Here Is A Lesson We All Can Learn...

Let me set the stage and bear with me, I promise there is a lesson here...Tonight I was in my grow just admiring what has been the best grow of my life. I have 3 White Widow-2 weeks flower...2 Thai-3 weeks flower...1 AK47-4 weeks flower and 2 Kush-5 weeks flower. I am doing a perpetual grow and everything has been running smooth. The Thai is typical sativa but the others are freakin exploding with buds and trichs.

As I was getting close to my girls and smelling their beautiful fragrance, I noticed something odd looking on one of the leafs. I got my 30X magnifier and looked and damned if I dont see spider mites. I was freakin pissed! During my second ever grow I got spider mites but it was early on and I was able to get rid of them with a couple of applications of Pyrethrins and that was it. Since then, I have always used No Pest Strips as one line of defense and never had a problem. I replace them every 3 months. However, when I went to replace them a week ago, they only had one so without thinking, I just hung it in the Veg room. I forgot to ever replace the one in flower.

Well, as I rose from my chair to engage the enemy, I accidently started a chain of events that was a reminder of that game I played as a kid...Mouse Trap. One event started the wheels in motion and it was complete chaos. I just experienced it first hand.

As I reached for my weapon (Pyrethins spray) I accidently hit a broom that fell into 2 mason jars full of AK47 & Kali Mist, which in turn hit my ROOR bong. As this whole sheebang fell toward a concrete floor, one of the flying objects hit a huge glass of water I had, full of ice which in turn fell on a big plastic container full of Smokey Mountain Haze seeds.

When the noise stopped I was standing in the middle of smashed glass...seeds...2+ oz's of high quality herb...remnants of my favorite bong ever, all mixed together in about a quart of water and ice cubes! My whole grow room was FUBAR.

I sat back down...dug through the mess and found a big nugget of Kali Mist and rolled me a joint. I could not help but laugh at what a dumbass I was. If I had it on film, I would make millions. Anyway, the lesson for everyone to learn is...be dilligent in your methods to keep spider mites...thrips...aphids...mold, etc out of your grow. If I would of stayed diligent and purchased my first line of defense, Hot Shot No Pest Strip for $6.00, I would not of wrecked my grow room and I am willing to bet I would not be fighting every growers nightmare, Spider Mites. Don't let your guard down guys. You will live to regret it.

Sorry for long post but I am baked. Kali was there to help me pick up the pieces. I just wanted to share my story. Looking back on it, I can't help but LOL.

k ill go buy no pest strip first thing tomorrow

Wow, thats brutal. I hope you beat those spiders down with a mighty vengeance, friend, because there is no other way. You are def gonna need to control the infestation with quarantine of all infected plants. Kush may have to go for early harvest if you have no other choice. And I would definitely think about some neem oil or botanical pyrethrins for the others. May affect taste, but what choice do you have?
Actually the pyrethrins break down in a few days to a week depending on type, the botanical type only a few days for sure. Probably not all that bad to spray on the heavily infected areas, but i am not exactly an expert at that.
Actually i am wondering about those no pest strips, don't those leach out poison in your grow room continually. They are different than sticky strips, but spider mites wont fly into sticky traps anyways.

Smokering, thanks for the encourgement and the Neem oil idea. Using 2 types of treatment is the best way to attack from what I am learning. It's not a full blown infestation but it aint good either. I am gonna fight them bastards for all I am worth. I have been working over a year for this type of grow and I aint gonna give in.

The No Pest Strips maybe toxic but you can't smell or taste them. They sure are better than Spider Mites. My Veg area is right beside my flower room and I checked all clones and other plants and not sign of Spider Mites, yet, so I believe they work. I guess I should probably find out how toxic they are.

I returned fire with the Pyrethrins spray about 2 hours ago. I am going to go see how effective it was. Thanks again for the encouragement.

6 hours after the war began, I found no living spider mites. I used Pyrethrins spray and installed a new No Pest Strip. I turned off all ventalation for 24 hours to allow the No Pest Strip to start working. The lights are off now so I will be checking the progress of my attack in a few more hours.

