Help!help!help! Spider mites are trying to take over!

stokesly said:

I am a noob and am on my 2nd grow... 3 og kush, 2 prpl trainwreck, 1 ss haze. I had mites in veg, knocked them back, then got them when I switched to flower. I am now on week 7. They did not seem too bad about 1 week ago, but I started really looking and saw webs. Took a paint brush and got the webs off. Last grow I had mites web up the inside of the biggest cola and kill the goddammed thing. Its like they get together and figure out where the biggest bud is and all decide "hey, lets go fuck that thing up". Needless to say I am figuring out this thing on my own. I started with the organics and thought I would be patient. When these plants come out I am going to hang them to get the mites to climb up to the string (which I will cover with Neem and Don't Bug Me). Then I am going to bleach the room, bomb the thing w/ pryth, put a no pest strip in for 3 days, then bomb again.
Does this seem to be a good plan?
The guy at the hydro store told me that mites were just a fact of life in Humboldt. The climate is just too good for them. I found a post online (not here) by a guy from Humboldt saying the mites here were like super mites because of all the resistances they built up. What the hell? Anyone have advice for mites that are the spawn of the devil?

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I hear you bro!

jrp677 said:

It destroys the bug's digestive and reproductive systems eventually eliminating all bugs and there offspring.

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What's that stuff going to do to you?

I have an infestation of a little white bug in my soil they look kinda like spider mites but they stay in the s.Plus its only on the ones with one kinda soil that i used i think thats where they came from. Can somone tell me what they are and how to get rid f them.

i was hit pretty hard by those damn mites!

i used a shop-vac to get all the gathering points for the mites like the ones in the pictures. then i got some Aza-max and a 1 gallon compressed sprayer with a 13" wand.
I hosed those plants down. almost a gallon.

Aza-max worked Great, And it Organic

Just to be safe...when i harvested the plant I water cured it. to make sure there were no chemicals on it, because i got mites so late into flower.

I'm getting ready to hit the sack......just prepare to go through an all out war from hell.
I have been for almost a year now, and they're "almost" extinct.

An added suggestion I don't think you will likely hear from others on RIU........swab underside of leaves with rubbing alcohol.....literally daily if necessary. It won't hurt your plant.

Keep the sand thick around the base so as to not allow the egg infestation in your dirt as well.

Oh...and change clothes prior to getting around your plants. If you're anything like me, I am frequently around "other" plants, which will start the infestation over again and again.

DAMN hazed4days, I thought my infestation was bad! I guess I could have held out a bit longer.

hazed4days said:

i was hit pretty hard by those damn mites!

i used a shop-vac to get all the gathering points for the mites like the ones in the pictures. then i got some Aza-max and a 1 gallon compressed sprayer with a 13" wand.
I hosed those plants down. almost a gallon.

Aza-max worked Great, And it Organic

Just to be safe...when i harvested the plant I water cured it. to make sure there were no chemicals on it, because i got mites so late into flower.

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I want to know how you got those pictures to come out sharp with you holding the magnifying glass up like that with your hand. How come they aren't blurry from the slightest hand motion since it zooms in so much?

well..

im using a Kodak Easy share c360 5 mega pixel camera

i didn't zoom in, i just use the macro setting. and i hold the magnifying glass and look through the camera lens till it looks good then snap the shot.
A steady hand helps

you can really see those little bitches.

my little cheap way of getting good macro shots without a SLR.


ya it was a killer infestation that erupted in a matter of days!

every time I tried to use a shop vac I sucked up leaves, buds, whatever. How did you manage not to tear anything up?

It was a little difficult but if i had to loose some to gain some...

then... i made a Gatorade sucker...

i cut a hole in the lid of a gatorade bottle to fit my shop-vac hose snug.

then i cut the bottom off the bottle.

then after assembly, you can get closer to the buds with less suction to suck the mites off, but not the buds.

like in the picture my spider mites gathered in a few locations at the very top of the cola. so they werent alllll over YET..

so by using the shop-vac i probably took 5000 mites off my plant

Well, I cleaned the whole room. Before I moved the new ones in I saw they had a few mites on them. I sprayed them down several times with Neem and soap. I put a no pest strip in and was going to buy azamax. Turns out I do not need the azamax. The no pest strip must be wiping them out. I do not see any more leaf damage or anything underneath the leaves. I have even waited a week and have just been watching to see how it would do, so they have had a chance to get a bit more of a population going. I love no pest strips!!

These fuckers are a never ending jihad. Operation predator mites.

I am 2 weeks away from harvest. I took the pest strip out about 2 weeks ago and put it near the door. No sign of spider mites at any point during this grow.
I ended up:
Breaking down and bleaching the room
After all was dry I put in a no pest strip, turned the fan off and waited a few days
Put in new plants and sprayed them down with Neem & soap for a few treatments
I kept the no pest strip on the floor in between the pots
Pulled no pest strip at 2 weeks in and placed about 3' away from grow room door.
BAM! no MFK'N mites

Heyy..no one has posted on this in a long time but I'll just put my 2 cents in anyways


I'm currently battling the dreaded spider mites! I have another post about it that has gotten a lot of good responses (Spider Mites! Help!). Right now I'm about half way through flowering. I have 4 weeks (hopefully) left and I've been dealing with mites since vegging. Someone gave me a clone that brought in these damn things. So when I started to notice them I sprayed with an alcohol/water mix. I guess it kind of worked to keep them under control. But then when I flowered, they exploded!! I was trying to manually remove leaves, eggs, and adults. I didn't have any webs until recently. I already cut down 2 of my girls, now I'm only left with 5. They have beautiful dank colas on them, but they also have little mites. I am keeping the webs under control my hand mostly. Here's what I tried...

