Spider Mites

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Grower899

Well-Known Member
Alright so I know there are a ton of spider mite threads out there and I've read a lot of them. Just wanting some info as to what I should do in my situation.

Plan is to empty tents, seal and no pest strip them for 24 hours. Next clean with bleach and water, then soap and water. Next spray all walls/exterior with; neem oil, azamax, trifecta, and sm90. Then isp/water spray everything. Then clean again with bleach > soap.

Now I'm also trying to save the veg plants that arent to far along, as well as prolly 40 clones. Plan is to dunk in prolly neem oil and maybe isp baths? Maybe I should use one of the other products I have? Then spray them rotating everything I have every 3-4 days for a few weeks.

5 years and never had more than fungus gnats. Got my first clones ever, being excited and stupid I just tossed then in my veg tents and now here I am. Thanks for any help.
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
Gonna toss a heater and small light in the tent to try and hatch as many eggs as possible before and during treating the empty tents.

Starting a separate spot to start flowering freshly cleaned plants. And gonna try a habanero pepper spray on the flowering plants in the current spot to try and finish them out. And treat the area after everything has finished.

Also gonna get some beneficial mites after I quit spraying so often. Oh and I have green cleaner on the way. Gonna rotate a lot of products and hopefully that knocks them out.
 
SCJedi

SCJedi

Well-Known Member
That sounds overly thorough which is a lot better than half assing it...

BUT, you still have a problem and that is your veg scene and the clones.

Outside of your complex plan to nuke your space you need to formulate and implement a plan for your existing plants.

Rotate some of the following:
Pyrethrin spray or bombs.
Neem/Karanja Oil
Spinosad
Fatty acid soap combo
Plant Therapy oil/alcohol/peppermint
Flying Skull

Rotate one every 3-4 days for 2-3 weeks and break the lifecycle. Get on it now.

Once you are in Maintenance Mode then spray Plant Therapy every few days or make your own. As you approach the end of.your spray window bring beneficials on board.

Now you know why we dip and quarantine! It happens to a lot of us. Being proactive instead of reactive is key.

Good luck
 
SPLFreak808

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
Sounds like a plan but personally I'd skip the interior/exterior neem/sm90 spray, if it makes you sleep better then why not?

The sealed up no pest strip,bleach/alcohol scrub down should take care of it 100%, it's really not as hard as some make it sound, Good luck.
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
SCJedi said:
That sounds overly thorough which is a lot better than half assing it...

BUT, you still have a problem and that is your veg scene and the clones.

Outside of your complex plan to nuke your space you need to formulate and implement a plan for your existing plants.

Rotate some of the following:
Pyrethrin spray or bombs.
Neem/Karanja Oil
Spinosad
Fatty acid soap combo
Plant Therapy oil/alcohol/peppermint
Flying Skull

Rotate one every 3-4 days for 2-3 weeks and break the lifecycle. Get on it now.

Once you are in Maintenance Mode then spray Plant Therapy every few days or make your own. As you approach the end of.your spray window bring beneficials on board.

Now you know why we dip and quarantine! It happens to a lot of us. Being proactive instead of reactive is key.

Good luck
Click to expand...
Havent heard of plant therapy will have to look into it. Def planed on spraying veg plants/clones prolly finna go 3 weeks to be safe.

Any advice on what to dunk the plants in? Everything that stays is getting dunked a few times to remove/kill as many as possible. Just not 100% sure which products to make the baths with. I'm liking isp but they say 1/1 water alcohol ratio and I plan on making a 5 gallon bath, gonna be a lot of alcohol. Thanks for the info!
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
SPLFreak808 said:
Sounds like a plan but personally I'd skip the interior/exterior neem/sm90 spray, if it makes you sleep better then why not?

The sealed up no pest strip,bleach/alcohol scrub down should take care of it 100%, it's really not as hard as some make it sound, Good luck.
Click to expand...
That's good to hear. Guess I'll only spray everything down once, prolly with alcohol, as it will def make me sleep better, lol. I just want to go overboard and make sure to get rid of these things, I dont even like being in my room right now =/ thanks for the info!
 
B

beercan

Well-Known Member
I just had a bout with these little boogers too, how long should i wait to start back up again? Just wanna make sure little devils are gone, everything has been removed and stored in cold climate, thoroughly cleaned room also
 
SCJedi

SCJedi

Well-Known Member
Grower899 said:
Havent heard of plant therapy will have to look into it. Def planed on spraying veg plants/clones prolly finna go 3 weeks to be safe.

Any advice on what to dunk the plants in? Everything that stays is getting dunked a few times to remove/kill as many as possible. Just not 100% sure which products to make the baths with. I'm liking isp but they say 1/1 water alcohol ratio and I plan on making a 5 gallon bath, gonna be a lot of alcohol. Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
Plant Therapy will light on fire if you hold a lighter to a spoonful of the concentrate. For what it is worth you can add more ISO to make it go farther and to be more effective. I'd dunk in any of the remedies I have listed above. Just put a slice in a piece of cardboard and flip plant upside down into a 5G bucket.

