The other half

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I've been lucky enough to never have mites, until now.
I have neem that I use on scale in my vegie patch.
I'll see how a few drenches of that works
 
That's a pretty heavy infestation....I see lotsa eggs.
You're going to need something heavier than neem and I'm sorry I don't have a good suggestion.
I'm sure someone else can pipe in on an option for ya.
You might have to cut losses and bleach bomb (hate to say that, but it's true).
 
That picture isn't the garden, it's some older cut I've had for a while, and is vegging in another room.
It has the worst spotting, so I checked them out.
I'm going to use alcohol 5-10% with the Neem 10ml/litre in first drench.
I'll get something else to rotate and drench again in 2 days.
Then roatate back at least another 2 more times over next week.

I haven't taken any cutting in for almost two years
All my stuff has been germinated.
I also haven't visited anyone else's grow in 2 years.
I've got a few houseplants lately, so hope they are an easier to kill strain of mite than the worst ones.
Relative humidity is 70%, and the temps low.
I'll bring all the fans I use late in flower online immediately also.
🤞
Luckily they are just going into bloom as plants from seed, so I have a couple of weeks to sort it out.
Also, that plant you spotted out, and one other are only ones showing bad spotting.
I can cull half my garden soon ( the one in picture included ) by not keeping males
 
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I had 10 citrus trees that I had under LED, waiting for the season to warm up, and a dwarf Cavendish banana I just put outside
Also got rid of two donor strains from my nursery that I won't go on with.
My largest donor plant I'll cut down to 4" tall, and set a few cuts, in case the donor doesn't like being hedged.
Only leaves me with a couple of plants in my nursery and the garden in the flower room to treat.
Pain in the arse, but it's easiest time of life cycle to deal with I guess, and gives me something to do.

Do they need live plant to live on, or can the fuckers hybernate in the carpets?
 
Hi r and b. What do you mean by rotate? Spider mites hide in every nook n cranny. Be careful. I've had them twice . Once from some foreign cuttings, once from a second hand carbon filter, hiding in the insulation. They spread and multiply very very quickly. At this early stage it might be best to destroy and do a very thorough clean. Even if you can find something effective in killing them , it is almost impossible to get them all. And they will come back very quickly if you miss any. They won't just be on the plants either. The whole grow space will need to be cleaned. These things are a nightmare. By the time you notice them to your plants being sucked of life and your flowers covered in abundant webs can take a week or less. They become immune to need oil concoctions ect very easily also.
 
If you decide to fight the mites, then pyrethrin based products might be an option to rotate with neem oil. I would also remove the heavily infested leaves and throw them in the trash outside or even burn them if possible. Then disinfect your room after the current run as spraying can probably only control the infestation and not totally eradicate it.
 
If you decide to fight the mites, then pyrethrin based products might be an option to rotate with neem oil. I would also remove the heavily infested leaves and throw them in the trash outside or even burn them if possible. Then disinfect your room after the current run as spraying can probably only control the infestation and not totally eradicate it.

Thanks

I've decided to get rid of most of the biomass in this grow
Just way too much to think I can eradicate them ( plant matter and mites )
I'm going to start with a donor plant that is mission critical to me, and would be only thing I think is necessary to me.
I will take cuttings, and submerge them fully in a pH balanced solution of kelp extract and Neem oil.
I'll put an airline in there, and keep them underwater at least 30 mins, before rooting them.
If that works ( they survive the swim ) I'll cull the donors.
I have another strain that I might just abandon, or soak out and then just keep cuts.

This current grow is just presexing.
I'll leave it another week, to sex out, but probably remove most fan leaves.
Cull all males.
Cut and soak female cuts in drench.
Remove everything except the cuttings.

In two weeks when the cuts are rooted, give them four full drenches
A lot easier to handle the plants as cuts, also a lot easier for me to spray them fully, and not miss anywhere.
I'll use pyrethrum, Neem, methylated spirits dilute ( alcohol ) a garlic+rosemary ( to kill eggs ) and also a soap, in combination over the four sprays.
Sprayed on day 1,4,7,10 out of the igloo.
I think this should get rid of them.

Other than that, I will have to abandon pretty well everything, and just keep two or three cuts of my most precious donor, and rebuild from there.

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The second strain I have as donor, but not in the flower room, is god bud pure ( 2004 gold cup cut*joti god male ) I'd like to keep her, but seems most heavily infected.
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The wid*god is the one most effected in the flower room.

Little fuckers seem to like the god/god has least resistance.

The mango*SSH appears to have very good resistance, and doesn't seem to be infected.
I'll cut everything down all the same.
No way I can be confident to spray the whole grow completely enough to eradicate.
Better to bite the bullet and get it over and done with.
 
Hi All

we have been using a good product that is organic and works well if used as preventative spray or soak on a regular regime. It is called Therapy and available in most countries.


good luck with it....all the best Sb
 
Hi All

we have been using a good product that is organic and works well if used as preventative spray or soak on a regular regime. It is called Therapy and available in most countries.


good luck with it....all the best Sb
I ordered a sample, thanks for the suggestion Shanti :)
 
I use Lost Coast Plant Therapy. As both Shantibaba and the website says, use early as a preventative, then spray regularly per instructions.
Active ingredients: Soy Oil, Peppermint Oil, Citric Acid
Inert ingredients: Soap, Isopropyl Alcohol, Sodium Citrate, Water ingredients

In my limited experience, it seems to work much better if started early as a preventative rather than waiting until you are up to your asshole in alligators!

Longball
 
Thanks everyone for input.
I did a bit of research into them, and worked out the issue isnt quite as drastic as it seems.
They appear to like temps above 25°c and humidity below 60%.
I think that's why I didn't really run into them before. Normally I grow quite stretchy and not overly dense flowers
Keeping humidity around 60% until last two weeks of flowering, and then only dropping them to about 50%, mainly relying on increasing the amount of fans used in late bloom.
I've raised humidity to 75% and as they haven't all even started to show sex yet, I think I have a fair amount of time to break the cycle
I've got a selection of products to use, from oil, soap, neem, alcohol, pyrethrum and soluble sulphur to spray in rotation.

The veg was in a quite dry (40-50% RH, and quite warm 27-31°c ) tent, so no wonder they took off

I will continue to keep RH high, and use more fans than I wouid at this stage of bloom.
Rotate spraying at least two control agents every three days.
On the days in between, I'll spray a kelp solution/magnesium blend.

I hope saturating the plants daily the next three weeks will really disrupt the mite orgy.
I'll try and keeps temps as low as possible too.
This should make it hard for them to breed successfully, and break their breed cycle.

I think in future I'll start to folier feed the plants more regularly in nursery, and pay closer attention to prophylactic treatment, as Shanti recommends.
🤞
 
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The haze where pretty well same same.
From 8, 6 are the middle type.
6 are also cigar shaped, with very little lateral branching.
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The late one is cylindrical, just looser.
The short girl has a bit of a candelabra effect going on, with really nice stems.
One of the mids has a slender christmas tree shape.
 
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