spider mites at harvest

K9will

Active Member
I’ve been looking for information on what to do with plants ready for harvest that is also infested with spider mites? Do you know where I can find info on this? Or perhaps you have found a good way to handle the situation. Any advice would be very helpful. Ty.
 

vnbenny

Well-Known Member
try get as many of them off then just put to dry and most will fall off while it drying, the rest will just die.

1 time i had a couple of plants COVERD in everthing u can think off, white fly, spider mite, green fly, etc...

didnt want to waiste it so put it to dry, i tell you what, it wasnt as bad as i thought it would be.

but if you only got spider mites, they are tiny, shouldnt make a difference unless its coverd in em.
 

MrFishy

Well-Known Member
They'll "pop" when/if you burn 'em. If possible, take that plant outside and spray the fuck outta the leaves (BOTH sides) with a hose. Could remove the majority and should remove the leftover insect/fecal mater, egg casings, etc.
Just a good idea, if fairly convenient. Shouldn't hurt the buds.

If you want, before you take it out for a spray, mix some plain water with mild detergent (dish soap) and spray plant well. Let dry, THEN spray all that shit off. Put the soap in last. it won't take much soap, like 1/4-1/2 a squirt. The object is to loosen the debris before spraying it off.
Unscented soap would be preferred, but any is ok as long as you rinse well.
Since you wanna harvest right quick, you should be good to go, although theoretically you could see a hatch while hanging. Let the sprayed off plant dry before cutting it down. You could try and cover your soil when spraying to prevent unwanted, excess soil moisture. Mites don't like moisture or temps below 65F, so keeping your hang area humid and cool should/could help?

To keep the numbers down, I remove the worst infested leaves as well. If you weren't gonna harvest, I'd consider the below.

Best case scenario, eggs will hatch in 5-18 days and your infestation will begin anew. The warmer your room, the quicker the hatch.
I'd consider getting some neems oil and following the directions. Folks here suggested I spray mine with neems every 3 days, but that burned the plant pretty bad. Stick to the bottle directions, or at least read them so you can make an educated decision as to it's use in your case. I didn't. Many growers use neems thru grows whether they have pests or not. It's a cycle interupter, not a contact killer.

Most are repulsed by smoking critters. I don't know of anyone that just leaves them be?
 

Marie Jain

Active Member
Those little bugs want nothing to do with a plant that is not live and full of moisture. They will leave like rats off a sinking ship when you harvest. Hang your stems to dry in a place where the bugs can drop off and not infest your house. Leave them there a few days until the outer leaves are crispy, that gives the eggs time to pop and the babies will split too. I get rid of any hangers on in the manicure, then let them dry a bit further. By the time I get to the jar stage of drying I haven't seen a single one left.
 

joebuck

Well-Known Member
I’ve been looking for information on what to do with plants ready for harvest that is also infested with spider mites? Do you know where I can find info on this? Or perhaps you have found a good way to handle the situation. Any advice would be very helpful. Ty.
Hey there - I went through nasty spider mite infestation(s) and here's what I found out (not sure if this is true for everyone). The spider mites don't like the leaves with trichs on them. They don't like goo on their little mite feet. Sure, the fan leaves etc were damaged, but even with 60x microscope, I found one and it was sort of walking around like "where the f*ck did the good leaves go?" (after trimming). Since they don't seem to like dying plant matter anyway, I stopped worrying about them since they didn't kill my girls before harvest.

I did blast the plants that had them the worst with short, quick bursts of water from the bottom up (putting the hose nozzel under the bottom of the leaves to avoid drenching the buds, bursting the trichs, and get those suckers where they like it best - under the leaves). I also considered using compressed air, but didn't want to just blow them around to other plants and since they don't like moist conditions, figured it would help. It did. Mine were/are in a greenhouse, so I also sprayed pesticide on the walls and the ground, trying to kill anything that might be around the plants. I didn't want to but kind of had to. (I didn't spray the plants at all.)

Good luck. Spider mites are evil.
 

halzey68

Well-Known Member
i read where a guy used apple juice concentrate to spray the mites. im about 2 weeks from harvest now, but 2 weeks ago i sprayed them with it and it worked. it did make the plant very sticky, but it didnt seem to mind. ill use it again but ill probably dilute the concentrate 2 to 1 or at least 1 to 1.
 

