Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

My hibiscus and other plants are now completely immune to spider-mites. You could dump buckets of spider-mites on my plants, return a few weeks later and find no damage what-so-ever

I discovered this by complete accident, maybe it will help some of you, and maybe some of you can improve upon it.

Background: I have an infestation of mutant spider-mites that are immune to all pesticides and all other tricks we all try. They mock me as I spray them with oil or whatever.  They love systemic poisons (desert). I’ve never been able to keep a hibiscus alive for more than three months because these evil critters would massacre them every time I tried.

Then one day I was treating another plant with a product called “Wilt proof” this plant was next to a hibiscus that was under severe spider-mite attack. – I accidentally sprayed the wilt proof all over the hibiscus.

About a week later (with magnifying glass) I noticed that on the hibiscus the spider mites were huddled onto areas of the leaves that I had missed with the wilt proof, they would not touch the sprayed areas. And the sprayed areas were a massive graveyard of dead spider mites. They had effectively been glued in place – Frozen.
Thinking I was onto something I sprayed the entire plant, top and bottom of leaves, branches everything. A week went by and the poor hibiscus began to grow again. It went four months after this single spray without seeing a single spider-mite.  And then they returned, but only to new growth. They did not touch any leaves that I had already sprayed. So I sprayed the new growth which killed all the mites and again I went months without seeing a single mite. I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and although I know the mites are still hanging around, my plants remain safe and healthy.

I mix the wilt proof product with 10 parts water per 1 part wilt proof and then spray it on with a sprayer. I use it on my bananas, hibiscus and brugmansia. The wilt proof seems to create a layer of armor that the spider-mites cannot bite through – thus removing their food source. It also gives the leaves a nice glossy appearance. On the banana the spray is permanent – lasts forever. On the brugmansia because it grows so fast the spray seems to wear off in about 2 months. On the hibiscus the spray becomes permanent on leaves that have reached full size. Leaves that are still growing may need another spray after a few months.

Side effects: There have been a few side-effects
1. If I spray new growth leaves on the hibiscuses that are smaller than 2 inches wide they will become deformed as they grow. Leaves over 2 inches seem to be fine. The banana and the brugmansia don’t have this problem. I recently ordered the bug blaster and am hoping to use it to keep the mites off the new growth till the leaves get over 2 inches.

2. I have three hibiscus plants. Within a few days of spraying, two of these plants (saffron and I forget the name) will drop 3 to 4 leaves. Then they are just fine until the next spray. The third hibiscus (rainbow sherbet) drops no leaves and seems just fine with the spray. Mixing the wilt proof with a 12 to 1 ratio seems to help with the leaf drop a little.

3. Don’t get this stuff on your windows. It will not come off.

I don’t know if wilt proof protects from other insects, I only have spider mites. But what I do know is that I can finally grow hibiscus plants where as in the past it was hopeless. I hope this helps some of you. Maybe some of you will be able to improve upon it.

Joe, that's amazing!  I wonder what the mechanism is behind all this...

Wilt Pruf has been around for a long time. It's made from pine oil and is used in any situation where a plant is subject to water stress because it has the ability to slow down water loss from the plant. One of its common uses is to help plants deal with winter stress. A well watered plant survives cold and wind better than a dried out one. I tried it for cold protection some years ago and found that it helped right around freezing but when temperatures dropped more than 2-3 degrees below freezing the hibiscus were damaged, with or without the Wilt Pruf.

I've never heard of Wilt Pruf having any effect on spider mites but that is the kind of accidental discovery that can be very exciting. I can see how it might work, too. Wilt Pruf coats the leaves with the pine oil based organic polymer and that could block mite feeding. Mites don't chew up leaves, what they do is insert special feeding parts that are so delicate that they can penetrate the cell walls of chlorophyll and suck the contents out. These delicate feeding tubes may have a problem with the coating that Wilt Pruf creates over the leaf surface.

I would encourage anyone with a mite problem to give this a try and let us know how it works for you. Kontos is being used by several people on this forum, include myself, and although it works very well against mites it is also quite expensive. Wilt Pruf is much cheaper - at $50 for a gallon of concentrate that makes up to 10 gallons of spray. It also might help plants left outdoors survive the winter better. Mites are not very active during the winter months (except indoors in warm areas) so a full test of this idea may have to wait until summer. I like the idea and hope it works in my greenhouse as it would save me a ton of money now spent on miticides and spraying them weekly.

Thanks for sharing this, FarmerJoe! By the way, where do you live?

Charlie

Yes, thank you for sharing.  This is safe for the hibiscus?  Worth a try for me. Thanks!!

