Spider Mites

[blupit007]

Could I just add a drop of soap to my already made up spray bottle?  Or is this another product altogether?  I will go out and buy it right now!  Let me know. 

 I checked Belle today and she is still CRAWLING with them Even after 3 applications!  (granted I did 3 in one week)  One branch is totally striped of leaves.  I got mad and add a touch more oil to the sprayer and sprayed the heck out of it.  I saturated everything 3X, even the wood and dirt totally!  She is in complete quarantine right now and will be for the rest of the summer.  And if they are still a problem by the time they all have to come in, then she doesn't make the cut.  Poor girl.  I feel so bad.  I wonder if I should make a couple cuttings of her just to be safe.  Start fresh...

[Charlie]

By all means, add some liquid detergent to the oil. About a half teaspoon should do it. The oil is not working well, and I'm wondering why. Have to give it some thought.

Good idea to start some cuttings. Belle is one that roots pretty well. The very soft green wood usually rots so try to get some that has started to turn brown and harden up.

Charlie

[blupit007]

Ok,  I added a tiny drop and sprayed everyone.  I will have to add more and spray again.  How often can I spray?

[Pachrian]

Uggh! I feel so sorry for everyone battling these spider mites. After reading all these horror stories I felt very lucky that the ones my little Belle had went away completely after just a few hose-downs.

Yes!! make cuttings asap. Nice thing is that you won't need much in terms of leaves, so the naked branch comes in handy

I have noticed that while Belle du Jour may be susceptible to mites, it is an incredibly resilient cv. Last winter the strong winds we sometimes get here blew my big Belle off the ledge it was standing on several times. It lost a lot of branches and to this day is a very 2-dimensional bush, but it survived. My little Belle recently survived getting crushed by an umbrella that had been blown over by the wind. It was pancaked, lost leaves and branches, the main stem was cracked...it looked terrible. All I did is prop it back up and you wouldn't know anything had ever happened, except it is smaller. I can't believe that the cracked main stem didn't result in yellowing leaves, to say the least. She may have a delicate name, but she's tough!!!

[blupit007]

Uli, All you did was just spray them with the hose?  I have smaller plants that haven't turned yellow at all, but have mites on them.  So I sprayed with the oil, but I would rather just spray with the hose once in a while.  Where do you do it?  In the grass away from other plants?  Im worried they will find their way back if all I do is just spray them.

[Charlie]

Funny enough, Cindy was just saying to me that we should advise water sprays as they work best. Mites are fairly easy to knock off the leaves and they also drown easily. They can walk across soil to reach another plant but are far less likely to climb back up a pot if they survive being hosed off.

In the greenhouse I will sometimes take a larger plant that is well rooted into its pot and lay it on its side so that I can hose blast the undersides of the leaves easily. I rotate it 1/4 turn and do all 4 sides so no leaves are left unblasted. That won't work so well for recently transplanted plants because of the soil coming out of the pot. For those something like the BugBlaster is actually very handy. It is angled so that the spray tip gets under the leaves and shoots upward easily on plants in the upright position.

This is summer fun, prepare to get a bit damp if doing many plants.

Nice to hear your Belles are survivors, Uli!

Charlie

[Pachrian]

Kristen, all I used was the hose with kind of like a shower head attachment. It is fairly gentle that way, which worried me...I didn't think it would be enough, but I didn't want to rip the leaves when I turned them over. I did gently rub the leaves with my fingers where I could see mites.

I'm not sure if it was the "correct" thing to do, but I simply hosed Belle off on my patio, as far away from any other plants as I could. It was mid day and in full sun, as I was hoping the sun would burn up any mites that got washed off. Then I set the pot in a shady place for the rest of the day.

Now I check my plants every day...so far, so good. I hope you get rid of yours soon!

[blupit007]

Im a monster... I pluck each yellow leaf off, inspect it, see the crawlers, and take the grill flame to it!  Bake those lil punks!  Then like a mad woman, I spray the heck out of them again!  I will go at all of them in the yard tomorrow with the hose...  Thanks for all the support!

[blupit007]

  So I hosed all of them.  Out of Cajun Blue, The Path, Gabriel, Voodoo Magic, & Belle du Jour that got all the mites, only Belle & The Path have any left.  So I guess that the oil actually did work Charlie. 

   How often can I hose them when the mites are present?  And once I get rid of them, how often do you suggest I hose them in prevention?

[motherof4]

kristen..I started lightly washing mine off almost every evening ..instead of spraying so much oil...I have not had a problem...and the hibs look good...i dont know if that is correct..but they seem to be liking it..and it keeps them looking good...but I only do it at night..lynette

[blupit007]

Sounds like a good plan.  Thanks Lynette!

[blupit007]

So here is a little tidbit about the stupid mites.  Charlie, remember a few days ago when I told you that I didn't have any mites at the moment.  All my plants are inside, and the mite issue has been pretty manageable.  Well, the other day Matt built me a grow box for this 150W grow light that I got from a friend for free.  (Totally a super score, he wanted to get a bigger system so he just gave it to me)  The box is about  6' by 4'.  We lined it with tinfoil & put a fan in it for circulation.  I grabbed a couple small rooted cuttings along with some smaller non blooming hib's, a Elephant Tree, and a Desert Rose.....LET ME TELL YOU... The spider mites that were non existant before I put them in, are in full force right now!  I wash them down every day, and the next day, there are double!  The 150W makes it really hot in there, so I am thinking that I must have had some eggs stored away in the plants for when it gets warm enough for them, and boy o boy, here they are.  I can't get rid of them.  I bet that if I took them out of the "hot box" and back in the sunny cool window where they were, the mites would go bye bye again?!

[Charlie]

Just in case I don't reply soon, please know that I am having internet service issues and may lose the DSL at any moment.

[Charlie]

So far, so good with the internet. ATT says they know about and are fixing the problem. It seems ok now.

Anyway, what you say about mites showing up when the heat and light increased makes perfect sense. Not only do they like those conditions but they also reproduce much more rapidly the warmer it gets. So you definitely have a problem that needs a solution. It would help to slow down the increase by moving them back to colder conditions but it wouldn't stop the ones already there from feeding and doing a lot of damage. You need a treatment - soap and/or oil or a full immersion bath. Kontos would do the trick if you decide to go that route but something should be done asap before they little &^*^_^*& s do too much damage.

Charlie

[blupit007]

Thanks Charlie, I took them out, all of them.  Washed them off while I await for the Kontos to arrive in the mail.  They are nasty!  So another question.  If I have them in the cooler air, between 60º and 75º, how long can they stay in egg form?  Can they hang out for the durration of the winter?  But I think I will be fine once I get the Kontos.