and I thought it would never happen to me..

[The Grim Reefer]

Well kids, I'm a week away from finishing my first plant and.. today I noticed webs.

A lot of webs.

Webs on my frosty nugs.

I don't see any little bastages, but I see webs and it's enough to send chills down my spine.

I want to cry.

What to do? A week away.. an effing week.

I'm mostly worried about my nugs.

Another question, a week away from flower - is it possible to switch back to veg and combat these fuckers?

God I am so pissed off, my stomach hurts and I want to punch something.

Best wishes,
Grim.

[The Grim Reefer]

I found the culprit.

It looks like a "two-spotted" spider mite.

and here I thought I was going to enjoy a nice cool smoke here in a month or so.

Looks like it's a sad day for the Grim Reefer.

[The Grim Reefer]

Interesting.. what I thought was a mite ended up crumbling when I used tweezers on it.. like it had been dead for some time.

However, I can't find ANY of these bastards. Where do they like to chill? I want to pay them a visit.

Sorry for the consistant posts, that just really got my blood boiling. The idea of smoking this plant has been one of the better things I've been looking forward to. The possibility of smoking mite eggs makes me sick.

[icebelowfreeze]

they chill under the leaves, really hard to find without magnifying glass, put soapy water on the leaves, should get them off... i would also reccomend going to loews or wherever and picking up BUG STOP its made for flowers and fruits so non toxic and will protect your girls from any preditors

[Garden Knowm]

if you see webs you should see lots of these fellas roaming around. are you one week away from harvest? or one week away from flowering... switching to 12-12

don't let your plants get underwatered and start spraying them with neem oil.

to be continued

[The Grim Reefer]

if you see webs you should see lots of these fellas roaming around. are you one week away from harvest? or one week away from flowering... switching to 12-12

don't let your plants get underwatered and start spraying them with neem oil.

to be continued

I saw a few black "specks" on my leaves.

Assholes.

I'll see if I can find some bug stop, the only issue is I won't have a ride for another 24 hours. :/

Knowm - I'm one week away from harvest. (tonight is her 2nd to last watering, flushing that is) This poor plant has had a lot of issues from underwatering, to overlighting, I'm surprised it even came out female with all of the abuse I've put it through LOL. I've learned more things than I can count though.

She's been through PH disaster, a drastic underwatering which killed off some of the foliage, ect.

What's one more problem? I've learned everything else off of the girl :thumbsup:

[Jdog7000]

I would just harvest now. Otherwise your going to spray the shit out of them and then smoke it. Gross.
At least you still have your buds. My growroom got broke into last week. And they took 2 pounds.Didn't leave shit. So I would kill for your problem.
Are you sure you can't see them. Cause spiders make webs. But if they are evrywhere. You have mites. And the only way to get rid of them is to wage war. And that could take weeks. So go ahaed and harvest now. If you deside to fight them. You better not wait another 24 hours or you may not have a chance.If you see webs. That means the mites are not going anywhere soon.And have been there for a while .
Sorry.

If you think it can't happen to you. Your in for a treat.
It happens to pretty much every grower I know.I'm combating mites right now on my veging plants.If you catch them early. It can be delt with.
I scan my plants everyday for mites,male flowers and anything else that doesn't belong. This takes a couple hours a day. But if I get mites I'll know way sooner then the webs ever happening.And I can pull any male flowers of before they open.:thumbsup:

[The Grim Reefer]

Alright, thank you very much for your informed response JDog. <3

Will spraying them with water before stringing them up to dry help to wash away the mite eggs and webs?

I'll harvest today but my biggest concern is breaking up a dried nug and having mites or eggs fall.

?

[The Grim Reefer]

So I just read a report of someone hanging their plant upside down to dry, and the mites they had just crawled up the main stem - far away from the buds.

This'll work nicely for me, however - I still want to get those webs off.

Suggestions?

[u.g.u]

I would turn it into honey oil if they are that bad i wouldn't smoke it as buds but thats just me. I have a good receipe for iso oil if you want it Ill post it

[The Grim Reefer]

Go ahead and post it, I still have two other unaffected plants in flower.

Here's what I've been doing, the only thing I've really noticed are a few of them and webbage:

Spray the hell out of the bud with those aerosol keyboard cleaner sprays. This makes the webbing knot up and knocks any little creatures into oblivion.

I was running some of the buds under the tap with the dish sprayer, but I don't want to have to worry about mold so I stopped doing that.

They really aren't TOO bad, in fact all of the hash trimmings so far don't have any little guys on them.

Now I'm working on prevention.. Post your recipes!

[The Grim Reefer]

Here's an idea:

Would it be possible to "sterilize" the buds by putting them in the oven for about 5 minutes using the quick dry method? I'm not going to do the recommended 20 minutes, but I wondered if the 5 minutes would be enough to kill off some of the mites that I can't see.