First I tried ladybugs. I got 1500 of them! All they did was hump, die, crawl on the walls, and a few of them looked like they were eating things off the base of the plants. But the mites were stillll there. So I got some Mite X. Sprayed my new vegging girls and my flowering girls. I know it's made from molasses and sugar (and a few oils) so I don't think it will hurt my buds. No mold or anything grew so I think I'm alright. It def worked to help control them, but I didn't want to spray the leaves directly next to my buds. I finally gave in though and got some no-pest strips. I just put it in my room yesterday. But I can only put it in there during my off hours because my room is inside my house and the door needs to be open for ventilation. Hopefully it will knock these mites out, even though I can only put it in for about 9-10 hours a day. I don't live anyplace where indoor growing is common so I don't really have to worry about mites from other places that have gotten immunities. Just gotta kill what's there and then do preventatives!

Once these girls are done I'm going to be taking everything out of my room, bleach it, paint it, mite x it, no-pest strip it, re-plastic it, re-mylar it, and ameks ure no plants returning in there has a single egg on it (or adult)!!!! I hate these damn mites.


Good luck to EVERYONE dealing with them!!

First and foremost, I hate when people don't fully read threads before commenting and I am unsure if anyone has suggested this but I have used this mixture in the past and it got me through harvest nearly spider mite free...

1 part Einstein oil (found near dish soap / wood working)
1 part vinegar
1 part dish soap
1 part H2O2
5 parts water

Spray this solution on the underside of the leaves as well as the stems and it should lower if not eliminate your spider mite problem. Good luck and keep fighting these little bastards.. They don't give up without a fight so keep in mind you are smoking this afterward and it means more to you then to them.. Best wishes.

On a further note I have heard of something else that works but you have to have the materials for it and I'm not 100% sure of what it would do to your plants.. If you have a CO2 set up and a PPM meter then you have pretty much everything you need. If you raise the temps to 90*F, saturate the room with 3000+ PPM for 10 MINUTES with the lights on, it should kill everything in the room but I'm not sure if 10 minutes is too long for the plant but I doubt it. It may be worth a shot if their out of control..

stokesly said:

every time I tried to use a shop vac I sucked up leaves, buds, whatever. How did you manage not to tear anything up?

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late entry, but for anyone who has a Kirby vacuum, there's is a hose attachment w/ a very sharp taper that ends w/ an opening not much bigger than a pencil point. Works good for removing mites & eggs w/ out shredding leaves.

a tip I was given w/ azamax is to mix up a bucket of it, invert the plants, & dip them so you can cover every nook & cranny. have to be careful not to drop soil in the bucket though, or you'll have it all over the plants. some ppl dip all their clones & seedings as a preventative.

Mineral oil, or common baby oil, should get rid of mites. Find the finest atomizer you can, and spray from the botom up slowly. As you near the top, you will notice the mites gathering there. Place a heavy metal object near so they can get off the plant, then whack them with a hammer.

Really, just spray real good and wait atleast a week to harvest. Mineral oil is very light, and don't leave residew. It will burn off with sunlight or indoor lighting...Kal

I think I have some mites, white spots on the leaves, and then underneath the leaves there are little white balls, could be eggs? Haven't seen a mite yet though. 2 of my clones were webbed up in the humidity dome which is kind of crazy...... I couldn't tell if it was mold or webbing? Any ideas? I am 24 days into flowering. I have never had any bugs besides gnats which are so easy to kill.

By the way. I got my temps down to 34 degrees and lower and am hoping that may have killed then. Im gonna try some of these things...... ANy ideas if Those are mites

wonderblunder said:

I think I have some mites, white spots on the leaves, and then underneath the leaves there are little white balls, could be eggs? Haven't seen a mite yet though. 2 of my clones were webbed up in the humidity dome which is kind of crazy...... I couldn't tell if it was mold or webbing? Any ideas? I am 24 days into flowering. I have never had any bugs besides gnats which are so easy to kill.

By the way. I got my temps down to 34 degrees and lower and am hoping that may have killed then. Im gonna try some of these things...... ANy ideas if Those are mites

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The white balls on the underside aren't eggs, those are actually the spider mites themselves. The eggs are black and look somewhat like a gnat, but smaller. I would try what kalalau suggested with the mineral oil or try to get your hands on some Einstine Oil from the hardware store and do the mixture how I mentioned above and it should work to eliminate them before they get out of hand. You have a fight on your hands if you ignore it and they turn out being spider mites.

wonderblunder said:

I think I have some mites, white spots on the leaves, and then underneath the leaves there are little white balls, could be eggs? Haven't seen a mite yet though. 2 of my clones were webbed up in the humidity dome which is kind of crazy...... I couldn't tell if it was mold or webbing? Any ideas? I am 24 days into flowering. I have never had any bugs besides gnats which are so easy to kill.

By the way. I got my temps down to 34 degrees and lower and am hoping that may have killed then. Im gonna try some of these things...... ANy ideas if Those are mites

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Good luck amigo with whatever you try. Webbing during flowering is bad news. Organic foggers work ok, but if you use them be sure to clip the tab on the aerosol tab and spray manually (with mask). PREDATORY MITES are your best bet, but you'll need to cautiously vacuum off the webs. The best offense is a good defense. The mites are in the room because they were brought in there, either by people entering the room after being outside or by them being on the clone prior to transfer. Good luck with that.