spider mites: i can still harvest right?

[jinxkakashi]

i know alot of people probably get these damn things im just wondering if im 2 and 1/2 weeks out from harvest can i just spray them with water to keep them down to a minimum and harvest as usual or will they continue after harvest and into drying? any help would be appreciated ill post pics as thy become available.

 

[Guest]

The question is how bad do you have them?

I've seen them so bad at your stage that they were not going to make it. Are they completely webbing your plants over?

Do you just see some spots on lower leaves and a few mites moving around?

There are sprays that will buy you some time and are safe to ingest after 10 days or less. If you have it bad enough you may want to consider taking action.

You have to remember that in the late stages a plant will often lose it's ability to fight off pests/disease and it comes on very fast.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

What's the temps & RH in your room? You might be able to just drop the temps and raise the humidity to control them till harvest - but you gotta be careful with too high of an RH% in late flowering...especially with poor air circulation.

How bad are they? (pics would really help)

 

[pSi007]

one thing i tried that actually worked is natures remedy. try getting a high strenth sprayer from home depot or something like that, fill it with pure water and spray a gallon or two off the top. the water pressure and gravity should wipe out a bunch of those mites. repeat every 2 days. do it 5 times. spiders should be dead.


mites are crap, they will stay on the plant until it dies and then they die too. dead mites on your herbs. it reminds me of human politicians.. they will suck out the last drop until the environment dies with them.

 

[Guest]

mites are crap, they will stay on the plant until it dies and then they die too. dead mites on your herbs. it reminds me of human politicians.. they will suck out the last drop until the environment dies with them.

That reminds me of my worst mite infestation.

I was on a 3 week trip into a remote region of BC's northern interior. There was no way to contact home. I was scheduled to harvest as soon as I returned. My Ol'lady was pretty good at looking after things providing there were no real issues. She would have to call in help if were to happen.

Anyways, when I got out of the bush there was still 2 days of driving to get home. I called from a pay phone and she told me we got infested so bad that they had to do a emergency take down. Wow! How could this happen.

i sped home to find all my pot on screens trimmed and drying. The buds were webbed over...on the screen. I couldn't believe it.

I then noticed a web bridge going from the corners of the 2 screens to a bag of the trimmed leaf that was sitting near by. The leaf was still pretty crisp.

These little bastards were uniting to make a mite bridge to get to a bag 2.5 feet away. I don't mean a spindly web neither. It was a fat mass of webs.

Crazy!

The herb was OK but there was a lot learned there. Moral of the story is mites can over come you quicker than you think. I left knowing I had some but thought I'd be OK til I got home. Surprise surprise!

That was 10 years ago. I havent had mites in prolly 8.

 

[socal420girl]

You might want to try using some hydrogen peroxide mixed with really cold water (I read this on a thread not too long ago). Apparently, spider mites don't like the cold at all and there's some reaction with the peroxide that bothers their bodies. I'm no expert by any means - just beginning my second grow - but I had powdery mildew on one of my plants and used the peroxide - full strength - with no ill effects to the plants at all! I was amazed!

I just used the peroxide on two small clones that had mites from the co-op that I got them from - 50% peroxide, 50% cold water + a couple drops of dishwashing soap. (Since you're flowering, you could probably eliminate the soap and nobody would ever know!) During the light schedule, I pulled them out of their room, saturated them, let them dry, and put them back in. I did this up until the day before harvest and had no problems at all.

I hope somebody else can either confirm or refute this theory - all I know is that since I sprayed my two clones, I haven't seen a moving spider yet!

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

I can't confirm what you are saying about the peroxide and mites but be careful with what strength peroxide you use.

It's one thing to say to use full strength (or even 50%) but how much is the % of the peroxide? For example hyper o2 will burn your fingers tips off and that is not even 100% peroxide. Maybe a bottle from the drug store may be a low % and safe to use but careful for the stronger concentrations. You will kill more than mites and mildew.

