Spider Mites kicking my ass

V

vinny2times

Active Member
I can't seem to kill them no matter what I do. I have 4 plants (2 about 7wks into flower and 2 about 4wks into flower). I've tried rosemary oil, bonide captain jack (spinosad), and mighty wash. The spinosad helped, but didn't cure the problem. I don't have any webbing at the top of the colas, but with 4-6wks to go I need to do something else. Because I'm pretty far into flower I don't want to use any chemicals/neem/no pest strip. Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards predatory mites, but then I still have live and dead bugs/bug shit all over the plants when it's time to harvest.
 
it takes time for predatory mites to breed to a productive level, by the time there would be enough, you'd be harvesting.
if i get mites before flower, i've found that alternating sprayings of spinosad and pyrethin work well, 3 days between sprayings, its killed everything so far.
once a plants into flower, i don't like to use anything but spinosad. spray it three days apart, at least 4 times, and that ought to catch all the eggs and newbies. you're a month away from harvest, keep them under control and it doesn't really matter if you completely eradicate them. just clean your area real well before you use it again, and spray the hell out of it with pyrethin before you put anything back in it.
they come in on your clothes most of the time, so if you have a garden outside, or take walks through the woods, change clothes before you go into your grow room, and it should help with re-infestation
 
the co2 treatment is the only thing that can help you at the point you are at. Air tight room open a co2 tank GTFO. Come back hours later vent room, being careful not to suffocate. Harvest your 7 weeker and kill you 4 weeker and then clean and spray your room. Figure out why you got them and never let it happen again
 
Manual removal. Seriously, this far into flower there isn't much you can do chemical wise.
After you yank those plants, clean clean clean, and then clean again. Prevention is the best way of dealing with mites. I spray with neem weekly while plants are in veg regardless of whether or not I notice any mites. Haven't had mites for years. I do not go into other peoples grows either. I was at a friends house awhile back and they showed my their grow room. I walked in there and immediately noticed webbing. I got out of there immediately and when I got home I stripped in the garage and immediately washed the clothes I was wearing and took a shower.

Good luck.
 
Manual removal was a good suggestion. If it is possible take the plants outside and hose them down. Don't use too high of pressure but knocking those bastards off with a hose might help.
 
Part of my IPM includes a shop vac to suck as many as the adults as I can from the underside of the leaves.
Brush attachment with a flow control to be able to dial the vac down so it doesn't chew up the leaves. Time consuming but it definitely helps.
 
thanks everyone. my 4wk into flower plant is a beautiful grand daddy purple. it's super healthy and lush minus the spider mite spots over the leaves. i tried hosing them down, but it didn't really help and the buds are now too heavy where water spray bends the stems. i've done 2 treatments of spinosad 3 days apart - maybe i'll do 2 more treatments and see how things go and in the meantime use the shopvac and get whatever I can. has anyone ever used ladybugs in a 4x4 grow tent?
 
vinny2times said:
thanks everyone. my 4wk into flower plant is a beautiful grand daddy purple. it's super healthy and lush minus the spider mite spots over the leaves. i tried hosing them down, but it didn't really help and the buds are now too heavy where water spray bends the stems. i've done 2 treatments of spinosad 3 days apart - maybe i'll do 2 more treatments and see how things go and in the meantime use the shopvac and get whatever I can. has anyone ever used ladybugs in a 4x4 grow tent?
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Ladybugs will work...if you can get them to breed. Its the larvae that do the real damage on mites. Adults will eat some but probably fly up into your light and die before the have any significant impact. Look into green cleaner, nuke em and big time exterminator. All are safe for even plants in late flower
 
Update - I've sprayed them with spinosad 3x now 3 days apart and this morning i found webbing at the top of the cola for the first time ever. Could it be they were trying to get away from the leaves that were sprayed? I sucked them up with a shopvac, but I don't know if this means my problem is getting better or worse. The one plant I sprayed with mighty wash doesn't have any webbing or mites that I can see. The mighty wash really does make the leaves looks weirdly green and shiny. I'm leaving for vacation in 3 days for 3 weeks and I have a friend whose going to be coming by to water the plants, but he doesn't know anything about spider mite treatment. I was really hoping to eradicate the problem before I left.
 
vinny2times said:
Update - I've sprayed them with spinosad 3x now 3 days apart and this morning i found webbing at the top of the cola for the first time ever. Could it be they were trying to get away from the leaves that were sprayed? I sucked them up with a shopvac, but I don't know if this means my problem is getting better or worse. The one plant I sprayed with mighty wash doesn't have any webbing or mites that I can see. The mighty wash really does make the leaves looks weirdly green and shiny. I'm leaving for vacation in 3 days for 3 weeks and I have a friend whose going to be coming by to water the plants, but he doesn't know anything about spider mite treatment. I was really hoping to eradicate the problem before I left.
Click to expand...
Spinosad works. I use it.

Mix some in your water a couple times when you water for systemic action.

