Hi, I'm kinda new here, (been lurking for a month or so while trying to figure out what was wrong with my login), but just Had to comment. I'm dealing with mites myself (it's my first grow, but my first grow has lasted over 6 months because of mites, powdery mildew and damping off...so I've become a bit of an expert on disease and pest issues). Since I got the mites back for a second go-around, I can safely say that the most important thing is to Repeat treatments regularly...and definitely use more than one type of treatment, as there are strains of mites that are resistant to certain pesticides/elimination methods. To help each grower to develop their own elimination strategy, it might help to understand the mechanism of action (in other words, how each method works). That way you can use products that have different mechanisms of action in order to kill any "supermites" that have developed a resistance to one method.
With the oil-based products, as was previously mentioned in this thread, the product suffocates the little b@$t@#d$. It does this by clogging the breathing holes they have on the sides of their bodies. Opposingly, the soap-based products, like mighty wash, strip the mites of a waxy/oily cuticle which is their natural protection from the elements -- so the mites die of dehydration in this case. (So now you see, it would be a bad idea to use an oil based product immediately before a soap based one -- you would effectively be washing the oil-based product off with the soap. You would end up with really clean, shiny mites..but they'd probably still be alive. (This also tells you that you can probably use any decent, pH balanced soap, and you will get the same results as you would using the expensive product).
One of the things that really motivated me to speak up, though, is the ladybug issue -- DON'T use ladybugs on plants you have recently treated with pesticides. They will die before they eat a single mite, and you'll feel bad.
Oh, yeah, and the Real Reason I had to comment....my partner brought mites in too...he's definitely been a contributing factor in causing my first grow to take so long ....Partners Do Suck....
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