 

[subfloral]

peroxide does what it does because of reactive oxygen species that are released during breakdown.. these are extremely toxic to life... that is why they could be helpful or harmful, depending on concentration and application

 

[KABBAGE]

Spray sparingly, mold is a real possibility when spraying nugs. If you have only a few plants and lots of time (like me) then I suggest taking plants out one by one, spraying the fan leaves, and wiping top and bottom of leaf to get as many of the lil fuggers as you can as well as they eggs from the undersides.
I also suggest using a feather duster to disturb them. Works great on webs and knocks the little bastards around pretty good.
When chopping effected plants it is smart to knock em down, then hang them for a couple hours in a dark place. The mites realize rather quickly that the plant is dead and fall off in search for more bountiful vegetation. This is much better than trimming up the buds with mites all over them, leaving dead mites everywhere, and having your end product "crackling" and "sizzling" from the dead mite carcasses.

 

[jinxkakashi]

thanks, the leaves got burnt when i sprayed with soap (forgot to dilute it like an asshole) theres not so many that you see the webs without looking closely i have sparayed them sparingly with water, will try the hydrogen peroxide dropping the humidity ill also remember to let the bugs vacate after the plant comes down. you've all been very helpful as ive seen alot of info on this matter and you all brought something new to the table thanks again and i will post some pics as soon as my digi-cam will open its eyes. (shutters broken)
Again thanks so much pics to be posted soon

 

[mojojojo]

HOTSHOTS NOPESTSTRIPS WORKS LIKE A CHARM!!!!
but stay outta the room.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

Two weeks before harvest you can still spray with neem oil. Biologically, it breaks down in a week or so (you can also mix it in the nutrient solution, the roots will absorb the active ingredients and the plant's vascular system will distribute it to the leaves). Neem oil also has anti-fungical properties, increasing the protection against mold.

 

[SmokeyPufmaster]

Spray with plain water and wipe leaves and stems. Plenty of air circulation will help against the mold. Once you cut it down cut off all the big fan leaves and hang upside down. The mites will then climb to the top of the stem due to gravity. At least they won't be in your buds.

 

[jinxkakashi]

thanks mojo i got 2 in the 10 x 10 room with an a/c pushing cold air and my vent fan pulling old air out should i cut down on a/c vent time or is 2 enough. thanks rosy i had no idea that i could use neem in an ebb and flow or i would of done that a long time ago im gonna pick some up today when i go to the hydro store and thanks to smokey that idea is working for me i have been trying to spray every 3-4 days. thanks guys im gonna try to get some pics up here although embarrassing its a learning experience thats for sure. With your help i should be able to still harvest and prevent any further infestations thanks everyone who replied and goodluck to anybody having the same problem hopefully one of these great ideas will work for you too. again pics too come soon along with my little outdoor pk came out pretty mmmmmmmmmmmm thanks again

 

[Blackmelo]

Hi Jinx,
I too have got a bit of a mite problem on this grow. It's not too bad thankfully.

Anyway, a few things I have learnt about these mites. If you see a mite on a leaf there are bound to be 10 more on the underside of the leaf!

They seem to like crawling up and down the plant right into the soil.

They only start making webs once there are alot of mites so if you can keep the numbers down there shouldn't be any webs.

If they do start making webs, they will start at the bottom of the plant so check your plants stems. As long as you destroy any webs created down there, the mites will not make any webs further up. Instead they will rebuild the old one.

If you are into flowering and do not want to use pest spray on your plants, do not completely stop using it, just spray the stems. This will seriously reduce their numbers since they like crawling up and down the stem.

 

[chosen]

If you are in a tight spot like a few weeks away from harvest, I would go with water, peroxide, and a touch of vodka. Normally as Rosy suggested, I would use neem oil all through veg at a rate of every 3-4 days until a week or so in flowering. I would then use a mixture of peroxide, water, vodka, and peppers up until a week or 2 until harvest. It's like pepper spray. Becareful when you are in the room,it will gag you a bit, but it will burn their butts.Make the mixture by buying some cheap vodka and a cup or 2 of peppers or the get a large bag of spices from the authentic mex area(Habanero or other hotties). LEt the vodka and pepper mixsteep for at least a couple of days up to a week. Strain the mix out and you've got concentrate. Now when you use it. Take a gallon of water, add an ounce or 2 of our peppermix, and 2-3 tbsp of peroxide then blast. Use the same mix with neem oil as well but with a couple of drops of soap during veg. This will keep mites under control.
It sounds like a bit of work but it's easy and alot less expensive than buying Hydro stuff with less potency.
Always make sure to spray the underside of the leaves which alot of people don't do which causes the mites to live under the leaves without any interruption.