Someone prove my theory wrong, please!

[bob bobbinson]

Man i feel for u. And im on ur side about smoking a bud and hearing the cracking of eggs or critters YUCK.

JDOG.. Damn bro. Thats all i can say. DAMN....

Do u think u know who did it? I mean.. did u tell alot of people?

[busteruk7]

Here's an idea:

Would it be possible to "sterilize" the buds by putting them in the oven for about 5 minutes using the quick dry method? I'm not going to do the recommended 20 minutes, but I wondered if the 5 minutes would be enough to kill off some of the mites that I can't see.

Someone prove my theory wrong, please!
if it works good idea but once they are dead will they fall off the bud
and would it make much difrence to the taste if they were still on
cheers all :)

[Stickyplant]

See if a local garden store sells lady bugs. When I have an issue I just turn my heat up over 72 and all the dormant lady bugs get right to work...lol

A grown ladybug can eat anywhere between 30 to 60 insects each and every day. Get a bag and let them lose on your plant... they are great for getting rid of all kinds of mites and that helps with allergies too!...lol

In a week they could probably rid you of most of your mites....oh and eggs which help protect future plants! I just read the dates on these... so I am sure this is way too late to be any help...sorry... please update us all though

[The Grim Reefer]

Buster - Yeah that's what I was thinking as well! When I was cleaning the bud, I got rid of all of the webs and critters I saw.

I had my 30x (the long red thing) and checked almost all of my hash trimmings before putting them in the tupperware for critters.

I did notice that at one time, on a few leaves they had a field day. It seems I'm lucky this plant lost 50% of it's foliage due to an underwatering incident awhile ago :D

The main cola and some of the other colas were unscathed!

Sticky - that's an excellent idea, what do ladybugs eat in case there isn't enough food for them on the plant? I don't want a bunch of ladybugs dropping dead around my garden for me to clean up :smokin:

Though it's better than mites..

here's what I got from the one plant:

[4x5]

When ladybugs run out of food, they go commit suicide on your lights, sometimes before they're full.

[4x5]

When they run out of food, Ladybugs usually just commit suicide by landing on your lights, sometimes even before they're tummies are full!

[The Grim Reefer]

Nice.. the buds I'm hang drying - well the mites are crawling up the stems to the paper clips that are attatched and making webs on them. lmao.

Well, at least this way I can kill a few more of them in the process of drying - it's the curing I'll be worrying about.

Would it be possible to fill a plastic bag filled with buds with c02 and kill them all off?

[postmandave]

grim man a feel for you bro , i had this problem in 99 and now i check for these fuckers every week like a religon. thats one thing you will never get caught with them again ,once bitten twice shy lol.damn jdogg fuckin rats bro thats what they are fuckin rats who deserve the full wrath of karma so i send out totaly neg charges to those rats , keep the head up reefer its all a learning prosess bro all a learning prosess.the postman.

[bob bobbinson]

so... how does one prevent mites?

Just soap/water spray or neem oil every once a week?

[Jdog7000]

Ussually when you kill a plant the mites will leave it. And look for another plant. Mostly what you need to get of the leaves are the eggs. And dead mites. There shouldn't be to many. Ladybugs are a great idea. And worth a try. Put them on your buds that are drying. To eat the remaining crap and eggs. Outdoor bud always has bugs on it. Infact probably more weed then you think has bugs in it. If you smoke ciggs, you smoke lots of bugs. The mites don't really crawl into the buds. They stay on the leaves mostly.
That spray you used sounds a bit scary. Get some neem oil. Or a Pyrithrum bomb(Organic bug spray bomb) Or both. Thats a good way to keep them under control as well.
I use a Pyrithrum bomb first to kill the mites. Then a chemical bomb to kill the eggs( If in veg)Otherwise no chemicals. Just organic pyrithrum bombs and neem oil.
And everyweek spray them with neem. Up till the last week. Then no spray.
And really you don't want to spray your buds. This is only if you have to.
Spraying and bombing in veg is no big deal. But in flower it is best to avoid. But not always possible. Spider mite preditors will eat way more mites then ladybugs or anything else. They eat the eggs too.Or spider mite destroyers.I spray and bomb in veg. Then wait a bit during the stretch. Then add the Spider mite preditors once the flowers start.
Then you can't bomb or spray anymore. But wont have to. If you do it right.
If you get a new clone or anything. You need to dip it in Neem oil or something and keep it quarintiened until you are sure it is safe.

[The Grim Reefer]

You guys rock, once again Jdog thanks a ton for the advice!
I'm really sorry about what happened to you, seriously bro.

