has anyone ever attempted to sterilize cuttings from a plant infested with spider mites? i have been battling spider mites for the passed few weeks and have recently decided that the plants are too infested to flower so i've been thinking about taking cuttings from each and attempting to sterilize them before putting them in a clean grow area which doesn't have spider mites. i've thought of a few ways i could do this, the first being to individually scrub the cuttings with a tooth or paint brush with either an alcohol or bleach solution. another way would be to simply spray each cutting with an alcohol or bleach solution. what i've thought might be most effective would be to completely submerge each clone into an alcohol or bleach solution in hopes that it will completely destroy all mites and eggs. does anyone have any input? is there anything that would make alcohol preferable to bleach, or vice versa? happy tokin buds
i dont kno if i would dip them in any alcohol or bleach solution. just get some insecticide of some sort. that makes better sense to me, i wouldnt want to risk the chance of my soon to be clones dieing from it. just my 2 cents worth. good luck man
co2 Easiest is flip a trash bag upside down over your plant and tie it at the bottom, pump it up with co2 from a canister. Do this a few times and they should all die.
Submersing the plant in water with a strong mix of hydrogen peroxide might work too. Its strong enough to kill the mites, but won't cause harm to the plant. The only other way would be to put them in a quarrantine bag or tent and spray the shit out of them with the insecticide of your choice. After a treatment or two, check them over and see how they look. If there are no signs of mites, clean them up and proceed with planting. If you still see mites, then wrap them back up and give them another round. After a couple of rounds, they should be killed off and you can start over fresh.
thanks for the responses. i could probably rig up a co2 injection system with ease but i think i will first attempt the h2o2 bath as it seems like the least toxic of what i have at my disposal. i'll update this thread when i have some results
I'm sure you already know this.... But I would just use a bucket or pot full of the solution and dip parts of the plant at a time. I wouldn't try to submerge the whole thing upside down or whatever.
I use Floramite. It kills the mites and eggs within 3 days. This shit costs like 300 a quart but I found ounce bottles for like 20.00 on ebay. Shit I get 24 gals of spray from 1oz of floramite. So next time or on yer veg now use it. Residual effect of 28 days. I havnt seen a mite since i used this stuff. Its like the ultimate lifesaver there is for mite infestation. Just type floramite in ebays search bar. Good luck with yer girls bro.
First of all, you cant sterilize the cuttings alone. you basically need to grow from scratch in a sterile environment. I would put 1ml of Azamax in some warm water, dip the cuttings after they have rooted (I use rockwool) and then transplant them. If they are in Veg or Bloom, ratio 1ml/5L, and spray every 3 days. Stuff works great. Also good things to use; Neem Oil, Avid,
