Spider mite outbreak - first encounter.

Hello i have been growing for a number of years and have finaly encountered spider mites. When i noticed them they had begun to infest a plant next to my pasive intake on my tent. Im guessing they came in through the intake sence the only plant infested was right by it. I pulled out all of my plants as the main bulk of my crop is 2 and a half weeks into flowering and i needed to get my lollypopping done.

The main plant infected is a blue cheese that is 5 and a half weeks into flowering.

I thougouly sprayed my whole crop with einstein oil and a drop of dish soap. Mixed 2 tsp einstein oil to 24oz of warm water. I kept the main infected plant away and spreayed all of them before putting them back into my flowering room. I also sprayed my flowering room down with einstein oil and will be bleaching everything tommorow, i didnt have time to bleach tonight. I plan on following up with another heavy dose of einstein oil in 3 days.

The guy who owns my local hydro store said its not a really big deal he suggested the einstein oil vs neem, and said it should take care of them and to not panic. This is my first time incountering these things but i have fought fungus gnats before and those were a pain in the ass.

He also gave me a 30x magnifying jewlers loup to locate and check them. Before i put the main plant back in i gave it two good doses of einstein oil and there was no spider mites moving they all apeared to be dead.

Im just looking for some more input from people who have delt with these before as i am inexperienced with them.

I would try the products Azomax and Pest Out switch every 3 days spraying.

I will head down to the grow shop and see if he has any in. Would it work alternating azamax and einstien oil every 3 days? The einstien oil killed all the bugs i could find after re inspecting the plant with a jewlers loupe. It also made my leaves nice clean and soft. Im going to use my dutch masters penetrator as a wetting agent next time instead of dish soap.

wetting agents work great! I would alternate all 3 if you can also try releasing some lady bugs in the tent they eat the mites.

remember the eggs hatch every three days so it is so important to stay on top of the spraying schedule and hopefully you can get it under control before you are too far into flowering...good luck!

Azamax is a derivative or concentrate (maybe acts the same way? Too medicated to remember) of Neem. If Einstein does not work try switching to a Pyrethrum. While there is another alternative that I'm going to try if I get an infestation, Mighty Wash, it's supposedly ionized water that melts pests and cleans plant. Or go all natural and use predatory mites, lady bugs or nematodes. You can find these at local nurseries and growshops. Amazon.com sells these. Amazing. Hope I was some help

KILL EM ALL! Einstein oil works great. Be pro-active with it. I spray all my plants with it until week 3 of flowering, and pick off any leaves that they somehow survive on. I live in a city with hyper-specialized ganja-mowing super-mites. You may have a chance at eradicating them. I may never be so lucky... but they're still a minor annoyance for me, and only pop up once in a while.

I've used Mighty Wash worked ok is great cause you can spray up until harvest

The einstine killed everything and i plant on hitting them every 3 days untill i see no signs of new life than just kind of go by ear untill i can get this crop out and really clean the room. My cousin is a caretaker and cardholder in Oregon and suggested azamax also, but i think they have a little beafier mites out there compared to here in the midwest. Im baffled of how they got in but both him and my local hydro owner said it happens and its part of growing.

I also caught the problem early, my cousin said if they are on the fan leaves than they are probably all over the walls and to treat the whole room with azamax. Spraying hoods walls floors and sealings. Im fortunate enough to not have them spread to plants besides the two that were next to the blue cheese, and i sprayed the shit out of my whole garden, the girls were dripping wet.

I thought about lady bugs but i dont want to deal with cleaning them out of my hoods. my plants are in a 4x8 tent and they had to have came in the passive air duct because the main plany infected was directly next to it. Is there anything i can do about this duct? a filter i could place over it, or a stronger mitacide to form a barier from them getting in. Would tangle foot work for this?

Rascality Afoot said:

KILL EM ALL! Einstein oil works great. Be pro-active with it. I spray all my plants with it until week 3 of flowering, and pick off any leaves that they somehow survive on. I live in a city with hyper-specialized ganja-mowing super-mites. You may have a chance at eradicating them. I may never be so lucky... but they're still a minor annoyance for me, and only pop up once in a while.

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Im in a state with no medical, so i have never had plants from someone elses grow room in mine i start all my strains from seed, so im not worried about them being super mites. I just dont know were they came from but i suppose they can come from anywere. Still stresses me out.

I've actually put panty hose over the intake to try to deter the mites but the thing that worked the best is staying on top of spraying alternating products every 3 days during veg and beginning of flower

Day 2

Comepletly cleaned everything, also vacumed everything. I just got done scoping the main infested one and found 3 spider mites bunched together on a leaf like "why is this happening". On all the other leaves i checked it was nothing but carnage. Going to order some ladybugs tonight and start releasing them into my area and following up with an aditional spraying of einstine oil in 2 days.

It seems my first spraying took out a majority of them, is it normal to see a few scraglers clinging on after using it? There seems to be tons of eggs on the undersides of the leaves far more than carcases. The ones i did find were very small also. I cant wait for the lady bugs.

On a happier note i found a branch of old white russian that fell behind my table for my ballasts so i got a bonus quarter to smoke tonight.

P.S. i will einstine oil before i release my lady bugs into thier new home to avoid getting neem on them. When i release them i plan on releasing mayby a dozen at time the listing on ebay says they are reaching the end of thier life and might not be as active. Will they still be able to produce young?