It's not comparable at all, but people keep trying to break into my car. The alarm will go off once in awhile and I'll go out there to find nobody, however, it looks like some moron tried to jimmy my lock by sticking a screwdriver in it.

Good luck, I have low-jack.

Anyway, about the mite issue - it seems I'm having a small issue of getting ahold of ladybugs in my area. Since my buds are almost ready to be cured (If I leave them out too long, they'll get too dry since the buds are a little fluffy) I'm tempted to try a water cure on them all, but I'll probably just do my best to clean them from the stems as they crawl up and cure them like normal.

Never again..

never again.

[Jdog7000]

I'm sure that would be fine. I've never cleaned them off my outdoor plants. And I never noticed a thing.Even on the bad ones,it was never that bad. After cleaning them off a little. It was always mostly the leaves.
As far as those bullshit thieves. It is the same.Because it's not about the money. It's total disrecpect. And a lack of morals. And thats what really pisses me off. The way ppl are acting in the world today. It's enough to make a grown man cry.
lol!
But not me. Ha (Maybe it's because those thieves have a heep load of bad Karma coming to them)


I can't remember if you have a microscope lens or not. But that helps with cleaning the buds.
You can see everything.

[4x5]

just thinking, if you happen to have a propane torch (ya know, for sweating pipes) might try quickly(and I mean QUICK!) brazing the plants with it, I'm certain it would cause instant death to all the mites, and wouldn't do as much damage to the plant as you may think (long as you dont stop moving the torch). I'd rather have slightly singed buds than infested, pesticide covered plants. Might try it on a houseplant first (to check damage control) YMMV, but Just a thought...

[dion]

....lol.. you can't tell a constrction worker or someone who knows about it when you see one huh. 4x5 you might have a point there, my only concern would be if you damaged the canibanoids* (or some noticable percentage of them) in the process.

other than that, havesting like you did would be my descision Mr. Reefer. I honestly wouldn't expect to notice anything from some existing spider mights in the flavor of the smoke, but then again I'm one of those appathetic youths that doesn't know a thing about self-respect... lol. Honestly I know, but then again I know some persnickety people that wouldn't touch a thing about someone else did without some thourough sterilization.

so all in all its your descision, i wouldn't worry about ladybugs, unless you found them, and then of course its worth the purchase. they are natures miracle-workers.

thanks for letting me speak my piece
Dion

[dion]

repost sorry, thats the heineken and fresh quick-dry bud talking (the rest is hanging)

Dion

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks for the info Dion :D Good to know a few others agreed with the early harvest. I wiped down the buds today, crazy mites were walking all the way up the stem, all the way up the paperclip, all the way up the clothes hanger and then back around.

I killed probably 30 of them today and wiped down the stems and really close to the buds.

I found a Lady Bug Larvae kit online.. I may be investing in that. :D

[Jdog7000]

cool. But remember Spider mite preditors are way more effective.
If you wouldn't of harvested. You would have been spraying your buds with all kinds of stuff,right before you cut it down to smoke.Gross. So harvesting was really your only option, bro.Just keep a close eye out for mites in the future. That way you can take care of them before they mate too much.

[yaarea41510]

your a week a way like they said just harvest it....but watch out for next batch cuz most likely they're gonna come back..GL

[The Grim Reefer]

Unfortunately, my other two plants (despite my efforts) also, now have mites. I'm bug bombing the jesus out of that room when I'm finished this harvest. One plant doesn't look like it's going to make it, but the other one is quite the trooper.. a lot more resin glands as well. I'm praying she'll last a few more days until I get means to control them.- I'm also cranking down the temps in that room.

I have some excellent seeds I just nabbed, but I refuse to grow anything like this.

I'm ordering 500 predators tomorrow.

No more dicking around.

[bluntman2006]

just thinking, if you happen to have a propane torch (ya know, for sweating pipes) might try quickly(and I mean QUICK!) brazing the plants with it, I'm certain it would cause instant death to all the mites, and wouldn't do as much damage to the plant as you may think (long as you dont stop moving the torch). I'd rather have slightly singed buds than infested, pesticide covered plants. Might try it on a houseplant first (to check damage control) YMMV, but Just a thought...thanks j-dop and grimreefer Ive been having the same problem for awhile but just been asking ppl what to use for mites during late flowering I guess it went over everyones head,but great info just in time too. anyway I thought was some type deficiency because I can never find critters these freaking pest!sorry i hate mites and im new to this growing thing.i get carry away thinking about them bugs Anyway
I never see any mite or web but the way I the got brown spots and most of the foliage died and I tried flushing,everything,but my question is the mite will die off after the plant drys or use neem until the last week but what of the egg how to get rid o them before they hatch would the bug stop work what to do :mad: