What kind of pests is this and what can I do about it?

[BuenaLaRata]

Yo guys,

things aren't quite going my way atm.

Have had problems with pests from the start of my current project. Thought I had it sorted out after heavy use of various pesticides in the veg stage, but now unfortunately I've been away for a week and when I came back (40 days into flowering) my plants were covered in the stuff you see in the pictures. I'm not quite sure what it is. Seems to be eggs... are they spider mites, aphids? Thrips look different as far as I know.

I can't spray any more chemicals at this stage, so I've put out a bunch of lacewing larvae (I have no idea if this is the correct translation, sorry) and predatory mites in the hope that they'll eat the stuff on the leaves, but some of the plants seem to be very badly infested already and I'm afraid I'll have to do some emergency harvesting soon before everything goes completely down the drain.

Any ideas what I could do about this?

 

[Porky82]

🕷mites.
How far into flower is the plant?
It is a decent infestation.
You know you hang the plant upside down once harvested and they will migrate to the root ball. Obviously the plant has to be pulled out with the roots still intact.

 

[BuenaLaRata]

🕷mites.
How far into flower is the plant?
It is a decent infestation.
You know you hang the plant upside down once harvested and they will migrate to the root ball. Obviously the plant has to be pulled out with the roots still intact.

Hey, thanks for the hint.

I'm on flowering day 40. Theoretically there are still 20 days left, but the particularly heavily infested strain (Jokerz Candy) is showing a ton of stress symptoms (+ early ripening) and I think I can give it a maximum of 10 more days.

Soil/root ball gonna get dumped after harvesting so how does it matter if the mites migrate to the root ball?

 

[Porky82]

Soil/root ball gonna get dumped after harvesting so how does it matter if the mites migrate to the root ball?

So they are not on the buds mate.
I'd wash the buds as well.

 

[BuenaLaRata]

So they are not on the buds mate.
I'd wash the buds as well.

Got it. That's great advice, thank you! Is there any particular way of washing buds without affecting their quality?

 

[Porky82]

Got it. That's great advice, thank you! Is there any particular way of washing buds without affecting their quality?

There is heaps of videos on YouTube and multiple threads on here about it. Just search washing buds.

 

[mr.brunch]

Bastard mites
Be sure to bleach the grow area before the next grow, they can survive dormant for a year if they need to.
They’re not immune to bleach though