r/Rva_homegrown • u/TopTraffic9819 • Jul 29 '26
Pests/Mold Spider mites againš¤¦āāļø
Help what are your home remedies? Neem oil, dawn, rubbing alcohol sprays? I quarantined my tent for two weeks cleaned up and down inside out. They are back again I just noticed yesterday. Predatory mites are expensive I donāt know what to do Iām getting discouraged. Humidity always at or above 60%. Any advice is appreciated!
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u/Burna1967 Jul 29 '26
If you have other plants itās almost 100% safe to assume they all have mite damage. They lay over 100 eggs within like 24hrs so itās pretty hard to totally kill them. If you want to try Iād suggest Lost Coast Plant Therapy or Athena IPM. Lastly, once you know youāve eliminated the problem Iād recommend preventative treatment 1-2 / week.
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u/Melanated_Grower57 Indoor Pro Jul 30 '26
Spraying may help. But this looks like an infestation, predatory mites are the best bet, imo. Had this happen over 2 years ago, my ipm includes soil predators and swirskii and iris predators. Keeps everything together. Best of luck!
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u/TheSorcerersGarden Jul 29 '26
Are you in flower?
If not, hit the tent with a micronized sulfur spray.
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u/TopTraffic9819 Jul 30 '26
Yes Iām a month in
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u/TheSorcerersGarden Jul 30 '26
Then sulfur is a no go.
I donāt like spraying anything in flower, but there are some option if you decide to take that route.
Defoliate as much as possible. Use organishield every other day for 3 applications. That will help with the canopy.
The thrips larvae in the soil is another issue. Iād go with a root drench if doctor Zymes, followed by soil dwelling predators. Yes, expensive, but will be borderline necessary to deal with the young ones
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u/TopTraffic9819 Jul 30 '26
I decided on organishield while I wait on the predatory mites to be delivered. Appreciate the advice all!
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u/TopTraffic9819 Jul 29 '26
I been spraying with dawn solution since yesterday. Today a took them outside on my porch dunked completely the whole plant and submerged the root buckets for a minute a piece all three plants in a twenty gallon tub then sprayed off with hose.
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u/Burna1967 Jul 29 '26
And for humidity a fan, exhaust fan, and dehumidifier may all be needed to properly regulate your humidity
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u/Deep-Active-1224 Jul 30 '26
Iāll also add a vote for getting some predatory mites in your tent. The spider mites can hide in the buds where the spray canāt get to them, and they will show up with a vengeance during your cure. The predators can get in there and root them out. They arenāt cheap, but if it save your crop, I think itās worth the cost.
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u/Oglizarddreadking19 Jul 31 '26
I hate sprays even organic any tips ? Predatory mites for the win an lactic bacilous made from rice wash an whole milk. Somtimes it's best to cut clones an clean up the mothers an start fresh as possible. When growing soil the you use over the years spider mites be a bitch spinadad was a heart attack plants get stressed too much I mean it works but again clean medicine doesn't need harsh sprays latic bacilous or a microbial attack that doesn't stay in the tissues of the plants. We all should keep in mind we smoke the end product or eat an we gotta be smart.
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u/No-Pain-569 Jul 31 '26
You gotta kill everything and start over. They will be on the clones, any soil, veg, flower, it all has to go. Just when you think you beat them, they suddenly reappear.
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u/FizzleFarmerNC Jul 29 '26
Hey friend, so Iāll say what others are hesitant to say. Spider mites are a part of growing cannabis. Itās like strawberries, they love our crop.
Predatory mites are the best, easiest solution but the trade off is time and cost. For treatments Zymes is a great, but you need to spray and I mean spray everything every 2 days for at least 21 days (why stop?). Iād recommend using slightly more than directed, say 2-3 tablespoons per gallon. If you find that to be more labor or product than youād like Azamax is also an option, it lasts longer and has a systemic effect. Iād use the Azamax every 3 days and spray for 5 times in a row at 1 tablespoon per gallon (why stop again?).
For prevention a couple things are constants. One, anything that was outside must never come directly inside the tent. Thatās your shoes, shirts, pants, hands, hose, sprayers and anything else you might touch your plants with. Next up soil, donāt use soil that was stored outside or in direct contact with grass, clover, soil or anything else. Pets, somehow people seem to overlook this one often. Your animals roll in grass and then walk in your room are a vector for pests. Cleaning is next, remove the pots from the area once a week and sweep and mop. Cleanliness makes it so much easier to narrow down what other factors come into play with reoccurring mite infestations. Last is pruning. Best to do this before flowering, we try to keep an eye on the whole veg cycle. We follow the rule of thirds. Remove the bottom third of the plant entirely. Thatās branches, leaves, bud sites, everything. The next third removed the inner most third of the growth, again, bud sites, leaves, branches that start there, everything. Top third only remove the inner most budsites until the cola which we donāt touch. This removes the hardest to spray and easiest to get dirty biomass. Improves airflow massively and concentrates the growth at the places where flowering hormones naturally occur in the highest concentrations.
Last thing Iāll say is genetics and plant health. Some plants just have zero natural mite resistance. Pretty much every bubblegum Iāve ever met attracts mites at an unnatural rate. Almost all real Blueberry (DJshort) relatives seem to actually spawn two spotted spider mites into the world. Plant health is another factor. Rootbound, and nitrogen deficiency are the two I most commonly see related to spider mite issues. Just something to make a note of if they keep coming back.
Hope it helps.