Battling spider mites every year.
 

Having big trouble with spider mites. I have read about them. Tried pesticides of every chemical and application. Tried hosing them off and even tried predator mites. Nothing seems to stop these guys. They hit while my plants are either in for the winter or mid. to late summer. My plants are cannas, bananas elephant ears and bergmansia. The bergmansia is effected the worst. I have killed them when my plants are small, but I can't hit every leaf of a grove of basjoo that are 10-15ft. tall. The grove is too dense and tall. So are the canna. I can spray and spray in them inside of the sunroom where they are stored and they come back faster than the plant can recover. I have also used systemics also. I have not sprayed for 2 years hoping that mother nature will balance things out with predators, but the damage just keeps happening. I used to have ensete that I would trim down and bring in for the winter and after 3 years they had 12ft. leaves. Now they just get killed in the winter by the spider mites. Any input would be appreciated.

Northeast Ohio zone 5-b.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Outdoors, spider mites are often a sign of over-application of pesticides; i.e., their predators are killed off. Try the "Green Light" brand "Fruit Tree Spray".

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

I don't get spider mites outdoors only in the greenhouse. What works best for me is plain water but you need to mist every day.I've read that healthy plants are less attractive to pest. Try some fertilizer and don't allow the soil to dry out.Good air circulation should help also.Thin out your plants.Like Richard says you will be better off in the long run if you don't use pesticides

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Also, make sure you aren't killing the same mites over and over on your plants. You know they don't fall off or anything once you kill them. they stay put. So if you don't wipe or spray them off, you might think that they are new mites. Your leaves won't recover in looks after the mites are dead, so you might just be fighting harder than you need to.
I did that the first few years. I thought I had mites, which I did. So I sprayed them. Well in a few days, I looked at the plants and sure enough, the mites were still there. So I sprayed them again with something else. and so on and so on for most of the winter. Well, one day I noticed that those mites I kept on spraying were not moving. And the new leaves didn't have any damage, and weren't getting any. I'd probably killed them the first time or two that I sprayed.
I like to use 2T suave shampoo + 2T cooking oil in one gallon of warm water. You can spray this until all the leaf surfaces top and bottom are dripping wet. Try not to miss any spots. This will usually take care of them in a spray or two if you're real thorough. But then wipe them off or check to see if they're moving before you kill them again!
We sometimes see them outdoors here too in late summer, especially if it's been real dry like it was this summer at times. They start on the back sides of the leaves and then if it's real dry, they spread to the tops. Even on plants that haven't been sprayed with anything. It's worse if you have soybean fields around because they are full of spider mites, and if you're upwind, they blow in. If you have corn fields around in a dry year, the spider mites aren't as bad.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

i never have..(yet) bug problems on my tropicals..
only when i have them overwintering in the house do i run
into some spider mites..not bad though.. but i give my plants..
potted ones.. a nice warm shower once a month..seemed to do the
trick last yr.. really didnt have to much problem..

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

There are some commercial products that are systemic that will only kill the mites that are attacking your plants. Ask a professional landscaper, they should know the product and be able to apply it. Kontos is the name.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

The best thing to use is liquid IVORY SOAP mixed in a sprayer with warm water. Its true that just plain water will work, but you must constantly spray them or the mites will just continue to reproduce. It is vital that you spray under the leaves and down into any axis between the leaves,etc. You must cover ALL areas. I havent a clue as to what it is that is in IVORY soap, but other dish detergents dont seem to work as well. The Ivory/water mix coats the bodies of the mites and they suffocate. Re-apply in a week or so to kill any stragglers or new offspring. More humidity also helps to maintain mite free plants. You must spray ALL the plants in the enclosed area so they cannot re-establish themselves once they have been removed from the obviously infested plants. Also, with the Brugmansias, just cut off all the leaves except the growing tips. Place the leaves in a garbage bag, tie it shut, and out the door ASAP to keep any mites from spreading by dropping off the leaves. Spray the bare tree. Brugs will produce new leaves rather quickly. I havent had any bad infestations for a few years, but this is the regimen I used to perform every winter............and it has always worked.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

I have the same problem every year! Just got back from working out of town and noticed they have pretty much killed my borneo giant and are working overtime on my siam ruby. I tried spraying them regularly with just water last year and that is what ended up killing 2 plants because of rot. Plus I still had the mites. So I'm screwed if I do or don't spray them. I'm seriously about to give up on plants that I have to overwinter inside.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

try sulfur guard from gardens alive. Pay attention to temperature. If you see damage like burning on any test leaves, spray till dripping on undersides, leave an hour and then
rinse thoroughly with water. Bullseye is also supposed to work but didn't for me on raspberries. good luck.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

We had a record year for rainfall. It poured almost everyday, I also tried to hose them often on days it was not raining. They are a persistent pest. Thanks for your input.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

I hear you. I have tried all of the suggestions that have been mentioned above. I do them almost daily espetially in the winter when I am bored and go into the sunroom where I keep my inside for the winter tropicals. It is frustrating. I think I am going to try and store them at absolute minimum temps to slow the mite infestations down. Then maybe I can break up there life cycle up enough to control them atleast during the winter when they are inside.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Well, Kontos will get rid of them alright, but follow the directions on the label: Kontos Specimen Label.

One application ought to do it unless you are next door to a mite breeding ground. Afterwards, consider a routine application of pyrethrin every 90 days in your yard to keep the population of bugs from "going exponential". You'll also find that your county Agricultural department has consumer information on IPM (Integrated Pest Management) for your region. Definitely worth reading, you'll learn how to co-exist with the bugs but keep them from running your life.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

I have spiter mite problems indoors every year. Some plants are worse than others and Aphids have become a bigger problem than the spider mites. But this year I have really tried to leave my plants outside in a lot of cold. Some of my plants have seen freezing temperatures outdoors which should defintitely slow the life cycle of the spider mites. With regular spraying of things like neem oil, Im hoping that they wont even have a chance to reproduce and cause trouble.
Good luck! They are bad pests!

