Spider mites, can they be gotten rid of?

Hey Guys and Gals,

So I was wondering, some of you might have read the thread where I freaked out because I found a few mites. Anyways, that day I sprayed them so they were dripping with dr.doom (.2% pyrtherin). Its been 2 weeks and I can't find a single spider mite but my leaves are starting to go a little spotty, but I think that's due to the ammount of Dr.Doom I used (I think I burnt em a little) but other than that I cannot find 1 mite. Everything I read said once you have mites, you'll have em forever and you just have to control the problem. Is it possible I caught it quick enough and actually killed all the mites? Is there any place they could be hiding? Every day I take 3 or 4 samaged leaves to a microscope and I can find any mites at all. So is it possible I am the first person in the history of man kind to beat spider mites? Or are they smarter than me and have figured out how to hide from me?

Thanks for reading!

They're hiding somewhere, the numbers have been knocked back severely but, as long as there are a couple of boys and a couple of girls, they will do their thing eventually. Keep up a regular prevention cycle and keep your temps in check if you don't want them back full-force.

them lil feckers hide under the leaves so apray under aswell, neem oil is ment to b good also spray wit clean water 2 to wash leaves a few days after...

also when ur grow is finnished clean out your grow room pot etc wit bleach and kill em all yeah!!!! kill em dead!!!!

also iv heard about putting a predator in to eat em like a spider u know....

It's been two weeks and all you did is spray. No, there's not a chance in hell you got rid of them.

Keep working on it even though you don't see them, maybe you will win at some point but you have to pass months upon months to know if they're really gone. They can hibernate and what wakes them up is a change in light cycles. (See why they go so well with pot plants?)

you can always bomb the room, that should eliminate them.

I hear those bombs don't get rid of them for good. And I did spray under the leaves, I took the plant out and drenched it when dr.doom, like I used one can on 8 plants, I went all out. Where is a good place to find some mites? I just want to confirm they are still there. As for the bleaching, well I have 4 girls that are 1 month into flower, 4 teenagers ready to move to flowering, and about 6 baby clones that are still establishing themselves. Its a never ending cycle so I have a constant supply. Where can I find them? What I'm doing now is taking the most damaged leaves, and then examining them top to bottom, the only thing I can see are tiny pieces of what look like dark black shit, this is at 40X where if it were a mite you'd be able to tell the strain and see it very clearly. These are much smaller so I am thinking they are the remains of the dr.doom? I'd really like to know if I still have them because I quanteened one box, but I could really use the room in that boxes for my overflowing "teenager" box

Bombs get rid of them way better than sprays man. Sprays only get what you spray it on, but they aren't only on your plants they can be anywhere, in any crack or crevice or carpet.. They may be microscopic but you'd be suprised how far they can travel. Truth is they just blow in the wind outside anyway and they're so tiny they'll pass right through the screens on your windows or land on your clothes or your dogs and get in that way.

At some point you will always get them again because they're impossible to keep out. The only way you might not is if where you live they can't survive outside.

I'm on a mission to kill as many as possible during the winter while I know I'm not bringing any in from the snowy tundra outdoors. Get the room as clear as possible before everything comes back to life in the spring.
It's hard not to feel like there's mites everywhere in the house and every trip in and out of the growroom compromises each treatment...probably true....

alright, I kinda figured I'd get that response. I can clean out the boxes but not for another month when each plant moves up a stage (3 seperate boxes, 3 stages of life). So do you guys think it would be safe to put the youngling back into the nursary instead of stacked up in the teenager box? Those are fresh clones from an outside source, but the way you guys are making it sounds is its a constant battle and they stay in all the boxes so I guess it wouldn't matter much if I mix them. Teenager box is built for 6 plants and I currently have 10 in there and my nursary can hold another 6 if you guys think its safe to mix them. Again, I still cannot find one might on any of the plants. But I used enough Dr.Doom to seriously burns my leaves, like every single leaf I sprayed on the top and then flipped them upside down and sprayed the bottoms really good, like I was planning on killing the crop via chemical burn, bleach and start from scratch (with secret hopes that the Dr.Doom would just fix everything for me). It kinda did both. I was able to find like 2 or 3 spiders on the bottom for leaves of each plant before doctor doom and now I can't find any. I trimmed off the dying parts but the new growths are fine.

