spider mites on first grow

[fowl3r]

hello guys im on the first week of flour with my first grow, iv got a tent in the loft with 2 plants in there. everything was going great - they look really healthy and green and are getting bigger all the time, but i went in to feed them today and theres a web on the top of a plant with lots of little mites crawling about. iv just gone and had another look now my light has come on with the timer and it looks like im infested, there all over the plants! they still look healthy but are they going to die ? what can i do? i havnt got a clue with it being my first time so please help me. thanks david.:(

[LOC NAR on probation]

you have a few options. You can use pyrithrum bombs or azamax or drown them in C02.

You need to knock them back quick. By week 4 and 5 the redspotted spidermites had eaten most of the leaves on our stuff. Buds and mites at harvest.

The good news is if you get to harvest there is no adverse affect of smoking mites.

[Vancefish]

You are where I was three weeks ago.

What I did was get some mild soap (ivory dish soap works, 99.98% natural) put about a teaspoon onto a spray bottle and fill it with water. Then take the plants to your bath tub and tip them over the tub, while not quite far enough to dump the soil.

This is easiest if you have a hand held sprayer, and a second person can be helpful.

Soak the plant down, rinsing as many mites off as you can. THEN while turning the plant/pot to expose more leaves mist the plant down with the watered down soap mixture (continue to rotate the plant to get all the leaves soaked top and bottom). Then rinse all of THAT off.

Go buy some Neem oil, or rosemary oil tomorrow. Make a mixture of this stuff and a couple drops of the soap(look up the recipe). Then mist them with this mixture once per week until week 3-4. I've been told not to use these after 4 weeks of flower.

Lastly buy a Hotshots pest strip. It says it's toxic for a reason, but you want to seal the plants into a room with this thing for a week.

After that you should be mite, web and egg free! :thumbsup:

Keep an eye out anyway. These are sneaky little vamps! Keeping your house and grow room completely clean can help a lot too!

Good luck! Here's mine just over three weeks in, after the mites. last is my plant top at 3 weeks. Just to motivate you! :D

[WashougalWonder]

I would use extreme caution using any soap except castille soap. They have P to very high amounts. Can really mess up your plant.

[fowl3r]

thanks guys. my friend has given me a hotbox sulfume sulphur vaporiser wich iv hung in my tent for the last week and i havnt seen a single web or spidermite since! has any one ever used one or is familiar with one ? my friend says it cant harm the plants but surely there has to be some consequence for using it ? :)

[lampost]

Spider mites are such a piece of cake compared to root aphids.

You really have a lot of treatment options as mentioned above, but the key is to act quickly and be diligent. Make sure to keep up regular treatments even after you think the mites are gone. Also, try to get your environment under control. Make it uncomfortable to spider mites by dropping temps, raising humidity, and making it windy.

FWIW, I found neem to be a very successfuly treatment in combination with pyrethrum, & soap or isopropyl solution. The NPS also completely eliminated them during flower, but they work best in a small room or tent....

[stra8outtaWeed]

a simple Hot Shot no pest strip in there will keep most creepy crawlers away ;)

about $8

[budsndrums]

a simple Hot Shot no pest strip in there will keep most creepy crawlers away ;)

about $8

just what stra8outtaWeed said - the hotshot NPS killed all those little buggers and the eggs too. good luck!

[starter09]

Here's a shop, in AUS unfortunately, haven't found anyone carrying this locally. Works wonders for me, lots of others (on another forum) swear by it as well.

Peace (w/out the Borg!)

edit: I don't like some of the bombs/NPS because I grow in a tent in my living area, all the processes described above was just too much for me.

[pepurr]

~Spider-mite, Spider-mite.
Does what ever a Spider-mite can.

Sucks on leaves.
Runes your grow.

Even of people in the know.

Look out!
Here comes the Spider-mite.~
:S2::yeahright:

Sorry! I just don't know what comes over me sometimes.:D

Hope they went away. :thumbsup:

[Shovelhandle]

Remove the plants from the room and bomb the room with Pyrithium or other serious bug killing spray. Meanwhile, plastic wrap your pot and soil (plastic bag). Using any or all of the mentioned soaps (dish soap without any of the ammonia or other addatives, neem, Safer insecticidal soap, etc.). Get it soaking wet under and over the leaves. wait 10 minutes or so and rinse completely. Let everything dry and settle and put your plants back. This also works as well for PM.

Shov

[CovertCarpenter]

... from one of my local Yodas, who has basically been growing as long as I've been alive, was this:

NEVER enter (or even get near) your grow space until you've removed your street clothes, had a shower and washed your body AND hair and face, and then put on clean fresh clothes...

You never know what kinda shite you've been walking around in, out in the air... pollen, dust mites, spider mites, aphids, etc...

I try to follow his advice on this explicitly :D

Just my :twocents:

(c)C :chainsaw:

[fowl3r]

well i chopped my plants yesterday and hung in the tent to dry but upon returning today my roof and frame of the tent is covered in mites and webs there even on the rope what iv tyed the plants with! iv got to say im shocked because i havnt seen no webs at all for weeks since i put the hotbox sulphur in there, just the odd mite, i thought i had them under control. im scared now will they eat my buds now the plant is dead? has any one had the same experiance? :(