Spider mites on my banana

[Pinky135]

Hi all,

My banana has been amazing the past few months, growing like crazy and making lots of huge leaves. (Here's an album of the progress: Death and re-birth of a Banana plant - Album on Imgur)

However, I moved to a location with dryer air (airconned room) and I've been struggling to treat spider mite infestation since july 21st.

I've made a capsaicin extract by boiling mashed up rawit peppers for an hour, and it's definitely full of capsaicin. I've sprayed the whole plant several times every evening, and each morning I see new spider mites on the plant. This same concoction worked a charm last year, when I only needed to treat for about 3 days and I didn't see any more mites until 2 weeks ago. I've wrapped the pot in plastic, keeping it moist as this should prevent the mite eggs from hatching.

I'm going to repot the plant today, removing all the soil as that might contain mite eggs. Any other tips to destroy these mites?

[edwmax]

Use an insecticide ... Bug-B-Gone or similar ... Check your other plants too.

[CraigSS]

There is an emulsion that you can add to your spray which keeps the chemicals on the leaves and stem that will not wash off. And make sure you spray the underside of the leaves and the soil around the plants.

Good luck

[beam2050]

boy you haven't had a lot of luck with that plant for last number of months have you?

[a.hulva@coxinet.net]

Malethyon is a good general purpose insecticide that has worked well for me.

[Island Brah]

Originally Posted by edwmax

Use an insecticide ... Bug-B-Gone or similar ... Check your other plants too.

Max, have you ever used Bug-b-gone on yours? I have a new slug issue on my basjoos and I'm afraid to use any other chemical other than my home made "rocket fuel" lol

[edwmax]

Originally Posted by Island Brah

Max, have you ever used Bug-b-gone on yours? I have a new slug issue on my basjoos and I'm afraid to use any other chemical other than my home made "rocket fuel" lol

Yes, I've used Bug-B-gone concentrate on my garden (16oz = 42 gal spray). Currently I'm using a Carbaryl concentrate. ... A couple of weeks ago, I sprayed my citrus with Hot Shot Flying Insect Spray (only 2 small plants & I didn't want to mix 2 gal at the time). It has permethrin (also used as flea spray on the dog) which I found was listed for use on eatables. I was concerned about the carrier, but saw no ill effects to the plants. ... So any insecticide listed for use in the garden and eatable is OK. I believe these chemicals simply break down after a few days.

When I mix spray, I add a few drops of Dawn dish detergent and some Epson salt.

[susan searles]

I have always treated spider mites with a little castile soap in water. Spray every 3 days to disrupt the cycle. I have never heard of mites being in the soil and I wouldn't repot. Just use the soap for a couple of weeks. We used to put plants on Pebble trays to keep the humidity up around them and that will retard spider mites. It does seem like once a plant has spider mites badly, it is always something that you will have to watch for. Just put the plant in the bathtub or outside and spray it down regularly.

[aruzinsky]

There are varieties of mites that are resistant to all of the above recommended remedies. For these, you need an expensive miticide such as Avid. See

Avid Miticide, Avid 0.15 EC Miticide Insecticide

I also advise you to either add a good surfactant such as Triton X-100, 2 ml./gal. or the pheromone, Stirrup M, which attracts mites to the dried droplets of Avid solution. See

Troy Biosciences (I can't find a store)

Triton X-100 Detergent | TALAS

If you don't follow my advice, I bet that you will fail.

[LiorGal]

I had the Same problem as you, I tried everything, then ive heard from my friend that he did the simple and most unexpected thing and it worked, we all know that most pesticides wont may kill the mites but not the eggs so their life cycle continues for a few weeks after the first spray, so we must repeat on the process once a week 2-3 weeks, in order to get rid of them. But there is a better method, To spray them with dish soap that can be also used for dishes done by hands, then mix it with water and spray the bananas on the stem and soak the areas above and specifically under the leaves since mites are located mostly under the leaf. the detergent destroys eggs and grown ups so it will get rid of them, let the solution stay on the plants for 20 minutes then wash it off with water. one table spoon of soap per liter should do. dont forget to wash it off, otherways it may burn the leaves, also it may remove some of the wax coating of the leaf, it may cause it to look bad, but it wil grow new ones.