That’s a rough one, so hard to get a handle on things out of doors at times.
Wow I am no where near that , good job ,but I am transferring cuts into a decon area to start off for winter, I won’t get fooled again lol.
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I’m tempted to join the fun & tell my bug story but I’m also wondering if the right thing to do here is go back, split the topic & clean it up? @MadScientist HEEEELP!
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If you can eradicate mites by spraying, there is no need to terminate your plants. I have eradicated many mite infestations myself. Its the same with PM. I read all the time online that people post that you should yank them up if you get any mites or PM. But all you have to do is spray with Neem. PM gone. Mites gone.
Also thinking that mites will not return is complete fallacy and that logic is just setting you up for failure. They WILL return if they got there in the first place. I have been dealing with mites for many years. Bamboo mites, my cat’s ear mites, spider mites, broad mites, hemp russet mites, yadda yadda. They always come back. More now than ever before. For several reasons. One is that a lot more people are growing Cannabis. Especially on the west coast. Huge hemp and Marijuana farms are popping up all over here now. Also broad mites now have adapted (as of 2016) to dine on cane berries from coast to coast, so they are ALL OVER THE USA now, in berry fields and on wild berry plants. There is no safe haven from mites any more. So you are best to spray on a regular basis, and presume that they are coming into your grows. Unless you have a clean room. But if you got mites in the first place, then you do not have a clean room, do you?
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@cannabissequoia, i was trying to split this topic but the remarks are all interlaced with the conversation and if i split it, i am afraid it’s gonna lost context.
A better idea would be to ask the peeps, pretty please, to get back on track with the topic and that way everyone will have access to the info.
Please everyone, let’s keep on talking about the 20+ yrs exp things we have gone thru, thanks.
Sci 
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YEAH. What he said. 
Sorry folks, tried to split off into an IPM thread… 
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am I talking IPM? Didn’t even know it! this is what you learn over the years of growing though. yes, I guess my philiosophy is “clean room”. If you know the room is safe from bugs then a cut-down & clean-up makes sense because it’s a permanent fix.
If you have outside clones coming in or exposure to bugs from outside then you need an ongoing control program, I get it. I live in a northern climate, so 8 months per year any indoor grow is “clean room” if you stick to seed propagation. Can’t imagine what it’s like to face year-round commercial ag pests in your neighborhood.
Spider mites are known to lay eggs in cracks in the walls & floors, so without treatment individual can keep hatching, I think for up to 3 months?
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Though an IPM thread sounds nice.
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We have a really good one that has been a great help for me even before I was a registered member here.
https://overgrow.com/t/pest-management-routines/
And while i do recommend anyone looking for help or information on pest control to check out that thread, I still think this conversation has remained on topic. Pest issues teach us some of the hardest lessons we will learn, and sharing our stories helps others to not make the same mistakes.
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I believe throughout the years cleanliness is paramount in the learning curve…
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I’ve been at this a long while and I think the hardest lesson I’ve learned is that when most people don’t know something they tend to fall back on hippie lore and passed down info that everyone considers gospel.
Not all the old wives tales are true and sometimes trying something yourself is the best way to learn.
And if offering someone advice know the info is legit and not just passed down second hand jargon.
Ymmv in all situations and there are no short cuts
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My biggest lesson has been grow only as much as you can personally handle. Growing a few hundred plants then trying to harvest them all by yourself is next to impossible… then realising you have completely inadequate drying space for what you can get through. I’ve been through the bugs and pm but that was all manageable… having too much weed is not. End of the day its not worth the risk or time put in for something that can’t get the necessary drying and cure.
I guess the 2nd big lesson I learnt many moons ago was to not trust our nursery potting soils. Real garbage we get out here… and learning to build a soil and actually having it tested is what really helped me get things locked in properly and a huge lesson.
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My three hardest lessons kinda go together. The first one has been said, but bears repeating:
Don’t believe the hype.
Don’t believe any of it, ever, whether it’s strains or equipment or methods. The hype is always manufactured. If you ever get that OMG I GOTTA HAVE IT feeling, take a few days to reassess. For all the reasons already mentioned. @plantmoreseeds 
The second one goes hand 'n glove with the first:
YMMV
Your grow will turn out different than anyone else’s, even with the same elite cuts, similar methods, environment and equipment. That’s OK. Throwing money at expensive seeds or clones or nutes or lights won’t make you a better grower. Don’t reinvent the wheel, but also don’t be a copycat. Learn. Adapt. Grow. Terroir is a real thing, so is epigenetics.
Lastly, don’t forget there’s a good reason why we say:
It grows like a weed.
Have patience, and keep it simple. Most of the time, pot doesn’t need a lot of babying. Don’t overdo it. Nurture nature, don’t enslave it. Also remember that if something’s worth doing right, it’s worth doing right the first time.
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Sorry, if I do not answer this then this thread has no meaning/continuity. People keep asking me more questions about MITES here! Mite control is critical to grows though, now more than ever. And it has been a tough learning curve for me and one that I have a lot of experience with. More species of mites keep coming at us as well.
Anyway, my mite philosophy is that if you spray your plants and get rid of the mites, then you know you have gotten rid of ALL the mites. The plants are the feedback indicators. If you chop your grow and spray the grow room or greenhouse, you have no way of knowing if you got all the little f’ers. For reasons that you post here; they get into crevices and go dormant, or they lay eggs, either of which can survive for long periods of time. Females can go dormant over winter, and eggs can survive (depending on the mite species and the average temperatures) for many months before hatching. Also beware that seeds can have mite eggs on them.
Maybe I will start a mite thread…
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Not the hardest lesson learned. Actually one of the easiest. When I was in Jr High my mom used to drop me off at an Italian friend of hers to learn how to cook real Italian food. Northern Lombardy Italian food. We would cook up gobs of pasta and freeze it for the coming month. Her father was from Milan, Italy and did not speak English. But he taught me how to plant and harvest by the moon. This is lore that goes back to before Roman times in Italy.
Simple system: plant during the new moon, and harvest during the full moon.
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I’ve always heard about using lunar cycles to grow, but don’t really understand it.
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There’s a couple threads here I believe regarding lunar moon phase planting if ya can contribute please do so I’v been doing it here and there. Thanks
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Hey man I"m all in favor of Neem, it’s what I use, the only problem is you need to keep it up every 10 days, and if you spray it past the first week or two of flower you will taste it in the buds, or possibly even have Azadachtrin in the buds to a certain degree.
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if the full moon isn’t out you can’t see anything to harvest into the evening, that’s where “Harvest Moon” gets its name.
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I use refined neem oil. It has the aza removed. I have never had any neem smell on my buds after harvest. Even when spraying up to a week before. You can also rinse your buds when harvesting to get the dead bugs, dust and residual soap and oil off of them. See my thread on Farking Mites for details.
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W Italia fiero che il mio paese ti sia rimasto nel cuore io della Campania