First time ever in 6 plus years of growing I brought the borg into my home via a place called Ocean Grown Clones out of Cali via Strainly. Bought an expensive clone from them and it looked OK and quarantined it for a week but tonight I just saw all my bonsai moms have the powder look and underneath I use my microscope and can see them running around. I dont blame Strainly but I DO blame the Ocean Grown vendor who mysteriously disappeared. First time ever for bugs for me. Got to figure out if my grow is fucked now or just trashing the moms and cuts will let me finish this grow. People like this need to be beaten bloody and left for dead.
edit to add
I add here I dont care if I have to use a flame thrower to kill them in my small grow space. My goal is to keep my current tent 3 weeks in flower clean, and looks good at the moment, just sprayed the soil with Azamax, Monterey insect spray which is .5% spinosad, and a touch of alcohol on the soil. My grow looks fine and actually the best grow for me in years at the moment.
I culled 3 moms I can replace from a reputable source that I got them from a couple years ago of GG4, MAC1 and Ice Cream Cake so I can live with that.The remaining moms I sprayed/bathed in a mix of Azamax and the .5% spinosad on all leaves and soil. Im trying to save a few other bonsai moms I have that were pricey and may be hard to replace PLUS the offending one, a Chaquita Banana from OCEAN GROWN CLONES SCUMBAGS. Paid premium price for it and it looked OK after a week in quarantine. I did not spray it with Azamax as I should have and have learned a very hard lesson. Plus a couple of bonsai moms Im just NOW growing out plants of. I just trashed probably $500 in moms plus have almost twice that hanging in the balance. If I can beat back the mites and get new cuts to isolate and insure are bug free I will consider it a draw. And maybe finish this grow to harvest. As someone mentioned the OCEAN GROWN SCUMBAGS may or may not be dead but the listings are all gone and there is coincidentally a new vendor with a different name that makes the same claims of being disabled grower trying to supplement their income as in a kindly old folks selling clones. I wonder if its the same just under a new name.
I dont care what I have to do to get rid of them as in glow in the dark chemicals if need be to save the moms since new cuts or second gen cuts wont have chemicals in them and nuke the fuck out my grow area once the current grow is done or has to be culled. Also looking at getting some predatory mites to help maintain this once they are gone. I have cleaned and bleached and mixed with alcohol cleaning out what I can and sprayed and bathed the remaining clones and culled some cuts I was getting ready to send someone for a trade. Im so fucking glad I saw this before I mailed them out.
Id really like to think most growers have a sense of decency and refuse to pass on this shit but the world is full of used car salesmen and journalists types who do anything and fuck anyone for a buck. Im done venting now just need to clean up the aftermath.
The man behind Ocean Grown Clones did just pass away. Got a nice clean grapestomper cut from him. RIP
Good luck on the mites. Lots of good advice available on this site
I got you.
8 cups water
1 cup 70% rubbing alcohol (don’t use in flower and if you do avoid spraying the buds directly)
1 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide
That should do it but I also add in DR WOODS Tea Tree oil and Peppermint 1/4 cup of each…un scented hand soap could work too
Kills them instantly
The issue with spider mites isn’t so much killing them, it’s that 3 hours after you’re done killing them they’re already starting to come back because it’s damn near impossible to get all the eggs. Neem oil is also excellent to kill them, but has the same issue; and either way, whether it’s neem oil or an alcohol solution, it’s probably not going to kill all the eggs in one application. The best way I found to fight them was to start off with a light pesticide to kill the bulk of them without disturbing the plants, then continued foliar spraying with just water up to 3-5x per day. Best to do it right up close to the plant, where the force of the spray will knock the eggs or babies off and help to clear up any webs they’ve managed to spin. Focusing on the underside of the leaves will help too, as that’s where they tend to lay their eggs. Best of luck, hope you manage to wipe them out without wiping out your whole grow as well. 
Mites are a threat anytime your near plants outside, it’s too easy to bring in. I’ve gotten them before without taking in any plants.