Main question: So do you guys think it would be safe to put the youngling back into the nursary instead of stacked up in the teenager box?

Keep everything clean, spray everything down periodically (the area, the plants) and you shouldn't have problems with a huge outbreak again. Use your areas as you would normally once they're cleaned. Just keep pest control as a part of your regular growing routine. I use tobacco juice w/ insecticidal soap as my main weapon of choice. Much cheaper than buying aerosol cans all the time and it doesn't burn my leaves to a crisp.

ya I like the effectiveness of the doctor doom and price is not an issue, its just the fucking gangs around here that run all the dope use avid up until harvest which causes serious lung damage. I smoke for medical reasons and don't need to get any worse from it (bad panic disorder)

here you go. I have used this for white fly infestation and it works. Follow directions. It's supposed to work for spider mites too.

Mite, bugs, powdery mildew.

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 dissolve 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,especially 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 dissolved remains of the mites and their eggs.

Have fun with your new "Mite Eradicator"

Note by MrFixit: Water plants 1/2 hour before spraying. This will help keep your plants from absorbing the spray.

This solution has been tested and used as directed will not burn plants,the rinse is very important though as it removes the spent solution before it can concentrate and burn the plant. It also removes most of the dead mites and eggs so you don't end up eating them.

The formula can be diluted further,to 1 liter and it will still kill the mites but isn't as effective at dissolving and removing the mite parts.
Since removing the mite debris is desirable,I recommend the stronger solution,just remember to rinse and shake.
This formula is alkaline(about 7.8- so please remember to rinse.

So from what I'm understanding its more of me controlling the problem, but I won't get rid of it.

Thx jointluver I'll give that a try next time I can find one.

what are the main things that invite those bastids?

rickythepitbull said:

what are the main things that invite those bastids?

Click to expand...

In my experience, they're connoisseurs of cannabis... selecting one plant over another for whatever reason, not even touching the plant next to it. It's been a very weird experience. I don't know if it's due to the plant being weaker genetically, tastier, or what.

That is true, they flock to their favorite plant and ignore others if there is a difference. It could be they like one better, particularly weak ones, or they could just be getting together on one to have huge freaking orgies that last for weeks and just turning that plant weak in the process.

Not sure if it's about gang bangs or ganging up on a plant or what but it sure is freaky.

so i have a plant that is 10 weeks into flower, 1 foot long colas, and i found MORE spider mites today.
i sprayed the fuck outta the plants, the room, the grow tent, the fucking universe.
and yet they are back again.
i sprayed the plant again, gonna rinse it as i cut it, hope that works.

then im gonna bomb the fuck outta the room, clones be fucked, the room gets it.
surface spider spray, broom, bleach, mop, vaccumm, fucking high pressure hose, they will all be following the bomb.

and in a month you will hear me bitch about spider mites again im sure

This past week, like 6 of my best plants have been overcome with mites.... I sprayed the ones that aren't due to harvest for another week and a half, but I'm due to harvest half of them over the next few days, and some of those are the infected ones. I'm just going to let the mites take over those couple plants, as they will usually just stick to that plant and be happy... Then I'll manicure it, hack it off, and hang it upside down, and the mites typically end up at the very top (well, the bottom of the plant, top of it when hanging upside down) and I can just hack that inch or so off, and the buds will be basically mite free.

if im walking through the woods and i come upon twenty pot plants next to an apple orchard , i would gravitate towards the ganja too. but does dropping the temp in yyour growroom help. can you drop the temp to like 50 degrees to kill em off them raise it again? i have bthe ability to control a huge difference in my growspot. i could go from 50 to 95. i usually keep it around 75-80 with no humidity. is this ok or should i be raising the temperature, should there be humidity? can i add a regular humidifier to the room to fix that if so.

Dudes (and dudettes) I'm cureently growing 5 different strains, does that mean if the mites come back they will only attack the one strain? If that's the case then I will spray and kill as usually but I'll always make sure there is one of that strain in each box, and they can feast on that (if I can find another one, my room has dropped a lot in the last few weeks, I'm at around ~ 70F maybe that's why)