Spider mites 2 weeks from harvest

InTheShed said:
Reminder: no DE on any plants in flower.
Click to expand...

*sigh*

The guys at the shop are convinced they are pros, and convinced me that DE is fine at any point in time, on anything. It did feel like a mistake afterwards, and I have since been trying to get DE off where it was a bit much.

What do I do after I applied it? Do my best to get it off? And is there really danger in harvesting with DE on? Why is DE bad during flowering?
 
Here are some more pics under better lighting:

IMG_2155.jpg


IMG_2157.jpg
 
keith1975 said:
*sigh*
The guys at the shop are convinced they are pros, and convinced me that DE is fine at any point in time, on anything. It did feel like a mistake afterwards, and I have since been trying to get DE off where it was a bit much.
What do I do after I applied it? Do my best to get it off? And is there really danger in harvesting with DE on? Why is DE bad during flowering?
Click to expand...
Do your best to get it off. It is 100% not to be inhaled during application (a dust mask is recommended unless you're mixing it with water) and certainly not smoked, where you would be intentionally inhaling it deeply. DE and the lining of your lungs are not a good combination.
 
InTheShed said:
Do your best to get it off. It is 100% not to be inhaled during application (a dust mask is recommended unless you're mixing it with water) and certainly not smoked, where you would be intentionally inhaling it deeply. DE and the lining of your lungs are not a good combination.
Click to expand...

I for sure inhaled it. :( What are the risk if inhaled?

And how are you supposed to apply it? With a spray or how?
 
keith1975 said:
I for sure inhaled it. :( What are the risk if inhaled?
And how are you supposed to apply it? With a spray or how?
Click to expand...
It's a lung irritant if you breathe it (I'm sure you're fine if you didn't inhale a lot or often) but inhaled deeply it gets deep into lung tissue which makes it more difficult for the body to get rid of.

When used in veg I mix 4 tablespoons of DE in one gallon of water and shake well. Spray the bottoms and tops of the leaves and shake between sprays as it doesn't dissolve so you need to keep it in suspension.
 
InTheShed said:
It's a lung irritant if you breathe it (I'm sure you're fine if you didn't inhale a lot or often) but inhaled deeply it gets deep into lung tissue which makes it more difficult for the body to get rid of.

When used in veg I mix 4 tablespoons of DE in one gallon of water and shake well. Spray the bottoms and tops of the leaves and shake between sprays as it doesn't dissolve so you need to keep it in suspension.
Click to expand...

Thanks InTheShed. You always give me tiny little heart attacks, followed by reassurance that makes it go away immediately! :)

I didnt inhale much of it, and I am now using 2 tablespoons of DE with 1 liter of water. How often do you do this? Once and then you are done? Once every 3 days? Or should I try harder to get spinosad?
 
Sorry about the heart attacks!

On plants IN VEG I would use DE about once a week tops, as in a tent it should stay on the leaves indefinitely. Of course new leaves grow and they would need a light spray once they're big enough to have a surface area to stick to. I prefer neem oil these days though. It's easier to work with and covers the leaves more evenly than DE in water.

Never DE in flower though...did I mention that? Spinosad is the only thing I personally use in flower. I know they don't sell it in Canada for some reason but if you can find some wherever you are it's worth it.

That said, indoors, the best thing to do is kill the bugs in veg so you don't have any in flower!
 
Also, now that I obviously have too much DE on the plants, can I do Isopropyl every few days to sort of "wash off" of the DE? Or would I need to do a more thorough cleaning somehow?

Harvesting day is getting closer and closer, so I need to start getting ready for that.
 
If you have good air circulation I would try water on it's own followed by a strong breeze to make sure everything dries.
 
InTheShed said:
If you have good air circulation I would try water on it's own followed by a strong breeze to make sure everything dries.
Click to expand...

My air circulation is now perfect. So will do the water route first. How often can I blast my plants with water? Because I certainly need to clean them as often now before harvest, due to the bugs and the DE. It's easy for me to wash them due to my setup, but I dont want to wash away the potency along with the DE.
 
Trichomes are not water soluble at normal temps so no worry about washing away potency unless you're spraying so hard you're knocking off the trichomes. And you only need to do it once to wash the DE off and it's gone.
 
InTheShed said:
Trichomes are not water soluble at normal temps so no worry about washing away potency unless you're spraying so hard you're knocking off the trichomes. And you only need to do it once to wash the DE off and it's gone.
Click to expand...

I will post a pic, but I i've now washed the plants a few times, and there's still DE on the plant. But it might be the DE I re-applied yesterday. Will do another wash and see what I end up with. Thanks!!

I'm also going to be doing the "Wash your buds before curing" thing, so hopefully that will get the very last bit of DE off.

Thanks @InTheShed !
 
Washing will definitely remove the DE that's on there (I wash all my harvests). Make sure you don't use anything hotter than warm!

And in case you're wondering why we can't spray DE and then wash it off at the end, it gets incorporated into the calyxes as they grow.
 
I managed to get Spinosad!!

It's in a product for less than 10 USD. Ingredients on the bottle says:
"Spinosad 0,24 g/l" ... the bottle is only 100 Ml.

It's meant for battling fruit flies. Is this enough spinosad? Does it matter?

And @InTheShed , should I just apply spinosad straight away? Or wait for the DE to be off completely? And can I use it in flowering? On the flowers?
 
This is what I use (4 tbs/gallon):

monterey-natural-pest-management-lg6135-64_1000.jpg


You can use it up to harvest as long as you're bud washing. Someone once mentioned no more than 6x in a plant's life but I've never needed that many sprays. I spray mostly from the bottom up so the flowers don't get soaked, and the bugs live on the underside anyway.

It only takes one good spraying with a spray bottle to get rid of the DE. Put it on mist and soak the plants until the DE runs off. Then turn the fans on high and dry them out.
 
This ^^^ is also what I use and recommend.

The DE used was likely food grade. I think its ground to such a fine powder it's good (but I'll pass). I think they use that for human consumption and its supposed to clean out your innerds or some shit. <----- lol see what I did there?

Can be used to scrape off dead skin cells too. Almost as highly effective. :reading420magazine:

Go with the Monterey and there's a bud washing thread that is a very good read.
I've bud washed several times and it was usually because I wanted to... wait no it wasn't.

Pro Tip:

Bud wash Thread

Bud Washing
 
Thanks guys. I will for sure bud wash before curing. But I can't get that "monterey garden insect spray" in my country. That is why I asked about the one that I can get. I would post a link, but it's not sponsored. That's why I was hoping you guys could give me some insight into the dosage used? Dosage of actual Spinosad?
 
You can post a link to that. I'm sure they won't come down too hard on you either way.

Also, food grade means edible not inhalable!
 

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