I screwed up. Mites...

[CWF]

I knew better, and broke a cardinal rule anyway, because I was greedy. I was originally just growing a single fem by itself in my small personal space (Useful BOO S2 from @MIRedBuds on right), but I took an "extra" fem (on left) from a friend because he had started too many. I flipped shortly after. Now it is day F45, in full flower, couple weeks to go. This pic is from F33.


My friend asked "hey I have little white spots all over, what causes that?", so my alarm bells went off, and I took a closer look in my closet. Yep, I found a lot of fine white spots appearing all over the "extra" I hadn't noticed, and sure enough, it had a raging infestation of spider mites. I know it's my fault for taking that plant. I've never had them before.

I bagged and trashed the infested "extra" plant, pot, soil, everything, and vacuumed out the space, hoping to save the BOO S2 which wasn't showing any signs of mites. I also took some pyrethrin spray and carefully sprayed the floor and surfaces of the space - not the plant. The S2 is in an Earthbox, and I sprayed the box and plastic cover. Then I hit the plant with some Dead Bug (spinosad). Upon closer inspection, I noticed fine white spots on one leaf, and got out the microscope. Dangit - more mites.

I plan to also use some citric acid spray up under the leaves (1 t per qt), alternating with the Dead Bug (spinosad) spray every 3 days. Hopefully I can save the plant, which only has a few mites on there (I hope). I'll have to wash the herb, I reckon. It's a lot of medicine, and I want to save it if I can. Then I will clean out/trash everything, scrub, paint, and fumigate, and start over in a few months.

I fucking knew I shouldn't have taken that plant. 20-20 Hindsight. I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. Now I know what to look for, at least.
It still sucks!

 

[curious2garden]

I knew better, and broke a cardinal rule anyway, because I was greedy. I was originally just growing a single fem by itself in my small personal space (Useful BOO S2 from @MIRedBuds on right), but I took an "extra" fem (on left) from a friend because he had started too many. I flipped shortly after. Now it is day F45, in full flower, couple weeks to go. This pic is from F33.
View attachment 5385188

My friend asked "hey I have little white spots all over, what causes that?", so my alarm bells went off, and I took a closer look in my closet. Yep, I found a lot of fine white spots appearing all over the "extra" I hadn't noticed, and sure enough, it had a raging infestation of spider mites. I know it's my fault for taking that plant. I've never had them before.

I bagged and trashed the infested "extra" plant, pot, soil, everything, and vacuumed out the space, hoping to save the BOO S2 which wasn't showing any signs of mites. I also took some pyrethrin spray and carefully sprayed the floor and surfaces of the space - not the plant. The S2 is in an Earthbox, and I sprayed the box and plastic cover. Then I hit the plant with some Dead Bug (spinosad). Upon closer inspection, I noticed fine white spots on one leaf, and got out the microscope. Dangit - more mites.
View attachment 5385187
I plan to also use some citric acid spray up under the leaves (1 t per qt), alternating with the Dead Bug (spinosad) spray every 3 days. Hopefully I can save the plant, which only has a few mites on there (I hope). I'll have to wash the herb, I reckon. It's a lot of medicine, and I want to save it if I can. Then I will clean out/trash everything, scrub, paint, and fumigate, and start over in a few months.

I fucking knew I shouldn't have taken that plant. 20-20 Hindsight. I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. Now I know what to look for, at least.
It still sucks!

I am so sorry. That really sucks. In future if you bring in clones have a separate area far away from your main grow area to quarantine them. Getting them tested to avoid HLVD is a good idea too while waiting to see if they might have bugs or something else. Anyway I'm really sorry.

 

[Cellar Dweller]

I’ve used regular olive oil and dish soap. Had a problem in flower and it worked well. Generally 1-2 tablespoons of oil and 1-2 teaspoons of clear unscented the kind with like 4 ingredients dish soap per gallon. A little calcium and Epsom salts mixed in also to make the plant happy too. Sprayed twice a week, after the first application I stopped seeing live mites and no more little webs. Kept that up for a month sprayed all around the space to be sure those little bastards got hit. No more mites.

 

[CWF]

Thanks, but I'm sticking with the citric acid solution with 2-3 weeks to go. Seems to have worked. I'm about to do a follow-up spray. Not sure how you could rinse off an oil..

I'll use an H2O2 solution to rinse branches off before hanging to dry, but normally I don't need to, since I never spray anything on buds, ever - just this once. I am not starting another cycle until the fall (too hot and humid here), so I have plenty of time to fumigate and scrub the space. I'll recycle all my soil in my veg garden outside, and start with new in the fall. I'll also start using some sort of IPM during veg to make sure I don't have a repeat. Hopefully!