I live in western Washington. The growing conditions are horrible here, low light, temps and humidity are the problem here. Yet I'm determined to grow hibiscus and a blue java banana to fruiting. (I need to move to Florida)

The key to getting hibiscuses to grow here for me has been the wilt proof and the coco dirt you guys sell. That coco dirt is a life saver here. I can't use regular potting soil because in Washington it won’t dry out and the hibiscus gets over watered. The dirt you guys sells actually dries out in a few days here. It’s a miracle.

And I have enough problems growing here without adding spider-mites to the mix, so wilt proof is a life saver too. I've attached a picture of test I did with two Banana pups.

The living banana was sprayed with wilt-proof. The dead banana was sucked dry by my evil spider-mite infestation in one month flat. No other treatments were made to the plants during the period. The live banana remained unharmed even though it was touching the unsprayed banana while it was being sucked dry.

I hear you Joel,

I just moved to Western Washington and the lack of light has slowed alot of growth with my plants.  I am used to places that are sunny during the winter (Denver, CO and Los Angeles, CA) so the 8 hours of daylight and overcast days are definitely having an effect.  I have been dosing my plants with extra Iron and Magnesium to help "optimize" chlorophyll efficiency.  It seems to help a bit, luckily I haven't had any problems with spider mites yet, but I spray my plants with hot soapy water every two weeks, which seems to keep them at bay. 

I would like to hear any tips you might have about growing here and how long you have been growing them here.  I imagine that they are probably blooming fools during the late spring into the fall with the nice mild weather and high humidity.  Any pics you might have would also give me some idea as to what to expect growing up here.  Glad to hear from someone else in Western Washington :)   

Nice to hear from another rain victum : ) I've been trying to grow Tropical Hibiscus here for about 6 years. I've killed at least 50 of them. Mostly by spider mite. A few survived the mites long enough to die from over watering.  However, cold hardy hibiscus grow great outside here. Copper king growing the best.  It doesn’t seem to need to high heat the other cold hardy varieties require for producing large flowers.

It was not until this year that I've had any success with tropical hibiscus. I think the success is due to me finding the coco dirt at hidden valley and due to accidentally discovering wilt proof.

I've attached a picture from today of my Saffron. Its one year old and It blooms constantly. All year long never stopping. once I got the mites and the watering under control, it took off. It doesn’t seem to mind the low light so much. I think it’s been at least 20 days since its seen direct sunlight. And probably be another 3 months : ).  They are in a west facing window.

You've probably noticed that normal dirt won’t dry out here. Folks from Florida always tell me I have to water my Hibiscus every day till water comes out the bottom. You just can't understand I told them, we have no heat to dry that water up and it will kill the hibiscus. Coco dirt solved this problem, though I still don't water till it comes out the bottom. I give them 1 cup of water every 2 to 3 days. When I see the dirt has dried. Every watering has supernova mixed in. About every 10th watering gets a half teaspoon of miracle grow tomato fertilizer.

Your experiences are all very interesting, HJoe. We have a number of people ordering from Washington, fewer than in most southern states but definitely some brave souls. My wife and the HVH web master, Cindy, lived in western WA for 15 years before moving to southern Ca so she is also quite interested in your experiences. She grew many dozens of house plants while there but didn't discover the joys and challenges of  hibiscus until she came here.

Charlie

Wow  great looking Saffron Joe!  Saffron was one of the varieties that I had that was too big to pack up and move, I think the majority of my plants are now the ones that were growing in 4 inch pots.  Its good to hear that Saffron blooms so well despite no sun!  My raindrop was doing pretty well, but something changed and it dropped alot of its buds, oh well... Hopefully I wont be waiting around too much to see some blooms...

Thanks for sharing those tricks, I have mine planted in a mix similar to HVH that dries out pretty well.  I am only watering maybe 1 once every two weeks, no real growth, but everyone looks green and happy :)

Wow, that is an exciting prospect.  I just confirmed today that my Bonnie Lass has spider mites.  The number of yellow leaves has been growing over the months but even with my 30x magnifying glass I didn't see any mites until today.

I will definitely give the Wilt Pruf a try ASAP, good win-win being it is winter too.  I'll let you know if my results are similar.

Here is a pic of my Bonnie Lass and the leaf confirming the mites.

Fortunately my hibiscus next to it are not big enough to touch it yet but it is getting really close.

Thank you so much for sharing Joe!!!

Farmer D

I just bought some off of Amazon.  I got the concentrate... not a bad price either.  I am using the Kuntos, but it has only been a couple weeks with my weekly app, so no great results as of yet.  The ones in the warmer room have mites, when the ones in the office dont, but it is chilly in there... Crossing my fingers. 

Mites are such a problem, if this works, you get a metal!  You started an epidemic here Joe!   We should buy stock in this because everyone on this forum is going to rush out and buy some!  HAHA!

I had the same thought about buying stock in Wilt Pruf, if there is any publicly traded.  :) Mites are a problem for rose growers, too, of which there are millions.

