Thread: Spider Mites?
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Old 06-21-2020, 06:39 PM   #2 (permalink)
cincinnana
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Smile Re: Spider Mites?

Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteMoss View Post
Hi,

So I "accidentally" noticed some moving dust particles on my cavendish. I tried to take some pictures, it was reallllly hard to see but imanaged to get a couple good ones. These look like the two spotted spider mites i believe? I had to zoom in as far as i could on the picture i could and then screen cap that to even recognize these moving dust particles were even some type of bug at all.

Banana Gallery - IMG_8088

Banana Gallery - IMG_8089

I have 4 bananas and ALL of them have them, and I have a few 1 gallon sized washingtonia palms that i haven't noticed the moving dust on, but i did see some webbing on them. I have 40+ washingtonia seedlings that i keep checking a few of and luckily there's no sign of them on the seedlings yet. I've been using a castile soap solution spray up until today i got a spinosad spray and a pyrethrin (spelling?) spray to alternate each week until I get rid of them. I've read a few posts on bananas.org, palmtalk.org, and houzz which is where i got these ideas from.

I also came across the suggestion of Anti-Stress 2000 a few times and ordered form amazon, which is an anti-dessicant and coats the plant in a polymer so it doesn't lose as much water as normal. From the threads I've read this stuff is incredible. keeps the plant form losing water, helps it in all sorts of ways and even allows it to become slightly more cold hardy, etc. The kicker for me was that it apparently kills the spider mites on contact, and the barrier it creates deters them from returning. According to a houzz thread about using it on brugs it lasted for 3 months and no sign of mites anywhere the whole time, AND the plants were much more robust.

The catch, most these threads I read are from 2007,'08, and '09. Has anyone had success with this anti-stress 2000 (aka anti-stress 550) stuff recently?

Are these actually spider mites? The castile soap seems to kill them off for a day, and i see new crawling dust, but without the black spots. I'm assuming these are newly hatched mites as the spots apparently appear as they age.

I also wanted to ask what it is about the outdoors that allegedly prevents spider mites. I've read they're an issue with indoor plants in the winter when its dry. I have no AC and it's summer in the 80's F, so i leave the windows open all day and i imagine as humid inside as it is outside here in Connecticut.

My last question is about using predatory mites (sorry, i wrote more than i thought i would). If I use the predatory mites, will they also be affected by spinosad and my other methods of control? Are predatory mites overkill for a windowsill garden in my apartment?

Thanks all!
Spinosad.......

Or you can pick them off ...one by .....one.

Mites are hard to control and eradicate.
Mites will travel ......20 feet to another host when possible.

Check the web for a specific solution..
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