OK!!!!! I have been avoiding this topic for quite some time because I really didn't have any great new developments. Finally, I do! I have finally come up with a system that seems to work without stressing the plants too much, and without having to dunk them.
Warning: My treatment involves lots of showering with your plants. Any spouse or roommate will consider you completely strange. Ignore them. It also involves showering every day, so if you're not already doing that..... well you should be lol. You can replace the shower step with a garden hose/bug blaster step if you have a yard and it's warm outside, although it seems easier to clean the plant thoroughly if you're sitting right there with it getting soaked yourself... also warm water may be more helpful than cool.
Another warning: If you take really hot showers, don't. Warm showers are perfect. I wouldn't take a shower over 100 degrees F during this process.
Step 1: So here goes. Place your plants into groups as small as possible, no more than seven groups. Separate these groups from each other as much as you can. For large collections, you may have to shower 2x a day. Hey, if you couldn't get a date before, maybe now? Just don't tell them that you're showering with your plants and that's why you smell better than normal.
Step 2: Designate a group 1, 2, 3... all the way to 7. Keep up with who's who! You will need to wash off each group 1x a week.
Step 3: On day 1, place all of group one in the shower. THOROUGHLY wash each plant. The tops of the leaves, the underside of the leaves, the bark, the dirt, the pot... this works best if you have one of those shower heads that you can take off the wall. I didn't have one of these, though. If you don't, you will have to GENTLY flip over each and every one of the plant's leaves to make sure you wash every inch of the plant. Be careful flipping the leaves. Some cv's are less "bendy" than others, and you'll end up tearing or ripping off the leaf.
Step 4: Once each plant in the shower is extremely clean, gently shake the plants over the tub to remove excess water. Now you wait for a few hours, until all the water has evaporated from the plant's surface. The bathroom fan (a.k.a. fart fan for some of you) helps because it removes excess humidity from the room. I noticed my plants drying much faster when I left the fan on.
Step 5: Have LOTS of Bayer 3:1 on hand, and wear a respirator. Spray every inch of the washed plants later on in the day once they're dry. The label says don't spray until dripping... on some occasions I had to and the plants were fine. Do spray as little as possible though, and don't be a dummy and dump the Bayer on the plant. No, I didn't do that myself, but it's one of those disclaimers like "do not operate hairdryer while in bathtub...."
So now you're pretty much done with group 1 for now. You will need to do group 2 tomorrow, etc. Start with group 1 again on the same day the following week. The Bayer 3:1 is somewhat systemic as it absorbs into leaves, but certainly won't last forever so DO NOT SLACK OFF! You will need to do this for at least 4 weeks. I did it for 6 before I saw no more signs of mites. Check for mites as often as possible, too.
If plants start to look chlorotic due to the nutes being washed out of the pot so often, water them in-between washings as much as possible (without leaving the soil drenched) with H2O containing HVH fert, booster, and SuperNova.
The sad news is that by the time I figured this out, I had gone from 35+ plants down to 13 survivors. So sad.
The good news is that I am spider mite free and have been for over a month and a half!
Also, it would be wise to do this with any new plants coming in, at least for 2 weeks just to be safe. And QUARANTINE QUARANTINE QUARANTINE for a month if possible!!! You don't want to end up with a mite infestation as bad as mine was.
Good luck!
JL