The easiest way to remove most of them is good ole water. Put them outside or in the shower and spray them off.
 
have you tried throwing your plants in a bag for 48 hours? I read a lot of places that putting your plant in a big trash bag for 48 hours. oxygen gets sucked in to plant and bugs die. also I have had great success with using habanero pepper or any other supper hot pepper put in a blender with 1-2 cups water then spray plants daily but that was with aphids.
 
I tried a habanero once and I think it burned my plant. I mixed with rosemary oil. How do you rinse them off when they get heavy with buds?
 
vinny2times said:
Update - I've sprayed them with spinosad 3x now 3 days apart and this morning i found webbing at the top of the cola for the first time ever. Could it be they were trying to get away from the leaves that were sprayed? I sucked them up with a shopvac, but I don't know if this means my problem is getting better or worse. The one plant I sprayed with mighty wash doesn't have any webbing or mites that I can see. The mighty wash really does make the leaves looks weirdly green and shiny. I'm leaving for vacation in 3 days for 3 weeks and I have a friend whose going to be coming by to water the plants, but he doesn't know anything about spider mite treatment. I was really hoping to eradicate the problem before I left.
Click to expand...

It will take longer then 3 days. Spinosad is not a contact killer. It's kills after being ingested. It is also systemic. That means it will spread out in the whole plant....

You are going to HAVE TO sanitize the whole grow area. If in a tent, the whole room will need to be cleaned that it's in.

1 part bleach to 9 or 10 parts water. Spray every surface in the room. Floor, ceiling, walls, under everything and even the things in the room. Now close the area and use a bug bomb - one of the Flea and Tick bombs is the same as a Dr DOOM's bomb, on;ly cheaper. Use as instructed.
Now, take some Pyrethrin concentrate, and mix a very weak batch. Say a cpl of ml in a gallon. Now spray that at every crack and around doors/windows. Anyplace they could get in the room/area. This is a powerful repellent to all damaging mites and some other bugs we don't like.....It lasts longer then it would as a contact killer..... Once your bug free....reuse of the "repellent" at about a monthly time frame......Will help keep you clear of mites...

Another thing to understand is. Mites are attracted to plants in stress. Stressed plants give off a pheromone that attracts them.
Keeping your plants happy and healthy. Go a l-o-n-g way to not getting mites....

Good luck!
 
vinny2times said:
thanks everyone. my 4wk into flower plant is a beautiful grand daddy purple. it's super healthy and lush minus the spider mite spots over the leaves. i tried hosing them down, but it didn't really help and the buds are now too heavy where water spray bends the stems. i've done 2 treatments of spinosad 3 days apart - maybe i'll do 2 more treatments and see how things go and in the meantime use the shopvac and get whatever I can. has anyone ever used ladybugs in a 4x4 grow tent?
Click to expand...
Dr. Who said:
Lady bugs are not big eaters of mites.
Good for aphids!
Click to expand...

+1 lady bugs are good for aphids and pretty much useless on mites. Try Green Lace Wings for mites.
Lace Wing eggs are cheaper but take about 3 days to hatch for the larvae to go to town. You can buy the larvae but more expensive.
https://hydro-gardens.com/product/lacewing-eggs-1000-5p335a/

Forbid 4F - 1 oz for a 32 oz spray bottle is about 1 ML per 32 oz of water. At $19.25 it will last forever.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Oz-FORBID...995442?hash=item41ccbfca32:g:wbkAAOSw7cVZi~yM

Fels Naptha Soap $0.99 a wal mart.
http://www.hansenfamilyfarm.com/blog/make-your-own-non-toxic-insecticidal-spray-soap

Also google Spider Mites and:
1. Canola oil
2. Pepper Spray
plus many others.
 
Dr. Who said:
It will take longer then 3 days. Spinosad is not a contact killer. It's kills after being ingested. It is also systemic. That means it will spread out in the whole plant....

You are going to HAVE TO sanitize the whole grow area. If in a tent, the whole room will need to be cleaned that it's in.

1 part bleach to 9 or 10 parts water. Spray every surface in the room. Floor, ceiling, walls, under everything and even the things in the room. Now close the area and use a bug bomb - one of the Flea and Tick bombs is the same as a Dr DOOM's bomb, on;ly cheaper. Use as instructed.
Now, take some Pyrethrin concentrate, and mix a very weak batch. Say a cpl of ml in a gallon. Now spray that at every crack and around doors/windows. Anyplace they could get in the room/area. This is a powerful repellent to all damaging mites and some other bugs we don't like.....It lasts longer then it would as a contact killer..... Once your bug free....reuse of the "repellent" at about a monthly time frame......Will help keep you clear of mites...

Another thing to understand is. Mites are attracted to plants in stress. Stressed plants give off a pheromone that attracts them.
Keeping your plants happy and healthy. Go a l-o-n-g way to not getting mites....

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Hey
Great stuff as usual from Dr. Who. As he states you have to be relentless and through in cleaning, spraying and spraying again. Spray everthing and wipe down the light fixtures too.

Hey bro or doc - ever use the 1 gallon of water and an asprin aka Saqlacylic acid to fire up the plants immune system when it is stressed?

Making sure you also add silica to your feeding mix can make the plants stronger.
 
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