Keep up the Kontos, Kristen, it will definitely work once it has time. Meanwhile, remember that Hibiscus Joe said not to get Wilt Pruf on your windows!

Charlie

Farmer D, that Bonnie Lass looks classic for spider mites. I couldn't actually verify any on the leaf photos but this is how she looks when the mites get into her. It's a shame since this specimen is a gorgeous bush and it will probably lose a lot of leaves to the mites. You can always prune it in spring to force more branching and get a lot of new leaves. You really must have a warmer climate that we do 10 miles inland because the cooler weather here has caused any mites in our garden to go dormant.

BTW, I read about a recent university study into the role plant motion plays with insect infestation. They found that wind moving the leaves and stems serves as a big deterrent to insect pests spreading. This probably has more relevance to growing inside than outside but is interesting.

Charlie

Charles,

Thank you for taking a look at the pics.  One good thing is that there are a ton of new leaves already forming along the main stem where the leaves are yellowing.  This plant has a lot of strength, just needs some help in getting rid of the mites.

Very interesting about the air movement.  I wouldn't doubt those study results.  Every afternoon we get a pretty strong ocean breeze that definitely gets the leaves moving.  The only time of the year it stops is in winter when storm systems move into So Cal and disrupt our normal micro-weather pattern.  This coincides with the sudden increase in yellowing leaves - although it could also be the mites population naturally taking off.  Anyway to find natural ways to slow down the pests I'm all for.

Farmer D

One last note: It doesn't say this on the Wilt-Proof bottle (at least not the little one I have) But after you spray the plant you have to let the plant dry in place where it will get UV rays such as outside.

Apparently the UV is required while it dries for the WiltProof to properly develop/set the flexible film that protects the leaves from the mites. I guess it’s a molecular reaction thing...

Charlie’s comments on the potential fungus protection got me curious so I looked up their website where I noticed the UV requirement. I had been spraying mine outside anyway after the first window mishap, so I guess I lucked out and got the proper setup. I had no idea it was made from pine oil, that’s pretty neat.

So I got mine yesterday in the mail.  The box was wrapped in a big plastic bag which contained the entire contents of the wilt proof bottle!...  Hopefully they will replace it!  And if I need to dry them outside, I am out of luck till a warm spring day cause it is in the teens here.

That's really unlucky Kristen, I get a lot of that, not quite so bad though, every thing I import here is opened and examined and some times it results in a few spillages if they don't put the top back properly.
May I ask why you are buying the Wilt Proof as I know you have Kontos, is it not working for you.

Kontos is not working yet.  But I must admit, I did get a serious infestation on my biggest garden variety plant... so I thought that I would give it a try.  I ended up chopping the entire thing down and putting it in the chilly dark basement...

That's very interesting Kristen, I have 3 yellow garden variety Hibiscus and there has been quite a big increase in Mite damage on them in the two and half weeks since I started using Kontos.

I am 100% confident that the Kontos will eventually work but as there is so little info on this yet we don't know if this is a normal reaction. What is good news is that I had Magnifique [which was my worst cv for Mites] right next to these yellow garden hibs and Magnifique is now clear of Mites.

As I weren't to sure if this is normal and I know it takes about 6 weeks to be free of Mights using Kontos I gave them a spray of Bayer 3-1, as Bayer 3-1 kills on contact I thought a good idea and am hoping to be garden free of Mights by 2011.

Maybe an idea to start a section just on Kontos as I am sure a lot more people will be trying it in the future, but if anyone was to ask me about using it I would say most definitely YES, but gave a spray of Bayer at the first application.

Yeah, My Sunny Wind / Baja Breeze (which live in the same big pot for 3 years) is big full and beautiful.  I have never had a single mite on it ever... until I started to use Kontos.  But the kontos has worked on the other hybrids that I have.  After about 5 weeks of using it, I got the mite infestation (mostly on the Baja Breeze half)  I have to admit, since the pot is so huge, I was really stingy about giving it a large dose of fertilizer / Kontos every week, that is until I noticed the mites... However, I was giving everyone else a hefty portion.  So now I'm out my favorite big plant!  Bummer, but probably my fault...

good morning kristen,

dont give up on kontos. i am having good luck with it. takes time. use it in every watering. dont water the plants with plain water on the next watering. use it every time. what dose are you using.


the best way to find the mites is at night in the dark. take a spray bottle with warm water and lightly mist the plant and use a strong flashlight, you will see the webs that you might not see in daylight. i use an led flashlight that puts out 1 million candlepower. if you dont kill them, you will make them blind :)
louis

Great idea, Louis. Those blinded mites can still feed, I bet!

