I know what you're thinking.... "How dumb do you have to be to have spider mites for so long?" Let me start by saying that I didn't have spider mites the WHOLE time, just that it was an ongoing problem for the past 10 years and I would keep getting them. I used to insist on natural treatments and that's a lot of the reason why I would never fully get rid of the little fuckers. NATURAL TREATMENTS DON'T SOLVE THE PROBLEM. They only kill the adults and juveniles, not the eggs, and that's if you do everything 100% correctly. There are lot of ways to get crawlers off your plants, but if you don't wipe out the eggs it's all for nothing. I've tried everything. Zero Tolerance- doesn't work. Total waste of money. Home made habanero pepper spray- you need protective gear when applying it... oh, and it doesn't work. It won't kill the eggs. Pyrethrum TR- doesn't work as some strains of mites have built up an immunity. Regardless, it will usually kill crawlers, but not eggs. Attain TR- more toxic than Pyrethrum TR and you need to use great care when applying it. It does a good job of killing the crawlers, but it doesn't kill the eggs and in a couple of weeks you will have mites all over again. Azamax- It works on crawlers, but it's very labor intensive to apply as a spray. 100% coverage is required and, once again, it doesn't kill the eggs.
The best way to get rid of mites is to completely clean out your room and start over. That means getting rid of your plants among other things. If you have an easy time getting new strains, fine. With my situation it's hit and miss. I have spent many years tracking down and acquiring the best genetics around, and if I throw them all away I'm screwing myself because I won't be able to reacquire. I need to work with what I already have, so tossing all of my strains is not an option. Containers and other equipment also need to be removed, cleaned thoroughly, and in some cases thrown away altogether. You need to wipe everything down right down to the power cord on your socket assembly. Mites can drop eggs anywhere. Doing what I described above can be a massive undertaking for some, and unless your are really thorough your grow could get infested all over again.
So, I finally went with the nuclear option. I didn't want to resort to this, but I'm sick of having mites and nothing else works. I used a cocktail of 2 ml. of Avid and 1 ml. of Forbid. This not only wiped out the crawlers, but the Forbid is an ovacide which will prevent eggs from hatching. Another bonus here is that since these miticides penetrate the tissue you don't even need to achieve 100% coverage when spraying. I was still pretty thorough, but I feel confident that the problem is now taken care of once and for all. I've heard a lot of people freak out about Avid/Forbid, but if you apply them in a PROPER manner you shouldn't have to worry about any contamination.... skin contact or residual. 1) Make sure you wear protective gear (long sleeves, long pants, eye protection, plastic gloves and a dust mask) and be mindful of where you spray. I laid down some plastic, laid each plant on the plastic, and proceeded to spray so I wouldn't contaminate my grow room with this evil poison. 2) NEVER spray this stuff when the plants are in a 12/12 cycle. It doesn't even matter if no buds have formed yet. Consider any leaves that you spray to be contaminated and assume that they will stay that way. If you are 3 weeks into flowering and you spray this stuff, there will be residue present when you harvest and some of it could make it's way into final product. Your buds are supposed to smell good and get you high, not poison you or others. 3) If at all possible, only subject small clones to this treatment. It will take care of the problem and keep any residue off the new growth at the same time. Small clones can easily be dipped as well vs. sprayed. This is the best way to go. 4) If your plants are bigger and close to being switched to 12/12, it might be wise to wait a bit longer to flip them so the active ingredient that the plants absorbed can have time to dissipate. 75 days is the rule of thumb if you want to be on the safe side. 5) NEVER spray this stuff in your house or in any kind of a living space. If you are using a bedroom as a grow room, take the plants outside and spray. If you use great care and are not a fucking idiot you can safely use Avid and Forbid. A lot of the "information" I hear about these miticides in grow forums is based on paranoia, misinformation, or someone was dumb and got it on their skin.
Again, I recommend cleaning out your grow room and starting over when it comes to getting rid of mites as I don't like to use poison as a first line of defense, but if that's not an option you can do what I suggested above.