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Neem oil is a surfactant. It is used in many pesticides for that property and is very cheap to manufacturers. It ought to be a crime to sell it for the same price as a pesticide. It is not toxic to bugs, although it will suffocate some immature or weak mites. If you want to be "environmentally friendly" and get rid of aphids and spider mites at the same time, then pick a product that contains a weak insecticide for the aphids, a miticide for the spider mites, and a surfactant so it sticks to them. As I've pointed out many times before, the most successful product of this nature I've used is "Green Light" brand "Fruit Tree Spray" (concentrate) or "Neem II" (pre-mixed spray bottle). They have the same ingredients, derived from pyrethrum (a chrysanthemum), sassafras (listed as piperonyl butoxide), and neem.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

I was just going to ask a question about neem oil and I found my partial answer.

Here is my question: neem oil is an oil and as such needs to be mixed with water before being applied to my plants. Before it will emulsify with water it needs an emulsifier added. I have looked around and found that polysorbate 20 (or tween 20) is a good emulsifier and will not harm the plants, however I have also researched that polysorbate 20 is carcinogenic and I would rather not use it around my kids. My question is: could I use glycerine as an emulsifier? Would it harm my plants?

I appreciate that a pesticide would be a good option, however mites can be resistant to pesticide and again I have the kids issue. Plus I can't get hold of most of the products mentioned on here because they just aren't available in the UK.

I would like to try 'exemptor', but I don't have billions of pounds (I exaggerate) but it's out of my price bracket. So I would like to try neem oil.

Any thoughts anyone?

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Look for a miticide product that contains pyrethrin and neem oil.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Well, I had multiple beutiful groves of basjoo. Some of my tallest were over 16 Feet tall by second week in july. Not bad for northeast Ohio. I thought they might evan flower this year at the rate they are growing. A guy that was fertilizing my lawn became home sick because it reminded him of puerterico were he was from.

Then my groves were once again attacked almost over night by spider mites. I spray them down with a special nozzle I perchased a high pressure fogging spray nozzle for my garden hose. I sprayed them almost daily from the day I uncovered them to present. I tried to get the entire plant incuding the undersides of the leaves. They were watered and given slow release fertilizer wich has worked great for me for years. There growth rate has slowed do to the stress from the mites wich also have attacked my elephant ears and canna. I trimmed off the lower leaves wich were infested first. I thought if I thinned the leaves out I could more effectivley spray the mites. I have a magnifying eyepiece I use to see them with. After a good spray they are gone, but by the next afternoon the darn things are back. I know that some of the eggs are not washed off and prabably hatch a new batch everyday. I have obout 50 plants in 3 groves of great size and think I have created a mite heaven with all of the tropicals growing in the yard. I have used several different pesticides back to back to try and erraticate them, but I have not used them for two years now to try to let nature balance itself out. The use of a propane fogger crossed my mind, but I have not resorted to that yet.

People drive down my dead end street often just to see my garden of tropicals. I prabably need to thin everything out onto a smaller scale, but I like the dramatic look my yard has. The groves are not next to each other and all of my plants are spaced out. There prabably isnt much I can do about it at this point. I have evan had a couple of plant experts say there is not anything else I can do.

The plants I keep inside over winter have done fine. I found that keeping them at minum tempurature and putting them out in the rain on mild days was all that was needed to cotrol the mites over the winter.

I never thought that the two easiest plants I grow would be a trachycarpus and a canary Island date palm, but the mites do not like them.

I live in kirtland Ohio zone 5-b. Been a north by south gardener since the late 80's.

Thanks for listening to my gripe. I hope some of the things I have tried will work for other gardeners. Malvo.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

Spider mites can be so discouraging. My taro plants seem to be especially prone to them. To suffocate the mites, my nephew uses vegetable oil, like sunflower oil with great results. You have to be more vigilant with this and use no more than a 1% solution.
Since neem is not toxic to earthworms or bees I don't mind using it when necessary. Cold pressed neem oil contains all the natural ingredients including the active ingredient azadirachtin. The brand "Einstien Oil" is readily available in Canada and works very well. Neem oil relies on contact to kill, but it washes off. Thus after I spray plants, I use whatever I have left over as a soil drench. This allows neem to enter into the plant's tissue and become systemic for about a month. This gives me the best results. 60% humidity also discourages spider mites.
Plant sticks to control spider mites that are made by "Sholz" (not sure of the spelling) work super great. (That company also makes liquid fertilizer for indoor plants). They are not available in Canada but they are available in the US.
The one thing that has not been mentioned so far is the way spider mites travel from one area to another.When checking plants, leave the sick ones till last. Spider mites are easily carried into the area by dogs (I don't know about you, but there are some things I'm not willing to give up) and on our clothes. A change of clothes before entering the greenhouse is advised; some use light weight (like very cheap cotton) one piece cover-alls (wash with bleach). Using vinyl gloves and dipping in bleach before touching the next plant is also helpful. The other thing is spraying the entire room with bleach before taking any plants in doors.
I've not had much success using lady bugs to take care of spider mites, but next time I am going to try persimills.... another beneficial insect; read up about them at thebugfactory.com
Hopefully something here is useful to you. Good luck.

Re: Battling spider mites every year.
 

im guessing you did positively identify..never had a spider might problem,only spiral white fly..sorry cant help..but i did here somewhere soap with a little orange oil either slows or controls..