Spidermites close to flower

[Boio_]

Hello friends,

I posted around 2 weeks ago trying to find out what pest I had and I'm pretty sure by now that it is spidermites. The plant is full of these little white eggs. I have tried predator mites, two packs of them but after 10 days of not seeing an improvement I used spinosad, which also netted no improvement. There are no webs yet, but I have given up on the grow in the sense that I still take care of it but I assume that it won't be consumable.

Any input on what to do when the eggs are everywhere on the bud? It's too much to manually take off.

 

[troutman]

Sucks, but those eggs aren't going anywhere. They are kind of glued on the buds.
Predatory mites do work if conditions are good for them. But they take a while to
get going and are best purchased before it's too late. In the future try to do some
preventatives in the vegetative phase even if you don't see anything.

Once you're done this grow. Clean everything very well and wait at least a
week to start up again. Set some sticky traps everywhere after you fill your
pots for your next grow. It's what I do now before the plants even get a
few inches tall.

You'll do get better next time.

 

[Boio_]

troutman I see, what a shame, lesson learned. There will be a 2 week break between the grow and I already purchased neem oil as well as spinosad to use as preventatives. Not sure if I will opt for predators again. Have you any experience with the infested material? I don't feel comfortable smoking it, but I have considered making cana butter from it. Any input on that idea?

 

[flylowgethigh]

Get some "green clean" or other oil, and spray. If you don't, then expect the bastids to start making webs on your buds.

 

[jackspratt61]

The spidermites are attracted to excess ammonium. Epsom salt,B and Molybdenum foliar works.

Nutrition for Mite Infestations-aea agriculture YouTube

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Ugh... spidermites are so easy in veg, as long as you know and stop the original infection source.

1 ounce 70 or 91% isopropyl alcohol in a quart of water, plus a touch of surfactant so it spreads well.
KEEP IT OUT OF THE ROOT ZONE
USE IN WELL VENTILATED AREA
Drench the plant completely, every 3 days for a total of 5 treatments.

Gone.
Dissolves webs, kills eggs, kills mites, evaporates quickly.

I personally have issues with the azadirachtin in neem oil, and also not a fan of chems (organic or not).

 

[EastCoastGambit]

I find it strange that you see so many visible eggs but no webs. If you have any kind of scope you can typically see the live mites moving around on the under sides of the leaves. I had them in flower once and the predator mites plus increase in fan seemed to work for me. Also I feel like they like the leaves more than the buds so if you dry and trim there shouldn't be many, if any, eggs in the buds and I would find them still smoke able, but I understand if it freaks you out. You could also wash your bud at harvest before drying. I think you could make butter or hash, like I said, if they are mite eggs I view them as sort of harmless. They are probably created using mostly the plant sap they suck from your plants so in a sense they are made up of the same stuff. To each their own. Good luck.

 

[hamstring]

I find it strange that you see so many visible eggs but no webs.

If you have any kind of scope you can typically see the live mites moving around on the under sides of the leaves.

I had them in flower once and the predator mites plus increase in fan seemed to work for me. Also I feel like they like the leaves more than the buds so if you dry and trim there shouldn't be many, if any, eggs in the buds and I would find them still smoke able, but I understand if it freaks you out. You could also wash your bud at harvest before drying. I think you could make butter or hash, like I said, if they are mite eggs I view them as sort of harmless. They are probably created using mostly the plant sap they suck from your plants so in a sense they are made up of the same stuff. To each their own. Good luck.

Agreed, get a USB microscope. When they get bad you can see them with naked eye but you cant make sure that the treatment is working or that they are gone without the USB scope.

This is the only thing that worked for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej-NJjEJJ6U .


They just laughed at all the big box shop miticides I used. I should say this works but it all comes down to getting rid of everything except a few leaves/branches. No way to get rid of them if you have 3' plants with a lots of vegetation. You just cant find them all to spray. I went through living hell to get rid of them . I couldnt get rid of them until I got rid of most my plants and the ones I kept I basically defoliated and sprayed them several times. Took clones from those plants and sprayed the new clones and monitored with USB scope to make sure I had killed them all.

Good luck to you I dont wish spider mites on anyone.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Fully drenching a large plant is nearly an art form, so I understand completely. The key is to break the breeding cycle.

 

[St. Phatty]

Give me a 1/4 pound of Spidermites and I'll mix it in with Ground Beef and maybe some Covid19 (protein) and spider-webs (more protein) and make a Survivalist Special Burger.

Well done to kill the Covid19.

When my bathtub was clogged and the water was dirty, my ears ended up with enough dirt to sprout a Cannabis seed.