MrFishy

Well-Known Member
Mites abandon hanging plants? Sure seems like the weed would have to be super dry for this to be the case? I hope this pans out. That'd be GREAT!
 

K9will

Active Member
I ended up getting 4500 lady bugs. The spider mites are almost gone (but not gone) the lady bugs eat the webs too so that’s good. The veg wardrobe is all but mite free so I collected the lady bugs and hung a no-pest strip. I’ll see if that works, To keep them away.
 

sUpA nOvA D9

Well-Known Member
Ahhh the "discovery channel" in all its glory. I love letting predator bugs loose on the bugs going after my plants. I find it to be the easiest, and lest stressful to the plants. I grow a lot of legal plants so I have them in my house all the time, and the ones with the least stress always do the best. Which is the same with people...people can only take so much before they go crazy, and shoot some place up...plants won't kill you in your sleep lol, but their growth will suffer, and thats not good with our most prized plants. So minimize stress to the plant, and you will help maximize its yeild.
 

soljav3

Member
Mites abandon hanging plants? Sure seems like the weed would have to be super dry for this to be the case? I hope this pans out. That'd be GREAT!
I had a decent mite population about 4-5 weeks into flower. I could notice white spots on all the leaves like they were getting bleached. It was actually spider mites eating the leaves. I cut off any leaves that had any damage from mites... and also got a small rag with neem oil and wiped it all over any good leaves, instead of spraying it on. Cutting off the bad leaves gets rid of some of the mites and any eggs that may hatch future mites. Also the plant will not have to struggle to try and keep a leaf alive that is being eaten. I noticed about week 7 the mites were still there but not as bad and there was less webbing. I have some stuff drying and it seems pretty much miteless. I think that when everything dries out, it shrinks and the mites probably dry out too, and turn into little specks. I'm not scared to smoke it, afterall they are mites eating weed leaves and are probably full of thc themselves.
 
I had a decent mite population about 4-5 weeks into flower. I could notice white spots on all the leaves like they were getting bleached. It was actually spider mites eating the leaves. I cut off any leaves that had any damage from mites... and also got a small rag with neem oil and wiped it all over any good leaves, instead of spraying it on. Cutting off the bad leaves gets rid of some of the mites and any eggs that may hatch future mites. Also the plant will not have to struggle to try and keep a leaf alive that is being eaten. I noticed about week 7 the mites were still there but not as bad and there was less webbing. I have some stuff drying and it seems pretty much miteless. I think that when everything dries out, it shrinks and the mites probably dry out too, and turn into little specks. I'm not scared to smoke it, afterall they are mites eating weed leaves and are probably full of thc themselves.
you should toss those plants in the trash and clean out your grow room.
 

cat of curiosity

Well-Known Member
Jesus you people are stupid. Who cares how old it is, people are still reading these threads seeking the same advice they were 6 years ago, as your post shows. They ought to change the name of this site from rollitup to retardpreteens
like yourself? you're as far from '72' years old as my dick is from 72 inches long...

60...
 
I’ve been looking for information on what to do with plants ready for harvest that is also infested with spider mites? Do you know where I can find info on this? Or perhaps you have found a good way to handle the situation. Any advice would be very helpful. Ty.
I used https://www.amazon.com/Massacre-Spider-Killer-Powdery-Fighter/dp/B01N541P34/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507519361&sr=8-1&keywords=mite+massacre for my pesticide and it was amazing. I only had to apply it twice over a period of 3 days and I never had a bug problem again. I was blown away by it, to be honest. Neem Oil is another fantastic pesticide; you can also use organic tobacco and soak it in water, than spray the tobacco juice on your fan leaves--avoid making contact with buds though, the taste can evaporate but i absolutely hate tobacco flavor/smell so it never hurts to be extra cautious.
 

KryptoBud

Well-Known Member
Jesus you people are stupid. Who cares how old it is, people are still reading these threads seeking the same advice they were 6 years ago, as your post shows. They ought to change the name of this site from rollitup to retardpreteens
Why do you keep resurrecting old ass threads just to call people stupid? Every post you've made is to call someone dumb or some negative bullshit with no advice or answer to the op. Why bother? Don't you have some crayons that need eating, windows to lick, maybe have your helmet fitted with a bigger drool cup?
 
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