This is exactly why you do not accept clones from other people

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I took 1 clone from another grower 2 months ago. I of course treated it with pesticide once. 4 weeks later a new seed grown plant was infested with mite eggs sitting right next to the clone. At that point I thought maybe I contaminated my plant with transfer from my clothing. However I take a shower and change my clothes before entering my garden areas so this was fairly unlikely but I accepted that as the source at the time. What prompted me to look was odd drooping of the top leaves. I've seen that look before. Ripped a leaf off and the scope view was disgusting. Eggs everywhere. Tossed the plant immediately. Treated all plants with a heavy duty pesticide. I assumed the problem was in check, and assuming facts about anything is a very poor way to go about life. Even though I knew better I failed to follow up. Weeks later long story short the fucking plant is infested. I had to quarantine it. I went into full blown damage control rotating multiple pesticides in an effort to kill the mites. This is the picture of the floor of the nursery tent it was quarantined in 2 days after the hose down of Forbid 4F. I almost thought it was dirt. I had to get my scope out to verify my worst fears. It was a horrendous amount of dead mites on the floor that looked like someone got messy with large flakes of pepper. This is the single most disgusting picture I have ever shared:

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I have never even seen mites that big before. My heart almost fell straight through my asshole when the scope was in my hand looking at these pieces of shit from 3 inches away. Enjoy my pain but please do avoid my mistake. When someone offers you clones from their garden just say you've got your own seeds on hand even if you don't. You can order them. Bringing other people's bug problems into your garden is absolutely not worth any advantage you think you're gaining by starting from someone else's clones. I threw everything at these fuckers I could. Today I inspected the quarantined plant that produces those ugly fucked up pictures above and I had to hunt to find any evidence of mite eggs. I only saw a few. Hosed the plant down with Forbid 4F again. 3 days from now it'll be hit with Avid. Fuck mites in their mite fucking asshole. Thank you for allowing me to vent :)
 

HydoDan

Well-Known Member
Any new plant that comes into my house gets sprayed, then quarantined for two weeks, then sprayed again..
One more week of quarantine and a thorough inspection later it can enter..
Got spider mites from a Jade plant my wife bought!
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Any new plant that comes into my house gets sprayed, then quarantined for two weeks, then sprayed again..
One more week of quarantine and a thorough inspection later it can enter..
Got spider mites from a Jade plant my wife bought!
That's a heck of a lot smarter than what I did. I'm dipping all the clones I cut in a gallon of Forbid 4F solution after they come out of the cloner. I'm taking no chances with the next round. I gotta work smarter moving forward.
 
Agreed! The one time I let a friend bring some clones into one of my grows, it gave the whole crop powdery mildew. Lost it all You must be able to inspect the other grow, before accepting it into yours.
 

quazyqual

Well-Known Member
I had a buddy ask me to veg 6 clones for him with my plants, back in March for summer, he got them from his friends uncle.

All six had powdery mildew 2 days after I got them, luckily I had them quarantined, and my other plants were not infected.
 
Same, I’m almost sure the grower gave them to my friend a few hours after he sprayed them down. Because it was all over the crop 2 days later. Pretty sure he knowingly passed off plants with PM without saying shit. And the grower works for a mid-size breeding company(seeds/clones), so i was pretty surprised to say the least
 

Nixs

Well-Known Member
Same thing happened with me when I first started growing indoors many years ago, a relative gave me three plants that just started flowering, brought them inside with my plants, and a few weeks later I saw the damage on the leaves and the webbing on buds :o. It took me a few months to get rid of them for good.
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Those look like thrips to me. As a general rule of thumb you should treat new plants to the garden for insects and fungus/mildew. That said, I've forgotten to treat new clones recently and ended up battling PM for a few months.
I've never had thrips in the past so I don't have any experience with them, but I'm fairly certain these are spider mites. The eggs laid allover the bottom of the leaves is usually confirmation after seeing leaf damage. When I busted out the scope the dead bugs (and some dying crawlers) looked like mites. Nasty little tick looking motherfuckers. Eggs were present on the bottoms of the leaves. Thrips almost remind me of an earwig without the ass end. They don't look like any fun.

I don't really have a reason to take clones from anyone. I've got all the strains I like and there's only so much garden space. I won't be running a repeat of this mistake. If I want a strain I'll order some seeds. Life's easier that way.
 

Lordhooha

Well-Known Member
I've never had thrips in the past so I don't have any experience with them, but I'm fairly certain these are spider mites. The eggs laid allover the bottom of the leaves is usually confirmation after seeing leaf damage. When I busted out the scope the dead bugs (and some dying crawlers) looked like mites. Nasty little tick looking motherfuckers. Eggs were present on the bottoms of the leaves. Thrips almost remind me of an earwig without the ass end. They don't look like any fun.

I don't really have a reason to take clones from anyone. I've got all the strains I like and there's only so much garden space. I won't be running a repeat of this mistake. If I want a strain I'll order some seeds. Life's easier that way.
Spider mites aren’t that big to see them like that. I Suggest you bomb the area.
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
I've never had thrips in the past so I don't have any experience with them, but I'm fairly certain these are spider mites. The eggs laid allover the bottom of the leaves is usually confirmation after seeing leaf damage. When I busted out the scope the dead bugs (and some dying crawlers) looked like mites. Nasty little tick looking motherfuckers. Eggs were present on the bottoms of the leaves. Thrips almost remind me of an earwig without the ass end. They don't look like any fun.

I don't really have a reason to take clones from anyone. I've got all the strains I like and there's only so much garden space. I won't be running a repeat of this mistake. If I want a strain I'll order some seeds. Life's easier that way.
Those don't look like thrips and they definitely aren't spider mites. If you used Avid and I have used Avid on a clone I had in quarantine (I used it three times and it did kill the mites) you need to clone out preferably 3 generations. But at least 1.

What I'd do is clone everything now. Get rid of all your in use grow medium. Clean your room, slide the tent over and prop it on an angle so you can kill in and under it and bug bomb the room and allow it to lie fallow after the bomb until your new clones shoot roots then begin again. That's me and I like a sterile room and I also prefer not to poison myself off my insecticides.

In future if you bring in a clone have a separate quarantine and watch it for a minimum of 1 month and 6 weeks is better. Anyway I am so sorry this happened to you. Best of luck in cleaning up efficiently.

PS when using any potent miticide wear a respirator, long sleeves and gloves. Shower after use and wash the clothes you wore during application it's a potent neurotoxin.
 

1dude1seed

Well-Known Member
Learned my lesson with this in the past. Brought home a plant that seemed perfectly fine at first, only to find out it was infested with thrip eggs.

Now I know better to bring anything home without a proper quarantine for a bit. Live and learn.
 

bk78

Well-Known Member
What I'd do is clone everything now. Get rid of all your in use grow medium. Clean your room, slide the tent over and prop it on an angle so you can kill in and under it and bug bomb the room and allow it to lie fallow after the bomb until your new clones shoot roots then begin again. That's me and I like a sterile room and I also prefer not to poison myself off my insecticides.
.
Exactly what I just did to kill my mutant gnats that wouldn’t die.
 
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