As for not spraying down the outside of stuff, I call bullshit. Mites came in somehow and if it wasn't a plant it was a pet, if it wasn't a pet it was carpet, if it was none of those it was you. They'll come right back in. Put a burn line down and keep the fire away from your space! Mites means war!

When I spray my growing spaces I spray outside of the space, on the floor, in the garage, across all the doorways and door mats, the back patio, and the straw covered path to my other space. I go hog wild. I take my clothes off and put them straight into the washer and then shower. I promise it takes one egg to get one mite that lays thousands of eggs rapidly.
 
P

piratebug

Well-Known Member
Go to a second hand store get you a old cool mist humidifier, use 1 gallon of water and 1 cup of white vinegar, then seal the room and turn the humidifier on high. and watch whatever mites, bugs, larvae, and eggs you got in the room die. You can also do that while your vegging plants are sleeping in the room, but just remember to remove your CF before doing that! That also works to get rid of WPM!
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
piratebug said:
Go to a second hand store get you a old cool mist humidifier, use 1 gallon of water and 1 cup of white vinegar, then seal the room and turn the humidifier on high. and watch whatever mites, bugs, larvae, and eggs you got in the room die. You can also do that while your vegging plants are sleeping in the room, but just remember to remove your CF before doing that! That also works to get rid of WPM!
Click to expand...
Already have an old humidifier laying around so this go on the list of remedies, ty! Have vinegar too so this ones e
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
SCJedi said:
Plant Therapy will light on fire if you hold a lighter to a spoonful of the concentrate. For what it is worth you can add more ISO to make it go farther and to be more effective. I'd dunk in any of the remedies I have listed above. Just put a slice in a piece of cardboard and flip plant upside down into a 5G bucket.

As for not spraying down the outside of stuff, I call bullshit. Mites came in somehow and if it wasn't a plant it was a pet, if it wasn't a pet it was carpet, if it was none of those it was you. They'll come right back in. Put a burn line down and keep the fire away from your space! Mites means war!

When I spray my growing spaces I spray outside of the space, on the floor, in the garage, across all the doorways and door mats, the back patio, and the straw covered path to my other space. I go hog wild. I take my clothes off and put them straight into the washer and then shower. I promise it takes one egg to get one mite that lays thousands of eggs rapidly.
Click to expand...
I'll be spraying everything down thoroughly and cleaning. Back to a few times after your post.

I picked up the spinosad too so I guess neem oil and spinosad baths itll be. Really trying to go overboard and knock this out quick then just start weekly treatments so I xint have to worry about it again.

I love the cardboard idea too, should speed things up a bit.

Side note. Havent sprayed my habenaro pepper spray yet, but the 2 flies and mosquitoe that landed on it in aren't alive anymore so I cant see it not working for mites.
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
beercan said:
I just had a bout with these little boogers too, how long should i wait to start back up again? Just wanna make sure little devils are gone, everything has been removed and stored in cold climate, thoroughly cleaned room also
Click to expand...
I honestly dont know. Some said 3 months some say they can lay dormant for up to 2 years.

Think I'm gonna hook em up with a nice environment to try and hatch as many as possible with the no pest strips out. Throw a daily spray in should clean the tent insides out pretty quick I hope. Maybe a week or so of this should have them nice and clean I hope.
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Be aware of the hazards associated with no pest strips ...... they are quite hazardous. Labeled for minimal interior
use such as attics, garages , etc. but NOT for spaces occupied by people as the vapor hazard from the dichlorvos insecticide.
Organophosphate poisoning is no joke ...

This product is a cholinesterase inhibitor. Symptoms include weakness, headache, tightness in chest, blurred vision, non-reactive pinpoint pupils, salivation, sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. There is also some PPE precautions.

I deal with pest control compounds daily at my business and am quite aware of certain signal words and MSDS labeling.
Using compounds outside “ labeled use “ is reckless.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
alot of the time knowing how to actually apply pesticides effectively is the key to getting rid of crazy pests like spider mites.
of course switch off sprays. But also how you apply the spray.

I always add a surfacant. This is anything that makes water "wetter" also known as a wetting agent. Safe soap like Ivory is suggested by some-- I use turbo sprayer surfacant if I have it or usually all I have is Pro-tekt which is a silicon solution. Always add silica first or it will crystallize.

other than that I don't grow huge immobile plants. If I ever suspect an issue, or want to prevent them.. i take em out one at a time and put them up on a table outside

shaking my pesticide solution throughout spraying, hit the undersides of all the leaves, not caring if some drips into the soil. I also usually water the soil with plain water first too so the pesticides dont effect the medium too much after all the plants are outside, i sterilize the grow room. This is wiping everything down, turning the fans up, down, off , increasing temps, bombing with bleach, letting it air out and whhatnot.

when they go back in, re-apply the pesticide then re-apply meh on the bottoms but thoroughly on the tops, and in the next 3-7 days depending on why you're applying do it again aggressive or not. Its so important to be crazy about it in the beginning though it can take a while to notice mite dmg!

It's always good to give the girls a nice rinse with plain water on the leaves every month or so too! Opens up those stomata
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Sometimes the simplest shit works well ....

