and I thought it would never happen to me..

so... how does one prevent mites?

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

....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

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

Dion

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

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.

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