Help! My poor babies are having an awful time with spider mites. Just when we think we've gotten rid of them, we start to see signs of white dots on the leaves, and sure enough, when turning them over, you can see the little buggers underneith. We live in a rather remote area Spain and they don't have much to offer other than cheap insecticides. We bought one and used it on the first signs of an infestation and it appeared that the problem was solved. However, here we are, two weeks into flowering and signs of white-dotted leaves and the dreaded mites are back! Is it ok to continued using the insecticide on the leaves during flowering? I was under the impression it wasn't healthy to mist the plants once they started to flower. I also heard that some luke warm water with some dish detergent worked, is this true? I'm considering misting the leaves with the insecticide and then remisting them with just plain water to remove any toxins. Late at night, once the sun has gone down to prevent sun burn. Any suggestions or advice??
Its fine to spray plants during flowering stage, but avoid it at least 2 weeks before harvest so the buds don't have insecticide in them. Spraying also increases the chance of bud mold so be weary. Don't use a detergent they are caustic, there are special insecticide soaps which you can use... but since you don't have access to normal insecticides I don't know how available these will be. Here is a recipe for a useful spray: take half a dozen cloves of raw garlic, 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper and mix it into a blender with 2 cups of boiling water. blend and let sit over night. then add a drop or two of detergent to make the solution adhesive. then spray it on the plants. Another would be letting some tobacco sit in hot, but not boiling, water, then add water to this to dilute. This extracts the poisonous nicotine which you can spray onto plants. When you spray, spray on both sides of the leaves and in 24 or more hours spray them with plain water till they are dripping. Good luck, hope you get some good buds.
Thank you ever so much for your advice. My husband just informed me that we now also have black flies in the dirt surrounding the plants. So I'll get to work on that recipe as soon as possible and keep my fingers crossed. Luckily it's still warm enough out that the plants don't stay wet for long, so hopefully they will resist the possability of mold. Thank you again and I will reply with the outcome for anyone else who suffers the same problem.