Russet Mite Success Stories... Anyone? Am I Dead Meat?

Hey all. I was extremely proud of how both of my rooms were doing. Kicking ass, running better than ever.

Then today, BAM. Out of nowhere, I see a plant with dying pistils. I rush to pull it out of the canopy. Go straight for the digital scope and laptop. Immediately on the plant I find the fuckers. Wiggling around. Plenty of them.

Only the single plant had damage, however I picked a few leaves of plants in that same area of canopy with what looked to be the beginning of damage, and sure enough, more broad mites.

I believe I have caught this at a decent time. From what I understand, by the time you see damage it is an infestation. And I believe that to be true after seeing mites on my other plants. This room has 70 plants in 10 gal pots, at day 20 of flower. They are phenomenally healthy.

Within the hour I hit them HARD with Green Cleaner at 2oz/Gal.

Already thinking about Forbid 4F, PFR97, OGBiowar and Predatory Mites to round it all off at the end when the sprays have to stop.

I have another room right on the other side of the wall filled with OG's. They are phenomenally healthy as well, although they will be getting an identical treatment as it is likely that they would hitch a ride on clothes/shoes to the other room.


People talked about Russet mites in the early 2010's as though it was an automatic game over. But it's 2018 now. Is there really no strong treatment to fight them? I'm assuming the life cycle is what makes them so difficult to fight. And the fact that they actually kill your plant.

If anyone has a recipe, regimine, etc on how I might be able to battle them out to the end of week 8, I'm all ears. Just to be clear, there is not a speck of damage anywhere else within the room. I have to assume they came in on an egg that hatched. I fucked it all up by not preventative spraying. Fuck.







FUCK MY ROOM IS BEAUTIFUL. We are under attack... How sad it would be to see them all die before my eyes...

Well, thats depressing

I hope this is me in a few weeks down the road...

Hitting them Forbid 4F, PFR 97, Forbid 4F, PFR 97, Forbid 4F and then drop in the Swirskii's.

What happened?

Flying skull nuke em if you get it again you can use it up till harvest dirty little barstuard things

Hairiest_Stamen said:

What happened?

Click to expand...

To answer the question of what happened:

What did I do, and what I recommend anyone who discovers them in their garden:
I ripped out and destroyed the plant which was heavily infested. Immediately sprayed them with Nuke Em, with HEAVY spraying in the areas directly next to the plants which were in that area.

Introduced predatory nematodes into the coco.

IMMEDIATELY hit them with Forbid 4F. I like Forbid as it is relatively non toxic to mammals through skin, making it not nearly as dangerous as Avid for the applicator. (Still wear proper PPE! These are chemicals designed to kill things, not kelp meal or amino acids for god's sake)
Forbid also has an incredibly heavy molecular weight, and one will notice that the vapor almost immediately drops to the floor, making it practical if you are applying it in a well sealed residential situation.
(if that is your situation. Please be extremely careful if this is the case... I'm not advocating people spray Forbid in a residential setting... with that being said, I realize that one's livelihood can be destroyed by russett's, without quick and drastic measures. It is very common for people to use Myclobutanil to be used on grass, unknowing of how toxic it and other pesticides/fungicides are. Just, be very careful. Seal everything up. Do not run extraction fans for 48 hours. Do not put others at risk.)

Do not use past week 2 of flower, although IMO it is low risk at week 2 if running a 9-10 week strain. TEST YOUR SHIT if you spray in flower.


I do not like advocating for the use of commercial, and untested toxic pesticides. However, as stated above. These mites will END YOU. If you get these, you need to DESTROY THEM IMMEDIATELY. Hit them hard, knock them down, introduce predators, and then heat treat and bleach your room. 120F for 2 hours, daily, for a week, with no plant hosts in or around the grow area will ensure they are gone for good. Get your carpet's cleaned, don't be a cheap fuck. Wash all your clothes.

Finally, stop being lazy. If you bring clones in, you NEED to dip them. Avid, Forbid 4F work fantastic. Green Cleaner and Nuke Em work well if you don't want to use pesticides. Full strength with 10-15 second submersion, dipping all the way to the dip of the stem (touching the media basically). I will always hit the plants with full strength Green Cleaner or Nuke Em when I flip from now on.

Good luck to all.

fn217 said:

Hey all. I was extremely proud of how both of my rooms were doing. Kicking ass, running better than ever.

Then today, BAM. Out of nowhere, I see a plant with dying pistils. I rush to pull it out of the canopy. Go straight for the digital scope and laptop. Immediately on the plant I find the fuckers. Wiggling around. Plenty of them.

Only the single plant had damage, however I picked a few leaves of plants in that same area of canopy with what looked to be the beginning of damage, and sure enough, more broad mites.

I believe I have caught this at a decent time. From what I understand, by the time you see damage it is an infestation. And I believe that to be true after seeing mites on my other plants. This room has 70 plants in 10 gal pots, at day 20 of flower. They are phenomenally healthy.

Within the hour I hit them HARD with Green Cleaner at 2oz/Gal.

Already thinking about Forbid 4F, PFR97, OGBiowar and Predatory Mites to round it all off at the end when the sprays have to stop.

I have another room right on the other side of the wall filled with OG's. They are phenomenally healthy as well, although they will be getting an identical treatment as it is likely that they would hitch a ride on clothes/shoes to the other room.


People talked about Russet mites in the early 2010's as though it was an automatic game over. But it's 2018 now. Is there really no strong treatment to fight them? I'm assuming the life cycle is what makes them so difficult to fight. And the fact that they actually kill your plant.

If anyone has a recipe, regimine, etc on how I might be able to battle them out to the end of week 8, I'm all ears. Just to be clear, there is not a speck of damage anywhere else within the room. I have to assume they came in on an egg that hatched. I fucked it all up by not preventative spraying. Fuck.

FUCK MY ROOM IS BEAUTIFUL. We are under attack... How sad it would be to see them all die before my eyes...

Click to expand...

Did you do any topping? Or just let em grow how they wanted?

the little fucks are so bad and fast with damage, at one point i didnt even think twice about bagging the whole fucking plant in a white trash bag with a no pest strip for a good 24 hrs.

I had recently gone through a bad infestation and after 2 weeks am seeing the damage return on one of my clones, i feel your pain.

For anyone reading this thread trying to eliminate broad/russet mites...your not going to do it with any spray thats not toxic to you. The best way to eliminate these fuckers are a combo of lollipopping the shit out of your plant and using predator mites. These fuckers start from the bottom up. So by removing all lower growth you are effectively removing thousand of insects from your grow area just like that. Put this lower growth in the fireplace and burn immediately. I use a combination of cucumeris and andersoni mites which both eat russet and broad mites. These mites need temps in the 70's to low 80's so keep the grow temps down and put these suckers on your plants and your problems will be solved.

A $10 bottle of wettable sulfur powder 2x weekly in Veg will demolish those fuckers. In flower you are pretty much fucked.

In flower I spray Grandevo and Regalia weekly with a hudson atomizer as a preventative until about week 3. Getting as close to 100% coverage of all surfaces is key to killing them.

In the states you can use predator mites in flower, but that is not an option for us in Hawaii as it is illegal to import insects.

Last but not least. Keep grow area clean and do not take clones from anyone. If you do take clones, which is not advisable, you should put these clones in quarantine for at least two weeks to make sure clone does not exhibit symptoms of any sort. 99% of the time they are spread by getting clones from others. Goodluck!...

sulpher will kill 99% but eventually that remaining 1% will grow and you will notice them again. This is not an option during flower.

wear gloves always in grow area, never take clones from other ppl........keep room super clean always.

ya wont get infestations hardly ever