Spider Mites

[Cindy]

Your plants look really healthy, Kristen!  Keep spraying just to be on the safe side. I hope your wedding goes really well!  You'll have to post a few wedding pics here after you honeymoon. I'll pray to the weather gods for cool weather!  (as if they would listen to me...... )

Cindy

[Charlie]

Uli, that is always the key question in the garden. I rarely spray our hibiscus in the garden because nature does a good job of keeping a balance going out there. But, our house and garden are surrounded by wild fields that provide plenty of habitat for predatory (aka beneficial) insects and mites. If your hibiscus are in a more sterile situation, such as a patio with few other plants around, then it can be harder to maintain that natural balance. It's tempting to not spray and see what happens but what can result is a major outbreak of mites that defoliates most of the hibiscus. That is not appealing, obviously.  

Using a 10-20x power magnifier to look for mites on the bottoms of the leaves is the safer course. If you find a few on several hibiscus it is best to go ahead and spray. 2 spotted spider mites are the most common mite pest on hibiscus and they are easy to identify because they actually have 2 big spots. There are other mite pests that can be harder to ID visually but start looking for the 2 spotted type and go from there. Experience is a great teacher, isn't it?

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Kristen,  I've done next to everything but I've found my niche as an event rider w/ emphasis in classical dressage and jumpers.  Fancy meeting another rider here on a hibiscus forum!  I'm sure you know, but your area has a HUGE h/j circuit that is frequented by some of the best in the sport.  Do you have your own horse? 




Charlie, what about spiders as predatory creatures?  I have a huge spider population in and around my house (wonderful when they decide to come inside... my DH squeals like a 10 year old girl then I have to come and kill the spider lol).  A lot of them have taken up residence in my hibs.  I've seen them catch whiteflies in their webs which is a big reason I've let them stay.  Do spiders feed on any other types of hibiscus pests?

[Charlie]

Hmm, horses and hibiscus  - there should be a way to combine the 2 with a happy result....

Jordan, you ask an interesting question. I've always assumed spiders help a lot with pests but never really heard a definitive answer. Below is what By Dr. Linda S. Rayor, Assistant Professor of Entomology, Cornell University, has to say about this question.

Spiders are beneficial inhabitants of any garden, ecosystem, or home because of their important contributions to biological control of pest insects. Spiders are considered to be the most important terrestrial predators, eating tons of pest insects or other small arthropods every year.  Spiders are generalist predators that are willing to eat almost any insect they can catch.  They are abundant and found in most habitats.  They only need to be left alone!


The Role of the Spider in Biocontrol

There are many advantages to allowing spiders to biologically control insects in your garden or farm plot.  They are voracious predators found in most habitats, eat almost anything, and they are abundant.  They can rapidly colonize a suitable habitat and they will eat enormous numbers of insects.  Since many spiders overwinter as adults, they can reduce prey numbers early in the season before other biocontrol agents are active. 

On the down side, there are also disadvantages to using spiders as the sole method of biocontrol. Because spiders are generalist predators, they do not limit their diet to pest species but will happily consume non-pest insects (such as honey bees, butterflies), other spiders and other beneficial predators (eg. preying mantises, some beetles).  Many spiders are sit-and-wait predators so insect pests must come to them.  Spiders have long generation times, so they cannot increase rapidly in response to an outbreak of insects.   

The bottom line is that spiders are important and beneficial predators in gardens, but they are rarely successful in controlling a large outbreak of a single pest insect.

So says Dr. Rayor, and it sounds right to me.

Charlie

[blupit007]

Cindy,

 Thanks for the words to the gods for me.  And thanks for remembering.  Good memory!  My Cindy's Heart has a million buds on it right now.  I keep spraying them though.  I will do again Sunday (making it 4 times now), how many more should I do?  Saffron has a ton of buds on it, and Belle actually had a few starting!

