I'm harvesting and just noticed some spider mites are on the fan leaves... this must have JUST happened with the past week or I didn't recognize them. Anyway, the buds seem unaffected and clean but there are mites and eggs on the fan leaves. Is it safe to trim the fan leaves, hang/cure, and smoke these buds? Any suggestions?
trim as much off as you can an inspect lower buds carefully. if you see webs already theyve been there a while and there are enough to warrant a thorough look through. i had the saem situation happen to me. smoked and dried and cured buds without incident.
During the hurricane I was on day fifty eight and brought em in..I chopped and dried and I guess I smoked the shit out those little fuckers...you'll be all good especially if they just got there..
Once you have trimmer your buds, maybe, just maybe you can use a thermal treatment to kill them fuckers. Bed bugs die in 15 min when exposed to temps over 113F and the eggs die in 60min at 113F. Find out what temp the spider mites die at and maybe you could rig up a small room with a heater and let the buds sit in the hot room for 3 hours. How To Kill Bed Bugs With Heat I'm looking now to see if spider mites are susceptible to thermal treatment.
Read up on how to dry and cure weed. I don't think I'd heat up my weed to kill mites. You'll screw up the potency. If you hang it to dry, any live mites will crawl up the stalk (usually). The dead ones, well, they're dead. It's preferable to get rid of them before you harvest tho. They won't kill you or anything. But they will continue to infest your next gro if you don't deal with them in your grow room.
More than likely when you dry your girls the mites will probably leave considering they need live plants to survive on I'm having some issues with these fucks myself
Drying weed takes 5-7 days. This would only be 6 hours at 120. Your weed would only dry out 1/4 way at the most. Maybe shave 2 days off the dry time. Then cure it normally. That way you don't need pesticide and can salvage all your weed Also 120F wont affect potency at all. A volcano is set to 365F -400F. 120 is just a hot day in Arizona. I know how to dry and cure weed thank you. This way is pesticide free and kills the eggs you miss from hatching later re infesting.
I was having problems ever since someone gave me a teen infested with spider mites. I've bombed my grow area and tried the canned sprays with neem and the other stuff, but just couldn't get a handle on them buggers. Then with the damp cold weather, the powdery mildew started rearing it's ugly head, as well. I used some diluted oxidate spray yesterday and they look so much better and happier today. I like the fact that it works so quickly and I can spot treat with it. The can stuff seemed to burn some of the plants and the results were much slower.
3 Questions: Can spidermites thrive in the home as well? I'm concerned these fuckers are crawling around my living space. Also - where can I buy these special heat systems? 1 more thing - are these little mother fuckers still living in my grow tent? If so, what do I do to clean them out?
Your all good, they dry up and die without anything live to eat..after harvuest you don't need to treat anymore than drying and curing as you would regularly, it's not like you had webs on the buds right?after harvest I emptied the room vacuumed, then sprayed with bleach, vacuumed again then sprayed with rubbing alcohol and vacuumed again..I haunt seen any since..thank god, they're like the worst possible thing that can happen, but at least it was at the best possible time..
I've harvested MANY times with thrips and twice with spidermites. Once the plant is dry, the bugs leave in search of water and will not eat the dried bud. It will be fine. You just don't want big caterpillers or leaf worms because they get stuck in the buds and you don't want to smoke one. If you are already at harvest time then I wouldn't worry AT ALL. It will be fine. They'll be gone when it's dry! cheers
Um, hate to worry you, that's true the mites on your cured weed will be dead. But your grow space could be another story...do you have other living plants? Animals can bring pests in, as well as humans. Just keep vigilant. Bugs are a total pain in the....well you know.
I don't have other living plants except for the tent next to it... which is another flowering room... the veg room is also next to it. I did find webs on one of the buds though... it is the biggest and fullest stalk I have!!! Do I just trim the webs off or throw it out?
No don't throw it out!!! lol Really. idk there may be a way to remove them, but they won't kill you or anything
Are you talking about mites on your harvested weed or your plants now? If you have any plants in the vicinity of the infected ones, even in another room, you should probably treat you living plants. You could carry them in on your clothes. If you have found webs on your live plants then you have more than a couple i'd say and trimming won't help; you'd need to treat them. If they are on your harvested weed, I would just pick out what you can see, discard any obvious leaves that look too far gone, if any. Plus, once they are dead, some of them will fall of the leaves anyway, but then they're mixed in with any kief that might drop too..it's a minor pickle to be sure. It's better if they weren't there, but it happens and unless you are a total purist when it comes to your weed, most people I know smoke it, mites and all. I would bet that a lot of people have had weed with dead mites in it and didn't even know it.