Still battling mites..

[Taylor]

I've been battling with spider mites & I've only seen a few underneath the leaves. I was relying on the 3 in 1 and now I just bought Neem Oil spray. My last resort is the drowning method since I'm able to fit this one in my bath tub.
And now I just noticed these dark spots on the leaves, any idea what it is or is it from the mites?
 

[Brenden]

Good lord, I just tried the drowning  method, and quarantined  the 3 that I did in a spare bedroom, making  sure none touched each other. I just saw one crawl around leaf, I was sooooo disappointed, the water was as warm as I could  spare, and  I used panty hose to kept soil at bay, it had to be completely  submerged  for an hour at least.........

[farmer d]

The consensus with Charles and I is that the typical products like 3 in 1 and other generic miticides don't work.  I hate to say it but you need to get something really strong like Avid or Floramite.  They are expensive but they work very well if applied on a weekly basis for at least 3 rounds and then switch to the other to avoid the spider mites building up immunity.

Make sure to wear protective clothing and a respirator if indoors.  It might seem like a lot of trouble but then again the spider mites will cause even more trouble.

One other idea is to use Kontos which is a systemic miticide (instead of spray).  It is expensive too and Charles is not convinced it works but for me I have had positive results in the past.  But the last two years I only use Avid and Floramite as I have hundreds of exotic hibiscus plants and it is the only way for me to effectively apply to so many.

Farmer D

[Brenden]

Yea the expensive  route is where I am skeptical. I'm not the richest man I  the world by far. I have a whole bedroom with plants, and my god. They almost all have them, have you heard of the shower not working  Darren? I was speechless bro, I couldn't believe they were still present.
I was going g to get neem oil very very verrrrrrrrrrry  soon, I wish I could do a fogger, but I'm indoors...in a spare bedroom. I grow lemon  trees from  seed, they are on them as well. Now , I'm begging someone to answer this as well, how do the lights survive the winter? can they be brought in by my dogs even if it is snowing out? I have probably 1617 different kind of plants in this bedroom and the shower is out of question

[Taylor]

Brendan, these things are a pain in the butt! They don't seem to go away.
My mom has a lemon tree and it was infested with mites, it was almost covered in webbing. I killed them in time and now the tree is almost naked.
I've been battling the mites on my hibiscus since October, it's a mild case but still very annoying!
The neem oil seems to be more useful, though.

If the infestation is that bad with your plants then they're most likely living in the soil.

[Jonathan]

its a never ending battle

[Brenden]

Neem oil did the trick, been mite free for weeks now only took 3 applications  in a row, I got lucky.