  Jordan, I have had Riley going on 16 years this November.  He is a TB warmblood.  Chestnut.  One of the best athlete's I've ever seen.  He is now 23 and just developed Nevicular Syndrome.  Shoeing is helping a lot though.  Quite a handful he is!  Love him.  I just hack him now, but I get to ride just about anyone in the barn.  I am schooling an off the track TB crazy man a couple days a week.  That keeps me in shape.  And I pinch hit for everyone else.  So sometimes I ride 3 horses a day, sometimes just mine.  Im very lucky to have found Riley though. Just last year I took up Polo...  Totally the most fun I have ever had on a horse.  If you like eventing, this would be right up your alley.  Find a place to take a course.  A college or something.  I loved it!

[Darkhorse]

I guess that seals the deal then, the spiders can stay... at least for now.

Horses + hibiscus... hmm... I think they might appreciate hibiscus, but differently than we do! 

Kristen, that's so funny, I had a TB named Riley!  I don't have a horse now.  I have plenty to catch ride at the barn too.  So I ride other peoples' and let them pay the bills.   

[Charlie]

I don't deliberately kill spiders but Cindy has a horror story of tolerating them on a balcony of an apartment she lived in years ago. They multiplied until she was afraid to go out there and it looked like a haunted house! We do have one obnoxious type here that builds a big web every night across pathways and entrances to garages etc. Then the big spider hangs out right in the middle waiting for whatever comes. Too often it's been my head that almost smacks into it before I spot it. Yuck! I've been eliminating this type for several years and so far this summer I have not seen one. But, the well behaved types, in reasonably numbers, have to be good for the garden....

Charlie

[Doll]

We have that obnoxious type here in Houston also. They aren't around much in the summer. They seem to prefer the cooler weather of spring and fall. They are really scary.

Look at this:

This web by the Guatemalan Long-jawed Spider was first found by park staff in Lake Tawakoni State Park in Willis Point,Texas. Wonder if it is the same spider. I would hate to see that in my yard.

[Pachrian]

Whoa!!! That's creepy! I've gotten over much of my dislike for spiders when I started taking macro pics of them (that'll heal you in a hurry!), but this is a bit much 

[Darkhorse]

Doll, wow, that looks like a spider-haters worst nightmare!  They don't particularly bother me but that picture makes me squirm!  That creepy feeling you get when you walk through a spider web.............


Amongst our spider population are black widows.  I've killed 6 here so far.  One outside in the rafters and 5 in the garage.  They're nasty looking little creatures, and of course if you flip them over you see their hourglasses.  That's one species that will NOT be allowed to live in my hibiscus!  The plants have mostly been colonized by very small spiders of various types.  For some reason the bigger ones prefer a higher perch in a window, against the stucco, etc.

[blupit007]

That is the sickest thing I have ever seen.  I wouldn't have been able to stand there long enough to take the photo!!

[helixturnhelix]

Well I found two spot spider mites on a few plants outside and my black cherry.  They arent as destructive as the ones Ive dealt with in Cali.  They produce lots of webs and the whole leaf turns an off yellow color, not really the spotting that I saw with those west coast species.  I honestly thought the leaves were just getting old, but when i looked under the leaf, lots of little spidermites. 

[blupit007]

Where do you live now?  I prolly already know this, but refresh my memory.  Guess what!!  I just got Space Oddity, Gator Pride, and the new blue seedling! 

[helixturnhelix]

Hey Kristen,

I am currently in Denver, CO.  Im surprised it didn't show up under my name, Im about to move to Seattle, WA. 

Gratz on your new purchases.  Which new blue did you get?  I was lucky enough to get Geronimo and Snowy Sky

Your going to love Space oddity and Gator Pride.  Gator Pride is really sensitive to thrips so be careful!  Its a great bloomer, if you get the chance you should check out lisa's pic of her GP with 10 open blooms on it!

[blupit007]

I got My blue Haven.  I think thats what its called... I was eyeballin geronimo...  why are you movin around so much?