Mites while curing/drying

L

LeMonJello

Member
Help, I have mites while hanging them to dry! They don't really seem to be on the buds themselves but have migrated to the tops of the stems and are webbing like crazy. I thought I had the problem solved previously but they must have hatched some eggs. Do i need to be seriously concerned? And what can i do to mitigate the problem?
Thanks
 
Use tanglefoot hang he buds on it a string spread the tanglefoot across the string. the mights are attracted to tanglefoot and they get stuck.
 
Ugg - that pic is going to give me nightmares. I had mites last year and had to chop everything down - thankfully none this year <knock on wood>!
The tanglefoot idea is a good one. Sterilize your grow room and equipment thoroughly with a bleach solution - walls, floor, ceiling, hoods, ballast, everything.
Good luck!
 
I too have had nightmares with mites like you describe, like been said they search for high ground so hang upsidedown, get as much off by hand as possible I used damp papertowels and they wont stick around once dry, no more food once dry. But clean the shit out of your room with bleach and make sure to clean your dry room the same and dont start a new flower cycle till you clean up, if you have plants in veg they ARE infested and you will need to deal with that as well. Remember if you are in a room with mites YOU have mites on YOU and you will infect rooms you go into before you clean or change your clothes.

Lots of mite products out there from total organic to nuclear, personally, if I was in your shoes I'd start with nuclear shit get everthing clean and then work your reg maintainace into a more organic regime. knock them out with strong shit then if you keep on top of it the weeker more organic stuff will work good to keep them away. Just my .02
 
You could also let loose a ton of ladybugs in room if you didnt use pesticides on plants during flowering...
 
thanks good info, got sticky traps and the buds were already hanging upside down and i will def clean the shit out of the room. small space so it shouldn't be too big a problem
 
I am wondering if soaking mite infested calyxes in a container of water for 5 minutes right after chopping is a good idea. Will this drown the mites and prevent them from causing more damage during the drying process? If not, what's a good way of getting rid of them during the harvest?
 
Yes you can soak in water to get rid of the, as a matter of fact it is very effective at this HOWEVER you will need to just go ahead.and finish up the water cure, imo it WILL effect the bag apeal, smell n flavor, but at least you dont get the burnt mite flavors... Do a search on water cure you'll find out how to.
 
ta2drvn said:
Yes you can soak in water to get rid of the, as a matter of fact it is very effective at this HOWEVER you will need to just go ahead.and finish up the water cure, imo it WILL effect the bag apeal, smell n flavor, but at least you dont get the burnt mite flavors... Do a search on water cure you'll find out how to.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. What I was thinking of doing was to soak for just 5 minutes to kill the mites. Then I'll proceed with the normal drying. It'll probably take a bit longer to dry, but I'm thinking that in a well ventilated space, it won't be a problem. What do you think?
 
I have seen the same thing, there sucking what little juices from the end of the stem that they can get. 2% bleach in warm water and wash the entire room from top to bottom and all equipment that goes in the room, that's what I did and haven't seen one since. No pesticide strips, no pesticides period and no issue's!
 
I even went so far as to sprinkle diatomaceous earth into all the corners and cracks in the floors in case those mites were hanging out in there getting hungry-n-horny (it cuts 'em up good). I never want to see those little spiders again!
 
aurora stardust said:
Thanks for that. What I was thinking of doing was to soak for just 5 minutes to kill the mites. Then I'll proceed with the normal drying. It'll probably take a bit longer to dry, but I'm thinking that in a well ventilated space, it won't be a problem. What do you think?
Click to expand...

I would advise agaist short term soak like your talking about, your just gonna replace.mites for mold (I'd rather smoke a few mites than a few mold spores, imo. If you soak just do a full on water cure, it'll be much better than a quick dip and quick dry. I've soaked plants that way before but they were in veg. Id be afraid to do to plant with buds on them just because of the potential for mold to start before the plants could transpire enough to dry them out. Besides 5 min dip wont kill em all, but a few hours will, if you do three water cure, you'll see the dead mites the first time you empty the water.
 
aurora stardust said:
Thanks for that. What I was thinking of doing was to soak for just 5 minutes to kill the mites. Then I'll proceed with the normal drying. It'll probably take a bit longer to dry, but I'm thinking that in a well ventilated space, it won't be a problem. What do you think?
Click to expand...

I would advise agaist short term soak like your talking about, your just gonna replace.mites for mold (I'd rather smoke a few mites than a few mold spores, imo. If you soak just do a full on water cure, it'll be much better than a quick dip and quick dry. I've soaked plants that way before but they were in veg. Id be afraid to do to plant with buds on them just because of the potential for mold to start before the plants could transpire enough to dry them out. Besides 5 min dip wont kill em all, but a few hours will, if you do three water cure, you'll see the dead mites the first time you empty the water.
 
ta2drvn said:
I would advise agaist short term soak like your talking about, your just gonna replace.mites for mold (I'd rather smoke a few mites than a few mold spores, imo. If you soak just do a full on water cure, it'll be much better than a quick dip and quick dry. I've soaked plants that way before but they were in veg. Id be afraid to do to plant with buds on them just because of the potential for mold to start before the plants could transpire enough to dry them out. Besides 5 min dip wont kill em all, but a few hours will, if you do three water cure, you'll see the dead mites the first time you empty the water.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. In the end, I chose to gently shower the harvest. A suggestion I received was to put it under running tap water. I guess a shower would be very similar.
 
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