I mix a 1:1 spray solution of rubbing alcohol to water and a couple drops of unscented dish soap .
The alcohol will evaporate quickly and kill them ON CONTACT. It will not harm the plants.
It’s a straight forward insecticidal soap that will kill a host of insect issues. During lights on , mites will shelter under leaves.
You can spray during lights on without issue.

When run into a mite issue ... I simply spray plants over and under during lights on and then again when lights off.
I continue this method for 3-5 day blocks as the mites eggs take around 3 days to hatch. You can scope plants to view
the carnage the alcohol spray reeks on them. Eggs will discolor , adults will shrivel up. After a week , you can mist off plants with
water to clean.

Lastly .... you can Bud wash at harvest ( dunk ) to free up and clean the bug corpses from your plants.

Not only can this spray be used on plants but also as part as grow room cleanup.
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
Budzbuddha said:
Be aware of the hazards associated with no pest strips ...... they are quite hazardous. Labeled for minimal interior
use such as attics, garages , etc. but NOT for spaces occupied by people as the vapor hazard from the dichlorvos insecticide.
Organophosphate poisoning is no joke ...

This product is a cholinesterase inhibitor. Symptoms include weakness, headache, tightness in chest, blurred vision, non-reactive pinpoint pupils, salivation, sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. There is also some PPE precautions.

I deal with pest control compounds daily at my business and am quite aware of certain signal words and MSDS labeling.
Using compounds outside “ labeled use “ is reckless.
Click to expand...
Tents will be put into the garage when the strips go in.

I do have a room inside that I'm gonna put one in, however it's a closet in a bathroom that no one uses. Gonna close and seal closet door then same for bathroom door. After prolly a day take strip out and turn on exhaust fan. Glad you're here, this is safe or no?

Budzbuddha said:
Sometimes the simplest shit works well ....

I mix a 1:1 spray solution of rubbing alcohol to water and a couple drops of unscented dish soap .
The alcohol will evaporate quickly and kill them ON CONTACT. It will not harm the plants.
It’s a straight forward insecticidal soap that will kill a host of insect issues. During lights on , mites will shelter under leaves.
You can spray during lights on without issue.

When run into a mite issue ... I simply spray plants over and under during lights on and then again when lights off.
I continue this method for 3-5 day blocks as the mites eggs take around 3 days to hatch. You can scope plants to view
the carnage the alcohol spray reeks on them. Eggs will discolor , adults will shrivel up. After a week , you can mist off plants with
water to clean.

Lastly .... you can Bud wash at harvest ( dunk ) to free up and clean the bug corpses from your plants.

Not only can this spray be used on plants but also as part as grow room cleanup.
Click to expand...
I absolutely plan to use this as well. Pepper srapy and isp spray for floweing plants. Using pretty much every other product for veg plants and will prolly rotate this isp in here as well at some point. Really want to do an alcohol bath for veg plants, but 2.5 gal of alcohol is gonna add up and look kinda strange maybe.
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
Nizza said:
alot of the time knowing how to actually apply pesticides effectively is the key to getting rid of crazy pests like spider mites.
of course switch off sprays. But also how you apply the spray.

I always add a surfacant. This is anything that makes water "wetter" also known as a wetting agent. Safe soap like Ivory is suggested by some-- I use turbo sprayer surfacant if I have it or usually all I have is Pro-tekt which is a silicon solution. Always add silica first or it will crystallize.

other than that I don't grow huge immobile plants. If I ever suspect an issue, or want to prevent them.. i take em out one at a time and put them up on a table outside

shaking my pesticide solution throughout spraying, hit the undersides of all the leaves, not caring if some drips into the soil. I also usually water the soil with plain water first too so the pesticides dont effect the medium too much after all the plants are outside, i sterilize the grow room. This is wiping everything down, turning the fans up, down, off , increasing temps, bombing with bleach, letting it air out and whhatnot.

when they go back in, re-apply the pesticide then re-apply meh on the bottoms but thoroughly on the tops, and in the next 3-7 days depending on why you're applying do it again aggressive or not. Its so important to be crazy about it in the beginning though it can take a while to notice mite dmg!

It's always good to give the girls a nice rinse with plain water on the leaves every month or so too! Opens up those stomata
Click to expand...
I started using dr bonners soap as the surfactant and I use solo 1 liter sprayers. Work my way from the bottom of the plant up rotation 90 degrees until I've hit every side. I dont grow huge trees either.

Right now I'm applying every 3 days 30 mins before lights on.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
your good bro. dont forget to hit the pots as well. The undersides and whatnot. those things can be crawlin anywhere!! GL!

persistence is key..
 
G

Grower899

Well-Known Member
And if anyone is wondering about the habanero peppery spray recipe around online, that shit is legit. Kills them on contact, and I cant imagine it doesnt offer some lasting protection as my hand still burns 2 hours after application. Edit, 4 hours after application the burning is gone! People say it's hard to make but maybe they're retarded or something took me 40 mins, and 25 of that was cooking time.

Also, shout out to all of you. I sincerely appreciate the help.
 
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