Three Grows, One War: The Spider Mite Battle Continues

This week, instead of three separate updates, I’m bringing Black Widow, Blue Sunset Sherbet, and Silk Road together into one combined post. The spider mite war is still going, and I’ve made the toughest call yet — so this one’s worth reading as a single story rather than three.

The IPM Protocol

Since this is a combined update, here’s the protocol I’m running across all three tents, so I don’t have to repeat it every time I mention “treating” a tent going forward:

1. Defoliate — strip the worst-hit leaves to knock down the mite population fast and remove hiding spots
2. 24-48 hour heal window — nothing else happens here, so the plant isn’t stacking stress on stress
3. Ludwig’s Insect Spray — dose 1
4. Wait 3-5 days — daily visual checks the whole way through
5. Ludwig’s Insect Spray — dose 2
6. Wait 3-5 days, then a proper visual inspection
7. Bioneem
8. Wait 3-5 days
9. Margaret Roberts Organic Insecticide — ongoing maintenance from there

Visual and microscopic inspections run the whole way through — not just spraying and hoping. Nutrients and water stay exactly on schedule the entire time; the war doesn’t change how I feed.

The Mother Plan

This is the call I’ve been putting off, and honestly the one that hurt the most to make.

My mothers are all grown from seed — genetics I’ve had clean for a long time. The mites didn’t start with them. They started the day I brought in outside clones, just once. Those clones came in carrying spider mites, and that’s all it took — the infestation jumped straight to my mothers.

Ever since that one day, every time I’ve taken clones off those mothers for a new grow, the mites came along for the ride. I’ve basically been reinfecting my own grows on repeat, straight from the source, without realising the mothers were the ones actually holding onto it.

So here’s the plan. I’ve pulled the mothers completely out of the grow room — isolated now, away from Black Widow, Blue Sunset Sherbet, and Silk Road. No more shared air, no more shared space.

Before culling them, I took six cuttings from each mother — enough to hold onto the exact genetics I’ve built, without going back to seed and starting over. Just cutting the infected plant tissue out of the equation completely.

Once those cuttings were taken, the old mothers were gone. Culled. New mothers are starting fresh from those clean cuttings, isolated from day one.

The timing works because BW, BSS, and SR are all still in veg right now — that gives me the runway to win the mite war on those three while the new mothers get established. By the time they’re ready to flower, I want the whole operation running clean: no more reinfection loop, and clones that are genuinely easier to manage and treat than a mature mother plant ever was.

This isn’t a step back. This is finally cutting out the source, not just chasing the symptom.

Tent by Tent

Black Widow — still in veg, holding steady in the fight.

Blue Sunset Sherbet — same war, its own pace.

Silk Road — the one giving me the most grief right now.