I can't stress enough the need for prevention. My main line of defense is the No Pest Strips. Trust me, they work. I let down my guard and did not replace the old one fast enough and in a matter of days, I had Spider Mites. As far these strips being toxic, I have no proof that they are. However, the alternative is certainly not an option so at this time, I will continue using the No Pest Strips to keep Thrips, Spider Mites, Aphids etc at bay.

I believe I found the problem before it was out of control. No signs of webbing but the eggs are there so I will need to keep the attack up until I break the life cycle. Breaking the life cycle is the only way to win this war.

I will give a update as to the progress of this battle. Hopefully, others will learn from my mistakes. For all those growers that think they don't have Spider Mites so they dont need precautions, please, learn from my mistake. The minute your relax your defense of Spider Mites, they will be all over your ladies sucking the life out them. Remember, it's not a matter of "if" I get these vile creatures but "when".

i started using no pest strips about a year ago after a spider mite problem and i havent had them since either no pest strips work i think i read it on here to use em too

Damn spidermites plagued me so bad, I could never get rid of them until I moved to another house.

hahaha that's like something out of a movie, hate to hear about a broken roor, you plan on buying another one?

Does any one have advice on where they have had the most success placing the Hot Shot no pest strips? Hanging ? below plants? above?

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like your bud room is a little crowded. Why you keeping your jarred up weed in there?
Rube-Goldburgh machine for grow disposal!

No-pest-strip are probably a bit toxic for me, and pyrethrins are good enough for spider mites, and they can be organic ( chrysanthemum flowers make them).

Dichlorvos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MrFishy said:

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like your bud room is a little crowded. Why you keeping your jarred up weed in there?
Rube-Goldburgh machine for grow disposal!

Click to expand...

LMAO! MrFishy, I have a flower cabinet that is 3' X 3' X 7' in my garage. Usually, my bud or my ROOR is not out there with me but it was friday night...family asleep...enjoying my plants, you know, one of those moments. Anyway, I was cleaning up and enjoying the moment until those vile creatures fired a shot across my bow. It was no doubt a classic stoner moment.

buds o' plenty: I hang mine right above the canopy. Depending on your grow area, I would think just about anyplace. I am telling you, these things really work for my application. Seriously, within 2 weeks of not having one I got Spider Mites. 1 1/2 years with one, I never got Spider Mites. I am a big believer!

UPDATE 2: I am happy to say that after a good 1-2 hours of recon, not a living enemy was spotted. The infiltration was not as bad as I first thought, so I think I got'em early enough to start swinging the balance of power more in the direction of the home team. If there were any survivors, I hope they went back to their homeland and warned the others of the impending doom and they pick on something else. The plants will bounce back in no time but my grow area is still smoldering from the battle.

I don't believe the Pyrethrins kill the eggs so I will spray again next friday to kill the remaining bastards. From that point on, I will let the No Pest Strips take over.

Thanks for the support guys & remember to always keep your guard up against those vile Borg!

thats a bummer... and you watched it all happen to!!

sorry man I done shit like that before ,thanks for sharing! let me go break my broom and un-pack my shop vac and put out new pest strips lol

Yea lots of growers use the pest strips but ive been told to only use them in the veg chamber.

My pyrethrum based products says spray again in 2-3 weeks for eggs (4 mites) so I'd think 10 days might prove more effective in insuring your success than a week??
I do 2 weeks and (knock wood, rub the wabbit's foot, fingers crossed) I haven't seen a mite in a couple of years.
I do plan on checking out the strips and probably employing them.

what is pyrethrum?

I know you can't always see the eggs, being on the underside of the leaves an all but I had a problem with them as well and was able to smush the spider mites i could see with my finger and then just ran the leaves between my pointer and thumb to kinda "scrape" but really softly to kill any eggs on the leaves.

with your plants being in their flowering period I don't know how much you'd want to be checking the leaves like this.

Anyways just tryin to help

a tragic chain of events, thanks for the heads up.

Sorry that happened to you. But i bet it was funny as hell!!!!