 

[Boio_]

Hello Ya'll,

thanks for the avid discussion! After having used predator mites (10 days) and then having sprayed Spinosad without effect I essentially gave up on the grow but decided to keep caring for the plants to be able to observe what was going to happen. I did try manually taking eggs off. Now here's the kicker. I am certain there were mites as I witnessed them migrating form the shorter plant to the taller one in terms of egg infestation. However after the treatments they mite (hehe) have died as no webbing developed at any point and now I couldn't find any mites. Something note worthy is also that my plants grow in my bedroom which means there is a heightened CO2 level at all times (dunno how high though, can't be higher than me). What threw me off was that I had two strains and apparently one of them produces a TON of trichomes which I at least to some extent mistook for eggs. At this point I will definitely harvest a good amount and see if the smoke is nice. The smell is affected since I sprayed fairly late. For the next grow I will use neem oil in the early stages to prevent them from attacking again.

Best regards
Daniel

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

You might want to start using the neem oil for brushing your teeth and other known uses for a while first. Pay attention to your digestion, muscle tension and pain levels, especially joints you may have injured or already have pain in occasionally.

Neem has 200 to 2000ppm of azadirachtin per ounce. My testing has shown it is bound to new growth tissue by cannabis, and that it lasts well beyond harvest without breaking down. My reaction to it is exactly the same as CHS, with random hypothermia episodes.

YSMV (Your Sensitivity May Vary)

 

[zachrockbadenof]

vary the shit u use... neem oil.... then something else.... then something else.... u gotta vary....

 

[jackspratt61]

The problem is nutritional guys. The mites are a symptom.

 

[lemonade]

Good grief....Spider mites are NOT a symptom of nutritional deficiencies.

Of course plants are more susceptible to pests when there are deficiencies/general health issues. However, I can assure you that optimally healthy plants can and will be infected by pests (mites in this case) if they're introduced into an environment with no pest management procedures.

Worst case use Forbid 4F, Floramite SC, Avid, Azamax, pyrethrins etc. Listed from most effective to least; in my personal experience anyhow. However please do your research before using any of these products, as they can (WILL) be harmful if misused.

I hope it goes without saying these products should NOT be used in flowering stage. Personally i would just chop, sterilize and restart if you have a bad infestation in early flower. It's one thing to have a few mites pop up at the end of flowering, but webs in early flowering....forget it.

 

[jackspratt61]

Take a listen to the video I mentioned earlier. New info being learned. No reason to resist. I tried it,it works. I shared.

 

[St. Phatty]

You can use Water to remove Spider Mites.

Just dip the buds and move the bud around in the water. That will dislodge most of the Spider mites.

When you're close to flower that is one of the best options.

 

[zachrockbadenof]

You can use Water to remove Spider Mites.

Just dip the buds and move the bud around in the water. That will dislodge most of the Spider mites.

When you're close to flower that is one of the best options.

how do u dip a fully flowering plant in water?? - maybe take em outside and spray the shit out of em with a sprayer, but dipping??? - i agree with dipping when they are small, but in flowering.... tho i guess if u have a large garbage can, fill it with water , its possible... but there is a reason they call em the 'borg'... they should all die.... now back to our originally sch. programming.... the war in Ukraine

 

[Cuddles]

Good grief....Spider mites are NOT a symptom of nutritional deficiencies.

Of course plants are more susceptible to pests when there are deficiencies/general health issues. However, I can assure you that optimally healthy plants can and will be infected by pests (mites in this case) if they're introduced into an environment with no pest management procedures.

Worst case use Forbid 4F, Floramite SC, Avid, Azamax, pyrethrins etc. Listed from most effective to least; in my personal experience anyhow. However please do your research before using any of these products, as they can (WILL) be harmful if misused.

I hope it goes without saying these products should NOT be used in flowering stage. Personally i would just chop, sterilize and restart if you have a bad infestation in early flower. It's one thing to have a few mites pop up at the end of flowering, but webs in early flowering....forget it.

absolutely! and it´s not a good idea to give those buggers a home so they can multipy.


Years ago i read that the borg like dry environments and that it´s good to provide more moisture/ humidity. Not sure how true this is however.

 

[lemonade]

Take a listen to the video I mentioned earlier. New info being learned. No reason to resist. I tried it,it works. I shared.

Very interesting channel. I'm going to check out more of their videos, thanks! What did you try exactly though? Concerning cannabis, mites, and the foliar spray you mentioned. I currently don't have the time to watch the entire video (1hr+) but it does sound interesting and informative from what I've heard so far. I'll certainly watch the rest this evening!