Lesson time folks.
For those following along from the other journals of ours know I preach vigilance in keeping your grow rooms free of mites. I did battle with the borg a few grows back and learned my lesson the tough way. Since then we have been extremely cautious and strict about pest security (minus the fungus gnats a bit back during the move). Well we learned another valuable lesson that has bitten us in the ass (hopefully only on one butt cheek).
Right around Xmas/New Years, one of our neighbors brought over a poinsettia as a house warming gift. Mistake #1 was letting a plant from a store or nursery into the house. Mistake #2 was not checking it over. Well that plant sat on our dinner table for a month or more before we discovered in was infested with mites.
We threw it away immediately and had a bad feeling that this situation would have us chasing our tail. Well we cleaned the area and did our best to avoid going from that area to anywhere near the girls. Another month went by and we discovered some had spread to the small fig tree we had near the table. We dipped it, sprayed it, and moved it away from that area.
Well today i was checking the girls in the flower tent and sure enough. I spotted a few leaves that looked like they had some funk to them. A quick check under the scope and we got em. Mistake #3....not adhering to Rules # 1 and 2.
Pulled the plant away from all the other plants and pulled about 20 leaves off those two plants and ran them under the scope. Not a single sign was seen so I am hoping for the best. I will check the remaining plants all on a daily basis for a few weeks.
After checking the neighboring plant....we pulled the infested girl out an stuck her under the T5. I am going to throw up the 4x4 and try to finish her in there (I figure two more weeks for sure, probably three). If the temps warm up, I may try to finish her outdoors (I would prefer that). I very well may also end up chopping her down early if it looks like she's badly infested (Ms Stank graciously picked off most of the suspect looking leaves while I cleaned the shit out of the tent) but I hesitate in doing that without confirming all the other plants. Gonna spend a good couple days combing through the plants to make sure she is the only one with an issue.
I hope this is one doesn't kick our asses too much. Lesson learned.....