Bananas.org - View Single Post - Just Checking in... seeing if im doing things right for winter indoors...

sandy0225 · 12-16-2009, 08:31 AM

I've used various things to kill spider mites, but they are very hard to get rid of completely. The little buggers seem to evolve to survive every spray I've tried on them, even the new systemic one called kontos. it helps, but doesn't get rid of them completely. And you don't use it on fruiting bananas or ones that anyone will fruit. Avid will knock them for a little while, but they do come back. And those two, Avid is around $138 for 8 oz container and kontos around $150-- for a 8 oz container!Ouch! But I had to know.
The thing that's worked best for me has been the suave shampoo or dish soap at 1T per gallon mixed with 1T of cooking oil in a gallon of water. But you have to be a spray artist and get all of the surfaces of the leaves, and you have to be consistent in using it for a while. Keep it shaken up every few minutes while spraying it. It's not an easy fix by any means.
I have a cold mist fogger that I use in the greenhouse(curtis dynafog cyclone, I'd highly recommend it for greenhouse growers btw) and it fogs the whole place full and I don't have to be in there to do it and that works the best. But most of you don't have a dedicated airtight place to fog your plants and you probably don't want to put out the $250-$300 to get the fogger either. So spraying, or as that other fellow suggested using a sponge if you don't have too many plants would be your safest and least toxic option. Especially in living areas.
Sevin isn't listed for spider mites, and it's not effective on them at all. Maybe your spraying was thorough enough, or your pest wasn't spider mites? it's listed for other kinds of mites but they don't affect bananas and it's not the kind we're dealing with here.
By the way, the sponge idea isn't a bad one anyway. It's hard to tell when the little buggers are dead too. The webs and dead mites remain and it looks like they're still there. You have to watch the new leaves for signs of them if you don't get the dead ones off--it'll still look like you have an infestation. So you'll be spraying dead mites to kill them again but you won't get them any more dead then they already are.

12-16-2009, 08:31 AM	#3 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 370,848 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	Re: Just Checking in... seeing if im doing things right for winter indoors... I've used various things to kill spider mites, but they are very hard to get rid of completely. The little buggers seem to evolve to survive every spray I've tried on them, even the new systemic one called kontos. it helps, but doesn't get rid of them completely. And you don't use it on fruiting bananas or ones that anyone will fruit. Avid will knock them for a little while, but they do come back. And those two, Avid is around $138 for 8 oz container and kontos around $150-- for a 8 oz container!Ouch! But I had to know. The thing that's worked best for me has been the suave shampoo or dish soap at 1T per gallon mixed with 1T of cooking oil in a gallon of water. But you have to be a spray artist and get all of the surfaces of the leaves, and you have to be consistent in using it for a while. Keep it shaken up every few minutes while spraying it. It's not an easy fix by any means. I have a cold mist fogger that I use in the greenhouse(curtis dynafog cyclone, I'd highly recommend it for greenhouse growers btw) and it fogs the whole place full and I don't have to be in there to do it and that works the best. But most of you don't have a dedicated airtight place to fog your plants and you probably don't want to put out the $250-$300 to get the fogger either. So spraying, or as that other fellow suggested using a sponge if you don't have too many plants would be your safest and least toxic option. Especially in living areas. Sevin isn't listed for spider mites, and it's not effective on them at all. Maybe your spraying was thorough enough, or your pest wasn't spider mites? it's listed for other kinds of mites but they don't affect bananas and it's not the kind we're dealing with here. By the way, the sponge idea isn't a bad one anyway. It's hard to tell when the little buggers are dead too. The webs and dead mites remain and it looks like they're still there. You have to watch the new leaves for signs of them if you don't get the dead ones off--it'll still look like you have an infestation. So you'll be spraying dead mites to kill them again but you won't get them any more dead then they already are. __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!