. Then came back 30min later and repeated before chopping them down. I turned off the fans feeding that cab and have a 400w going hopefully with no air moving i can get the cab up to 120°F and leave it that way for a hour or so.

There is some hope at least im not finding any damage or mites under a microscope on my other cab with the NL hybrid ladies even though the kandy ladies were totally nuked to hell. Im going to keep those 2 ladies going and inspect them peroidically. Im hoping the seperate intakes and exhausts kept this to the one cab. Im thinking a small moth or fly that had some mites on its back landed just in that one cab or at least thats my hope. Mites dont fly from what i read its plant to plant contact or host flies that deliever them.

Either way im going to go 2mo before starting anything new and disinfect the room.

It is us who brings them in. Clothing. When I have any pest issues I work clean plants first. Wash hands change clothes after ANY contact with infected plants. Brushing against a plant is all it takes.
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top