Spidermites or some kind of bug ONE WEEK FROM HARVEST!

[amanuscarr]

I just discovered what look like spider mites eating not only the fan leaves, but the bud on one of my plants which is about a week from harvest.... what do I do? Should I let the plant do it's thing for another week and leave it alone, or should I spray it down and maybe let it go an extra week or something? Please help

 

[master shake]

This is not my recipe, don't remember where I saw this posted...but if you're trying to avoid chemicals since your're almost ready for harvest this may help.

1/4 cup Baking Soda
1/2 cup Apple Cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 drops dish detergent
1/4 Teaspoon Epsom Salts

Take a cup of very hot water and desolve the epsom salts,take rest of ingredients and place in a clean 2 liter bottle and let work out. Add epsom solution. Add water to fill to 48ozs(3/4 full).Shake well.

TO USE: Cover soil/medium with plastic,with lights off mist plant all over,especialy under leaves,
Wait 20 mins,then spritz off with clean fresh water shaking as much water off plant as you can.
The fresh water spritz rinse will remove the solution along with the desolved remains of the mites and their eggs.

in your case I'd do this when the lights turn on (move them away from the light when you spray) and return them to the light so the remaining water can evaporate the rest of the 12 hours

 

[amanuscarr]

Thanks for the reply Master Shake... so spraying water or anything onto the buds won't affect them right? It just feels weird spraying the buds directly like this, but as I think about it's no different then a light rain in the autumn.

 

[sirgrassalot]

One week until harvest I wouldn't spray them. I'd stick a few pest strips in the area & shut of the ventilation while the lights are off. Start spraying any & all of your other plants if you have some growing.

 

[master shake]

Thanks for the reply Master Shake... so spraying water or anything onto the buds won't affect them right? It just feels weird spraying the buds directly like this, but as I think about it's no different then a light rain in the autumn.

well I have never had to but I guess it mainly depends on the humidity and air exchange. Spraying with water can definitely lead to bud rot, so a low humidity and good air exhaust will reduce the risk. What's the strain? Loose/airy sativa buds will resist bud rot better than some dense indica nugs.

 

[DrKong]

A week from harvest you might have to pull them but spraying is out of the question. The only thing that can tame the borg(spider mites) is heavy pesticide that is very expensive and can not be used in any stage of flowering.

 

[gonejah17]

The no pest strips will work man. Hot shot no pest strips, not the yellow sticky shit. This shit releases some toxin into the air and u dont want to breathe it in. It starts witha D. put them in (Id use two to really saturate) at lights out with no ventilation. No vents cuz it raises humidity (mites like it dry) and so the shit will saturate the air. leave them in with ventialtion or take them out at lights on. If u see webbing Ive found sticking a shop vac or regular vac on a dimmer (tho I havent tried dimmer, did it without dimmer very carefully) will suck the webbing off --but be careful of the buds obviously. The no pest strips arent recommended by everyone but Ive seen them work and Ive heard from respected growers that they've used them without incident.

Floramite is the end all but it costs like 250 a bottle. Austraila has mite-rid which I have yet to try. Im trying Garden safe fungicide 3 in 1 which is supposed to be safe till harvest. I havent tried it yet.

Do the strips for like 6 days man. The eggs hatch within 3 so zapem each day during lights out for 6 days and u should be good. They will come back next time u switch it to 12/12. They hiberbnate into cracks and shit. After U get em that cycle they should be good but be on the lookout obviously.

Thanks to upgradeshafted (now banned) for the tips, check his amazing SD IBL thread at the end of it for his quotes on the subject.

HTH and GL

oh and pics????

 

[master shake]

so does a light rain fall or even a heavy dew ruin an outdoor crop?? if so, growing outdoors must be harder than hell!

 

[amanuscarr]

That's what I was wondering, Master Shake. It seems like some rain wouldn't hurt it, as long as there was adequate airflow/sun. In regards to my problem however, last night I flushed them and sprayed them down (gently) with the hose and let them sit outside in the 50-55 degree weather... so hopefully that killed off the majority, especially seeing as how the infestation isn't even that bad and I only need a week or so. If it gets worse I'll consider the pest strips.... although it seems sketchy, it's better than my plants getting demolished at harvest time

 

[sirgrassalot]

Outdoor crops are usually hardened up to take rain falls. When you spray saturating your inside crops they'll fall over if they're not used to the added weight. If you're not saturating them what are you doing? Will a little water & a cool night kill mites hiding within the branches & buds? I've heard of extremely cold water sprayed at high pressure will knock them off but you'd need to be very thorough & lift all the leaves move the buds away from the branches as you HP spray. You can make hash that way too knocking off the trichomes. You might have made them uncomfortable, they'll be hungry after that shower.

Anyways once you harvest clean up the area. I just went through my first mite problem. I went to town on them, I was trying to spare you that. I had plants of all ages. I haven't seen any mites in my grow lately.

 

[bighogg]

sounds too me like you answered your own question "... the infestation isn't even that bad and I only need a week or so."

yeah if you are seeing them now, don't do the strips, they will work BUT that chemical WILL get into the bud.

Now you have a couple of choices. Live with the mites and maintain them OR kill them off completely.

i prefer killing them off completely but that is easy said than done (depending on the size of your garden)

but i've maintained too. it can be done just understand the life cycle of the pest and make moves to thwart their development.

 

[master shake]

That's what I was wondering, Master Shake. It seems like some rain wouldn't hurt it, as long as there was adequate airflow/sun. In regards to my problem however, last night I flushed them and sprayed them down (gently) with the hose and let them sit outside in the 50-55 degree weather... so hopefully that killed off the majority, especially seeing as how the infestation isn't even that bad and I only need a week or so. If it gets worse I'll consider the pest strips.... although it seems sketchy, it's better than my plants getting demolished at harvest time

so did you try that spray recipe? how'd it work out for ya?

 

[billb]

outside is the best. except for the heat in my area. i would go with a fogger. it won't hurt the bud

 

[amanuscarr]

Yeah the spray seemed to work well enough... they're still around but they don't have enough time at this point to reproduce and do any serious damage...they're only on one of two plants left to harvest and that plant is going through one last growth spurt... the bugs were definitely slowing down it's development so now it should finish up within the next week. I'm going to make sure and give it a good rinse before drying.

Thanks for the info on the pest strips, I'll definitely be using a few of those along with a couple bug bombs after I clean out the shed/grow tent...we have seedlings ready to go into flowering so I want everything as clean as possible.... seems like the thing to do is to spray the plants with neem oil a few times during the initial stages of flowering to make sure no mites can't lay their eggs..and if the mites DO manage to lay their eggs later on in the flowering cycle, then there shouldn't be enough time for them to do any damage...

 

[gonejah17]

grrrr 1 week left in flowering, I just got a few mites back in my cab for some reason!!!

I was wondering what worked for u, I know u say the spray, do u mean the cold water or the homemade mite spray?? U sprayed the buds too??

Thanks for any help