Kristen and David, what I think happens with the Kontos is that many of us naturally stop other efforts to control mites when first using the Kontos. Since Kontos does not kill the feeding adults they do some damage prior to the Kontos killing off the next generation. It can take as long as 8 weeks to show significant results and several months to show almost total results. Remember, it does not kill adult mites effectively. If any are present or if adults migrate to the hibiscus later they will do some feeding damage. Kontos prevents the spread of mites by stopping reproduction (killing the next generation).

After over a year of using Kontos regularly, Cindy and I see mite damage once every month or two. The damage will be a few leaves on one plant that we remove by hand. We never know for sure where the mites came from but what is important is that with a houseful of about 100 hibiscus plants we are losing fewer than 10 leaves per month to mite damage.

Charlie

Kristen,

   I've been using Kontos too and although it takes time, it works for me.  One thing you need to make sure of is once you water with Kontos, let me plant pretty much dry out (not to the point of wilting, of course) before you water it again.  Also, the next time you water, try to water so that nothing leaks out of the bottom of the pot.  If the plants are in saucers this is not as big of a deal.  I think Charlie said he was watering 2/3 times with Kontos for his plants in saucers and that was working well.

Buying Kontos was the best $200 I ever spent for my plants.  Now if I could only get myself a greenhouse......................

Thanks everyone.  The Kontos seems to be working on the Cindy's Heart slowly.  That one and the Garden one were the only ones in the main living room with the temps in the 70's.  No one else has them, but they are all at around 64º in the rest of the house.  I only hope the hacking and moving to the cold black basement doesn't kill my huge garden cv.  Hope it comes back when I bring it out in the spring!

Louis, I use 1/8 tsp per gallon of water every week with my fertilizer.  I only have to water once maybe twice a week right now.  I started my Kontos regimen with a 1/4 tsp per gallon for 2 weeks, then cut back to 1/8 tsp there after.  What dose do you use?

Kristen,

I am using 2 ml per gallon of water. In the water i have a light dilute of hv fertilizer. because of the heat in the greenhouse, each plant gets watered every other day with the kontos. i may have to buy one more before spring.


I still find one now and then. i then take the plant into the shower stall and with an attachment to my shower,give then a strong shower with a water blaster.

this cleans them out. you cannot solely rely on the kontos. must follow up with water blasting.

keep a vigil with a strong light at night. you can see their beady eyes glowing like a cat  ;D

louis

Yeah, I actually bought one of those shower heads with the 6' hose just so I can wash the dog and blast my hibiscus!!  Pretty funny!  I did give CH a good blasting last week.  :)

Wilt Pruf update:

I sprayed my plants Dec 26 for the first time and so far haven't seen any leaves fall off (good!).  Definitely noticed that the new blooms on all plants are not opening all the way up now (maybe got some overspray on them?).  They don't look nearly as nice as before but I can't say for sure its the WP as we have had a lot of rain and some very windy weather with more cold nights (39 degrees with wind on 2 consecutive nights last week).

Also with all the rain I'm thinking any HVH fertilizer I've recently added has been soaked down below the root level by all the rain.  Maybe that has also impacted the blooms.  On Dec 31 I finally had a long enough break in the rain to add more fertilizer.

I'll keep you posted as I really, really don't want to use any chemicals if possible.  Cross your fingers this works but I don't think I can really know until we get deep into spring and the mites have a chance to try and do their thing.

Farmer D

I walked through the garden this morning and for the first time I am 100% Spider Mite free on my HVH cv's, the garden hibs still have a few but I am sure within 1 week they will also be clear. It has taken four and half weeks using the Kontos.

Mite Update:

  I have been using Kontos every week now for months.  I have been mite free, except for a straggler every now and then.  (ex, today I found one leaf with 2 on it.)  Kontos is the only form of mite control I have used all winter, granted it is cold here in winter, so no mites outside...  I have used it at a rate of 1/4 tsp per gallon of water once a week with fert.

 Now that it is getting a bit warmer, I was wondering about the Wilt Proof success.  I haven't heard much buzz about it lately.  I would like to hear if everyone is still excited about it.  I was thinking of bringing the one I saw a mite on outside and spray it, but then after reading this forum, saw it needs UV rays.... I has been too overcast for sun so I guess I'll wait.

I am ready to use the Wilt Pruf at first sign of trouble.  My question is where do they lay their eggs and do they wait to hatch all winter long until the temps and conditions are right for them?

Since most of my plants lost their leaves during winter I am guessing if there are any eggs left they would be on the bark or ground.

If that's the case can they survive my daily spraying and resulting soaking of all hibiscus branches with SN and a wet and cold ground during winter?

Either way I have lots of WP ready to go.  My plants aren't since their leaves are just starting to come in now.  I might spray one or two  when they're ready as a test group to see and it will be the ones that had mites last fall.

Farmer d

Darren, we can blast together and see I guess. :)  I am not sure about the questions you have... someone else will have to answer them.  I have only been doing the hibiscus for a year now, just like you... before this, I didn't even know what a mite was!