If you have the time, bonsai moms are easy to treat. just dip the whole plant in a bucket of garden soap twice a week for two weeks. Quarantine for incoming plants is at least two weeks, if not a month to check for mildew. All my incoming plants get treated regardless. My combo for mites and mildew is a mix of garden soap with a tablespoon of powdered sulfur per quart. Get it mixed really well then dunk the plant upside down so it’s submerged up to the contain/soil. Avoid getting the sulfur into the soil.
Personally I would’ve ordered beneficial mites like californicus and deployed them. Even better if you can get the little hanging “mite house” things. Who wants to be spraying plants 3 weeks into flower.
Ive beaten them once . They showed up in my veg room and moved into 8 week flower area before I noticed a few on 1 bottom bud. I harvested crop. I used beneficials plus essential oil in the veg room every 2 days for a week . Then 2x weekly for a bit .
Been about 6 months haven’t seen 1 nor any signs . I still spray 1x week. And neem oil all plants before flipping .
a old method of removing spide mites: 1 to 1 : diah soap (dawn) and water then watch them slide off !!!
Check out Joe’s ‘Protocol Zero’
Good hunting
Cheers
G
Way to much info and will read and digest later. My concern is I dont care at the moment about using non organic pesticides on the moms. I can take new cuts in a month and start over in fresh soil for them if I am sure I killed all the eggs and mites on the moms and trash them. Just want to save the strains for future grows, I just ordered DrDoom spider mite with pyrethrin and wish I could find a small source of Avid thats not over $100 to use as well. I am going to call Natures Good Guys for predatory mites in a bit but have read in flower they dont work as well. Will see what they say.
Been bleaching and cleaning all the pots and pans and mom and clone spots walls and reflective surfaces and shelf’s. I get thru this harvest in late November I will do as usual bleach and clean the tent from top to bottom and let it sit for a few days.
How long can these things and or eggs lie dormant in a space that’s not actively growing or has soil ?? I dont see a way to do the fogger after this grow since this all takes place in a walk in closet vented to the attic.
Just ordered predator mites from Natures Good guys for grow tent and I dont see any signs of trouble yet. Hope the predators can head them off it its heading that way but the predators dont live long without mites to eat. Hopefully they starve to death in a few weeks. I got stuff from these guys last spring first time ever for a small nuisance break out of gnats that worked great and those bugs live on excess plant matter in soil so my moms as of few weeks back still had them tromping around looking for gnat larvae. Will get more of them when the cluster fuck now settles down.
Anyone used this stuff? Same ingredient as Avid.
That shit is gross. You can easily end an infestation by cleaning the entire room and scrubbing your plants clean. Abamectin is banned for the production of hydrogen cyanide.
Didn’t know about the cyanide.
Spray with neem, take a cut from an area that didn’t look infested in the first place, quarentine both mom and clones separately and if you get a clean rooted cut, toss the mom.
Hand on the Bible, spider mites don’t attack healthy plants.
Not a lot of people speaking the truth anymore.
My bonsai moms were healthy for the most part. Got a bit burnt when I gave them some left over fertilizer mix when watering but I usually keep them trimmed up and looking good. They look like crap now unless I missed something. Being small that they are the need to be looked at more often and watered I thought than bigger moms. Doesn’t matter now. I’m just hopeful the OGKB 2.0 is OK.
I have the 90% alcohol and peroxide to mix and use lightly. Thanks for the info.
Don’t use that. 70% or 50% only
That’s how bro-science works? LMAO good one…
I sent a msg to Strainly staff explaining my issues and feeling that’s where my new pets came from. They responded they had received other complaints of same issues from buyers and banned them.
He’s thinking of a different fungicide. It doesn’t “produce cyanide”.
Abamectin does exactly what it’s supposed to. Buy it and never worry about mites again. Same class of pesticides in dog’s heartworm medicine. Mine takes chewable ivermectin tablets…ivermectin…abamectin…does the same thing. Kills pests. My dog eats more pesticides than my plants would ever see.
It’s really not that big of a deal. Lots of people on here are zealously anti-pesticide but they sell them for a reason. Do whatcha want, your plants.