Red Spider Mite

[Rich]

I sprayed my indoor daturas which killed the greenfly and whitefly, but the red spider mite laughed at me.

This is how bad it got while I was waiting for the Pravado to work, it didn't.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hassett1/gifs2/rsm.jpg

[decompost]

-_- oh rich, so sorry ~ rotten, rotten bugs!! :ph34r:

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>(i'm taking this a little personally, myself,
i feel like i've watched your dats grow from babies.)</span>

[MaryG]

I've heard that spider mites are really hard to get rid of. Good luck with that.

[Rich]

I've moved them outside, in retrospect a thing I should have done last week.

Hopefully the different conditions will make them look for a new home.

[digiflower]

ewww those things are nasty.
I have to say though I have killed a few plants that where inside and had them.
They go right outside summer or winter. I hate spiders not to mention little ones that have confrences on my plants. <_<

[MrSeedy]

Is the "Pravado" as systemic Rich?? I'm not familiar with that particular one, but in general most of the "topical" sprays aren't very effective for spider mites and systemic ones seem to work better, but I even tried one of those a few years back and it seemed to have little effect on the mites. Seems they're just one of those bugs that developes "resistance" to new insecticides so quickly , that hardy even the strongest pesticides have much effect on them. For me the mites are one of the most "hated" garden pests. Not only are the " red spiders" terrible, but I've also found some new types that are equally damaging to outdoor flowers and vegetables, and one in particular called a "two spotted" mite. There are some mites called "Predatory mites" , that are supposed to be a good biological control for most plant eating mites, but they have to be ordered here from special mailorder of on-line "Garden supply companies", and aren't widely available elsewhere!! I'd like to try them some day, but one must remember, that "control" predators never elmiminate 100% of the problem mites or insects, since nature says they'd starve and disappear, if they ate 100 % of the avaiable food source!!
When the food source levels drop to near zero the predator mite population will drop to near zero , and the "food" population must again recover before the predators can adjust their populations to compensate for that. It's a very fine ballance in Mother Nature!! That's why we sometimes see those huge fluctuations in insect and other animal populations and the ebb and flow of the most optimal population numbers ebb and flower through various changes in the weather and environment from one year to the next. For anyone interested about the topic , one might search under the topic "Bioecology". That had to be one of the most fascinating classes I ever took in college years back!!

[Rich]

Provado is systemic, and is the current "thing to use for everything" except red spider mites. I was hoping the winter would give me some respite, but all my overwintering plants are being eaten alive.

I was expecting to wait until the spring before trying the predatory insects, but it looks like I'll have to attempt to get them now.

There are doing damage to my daturas and plumerias I has hoping to keep going through their first winter, byt the leaves are falling despite all my efforts.

Here is a typical datura today.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.hassett1/gifs3/rsm.jpg

[DandyLioness]

Good Lord those poor plants! :(

I seem to have had pretty good luck using a bit of dish lotion and water - in a spray bottle. Kills the mites and won't harm the plant. :ph34r: GAWD I hope you can save the poor things! How disheartening! :(

[Ginny42]

Oh wow! Now that's an infestation! :wacko: Those are the biggest mites I've ever seen too. I hope there's something you can do to get rid of them Rich, those poor, poor plants. <_<

[grindle]

<_< they certainly have made themselves at home on that plant. Hope you beat them

[MaryG]

That really is bad Rich, it makes me itchy just to look at it. They're so hard to get rid of too.

[adenium]

That's terrible, I have these mites every winter on some of my plants, particularly on musas (bananas) and heliconias. I don't really know what you can do against them, but you can somewhat prevent their apparition by providing more humidity. I usually give a shower to the plants I can still carry to my bathroom. Sometimes I just cut all the infected leaves and wash the plant so that not all my plants get infested. When plants return outdoors I use chemicals and usually it's no longer a problem. But indoors with the lack of humidity, mites are a major problem and I think it is no use using chemicals, since they are going to come back anyway.

[MrSeedy]

Rich I think I've finally found the answer on one web site, to answer why those systemics don't tend to work for the mites, and it said the systemics are carried into the vascular system of plants , but not to the individual cells in the leaves and stems etc. and since the mites pierce and feed on idividual cells rather than piercing the plant and entering the vascular system , where they'd ingest the poison, they're left unphased by the systemics. Sounds like that makes sense to me anyway, and I had no idea that mites don't feed through the vascular tissues!!
Consequently most of us who have struggled with those nasty hard to get rid of mites for years on our favorite plants, are still looking for a permanent and long lasting solution to the mite problem. I do hate those mites more than any other insect I've ever had to deal with. Most others are easier to rid yourself of 100 %!!
It's funny how I can go literally for months outdoors in summer , when the plants are actively growing under their ideal conditions and never spot even one mite, only to find after a few short weeks of bringing some plants indoors , the mites are back to their ugly winter explosions and a constant effort to keep the numbers down is the best I can accomplish, til the plants are again outdoors for the summer. Luckily most of my plants can survive the temporary explosions of mite populations providing I catch them in time. A few plant however just can't tollerate them well, and I will sometimes lose those !!

[Rich]

I'm giving the area a liberal spraying with water to get the humidity up, but if that fails I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy some rsm eating insecty things.

[MrSeedy]

I've been tempted to try the bio control predatory mites that are sold by some garden supply sources here in the states by mailorder, but that would be a temporary solution as well. One thing about bio controls involving predatory insects or nematodes etc. is that they don't eat 100 % of the available food, or they'd insure their own demise as well, and there are alwalys cycles of populations for both the prey and the predators , in which theoretically neither should disappear entirely. The predator populations always lag behind those of the prey as a rule , so sometimes those pests can get to huge numbers before the predators catch up, unless you introduce lots of extra predators from an outside source. Of course for some folks the idea of introducing even more bugs to rid themselves of other bugs , particularly in a indoor or greenhouse setting, sounds a bit counterintuitive, if you're a real bug hater.