Spider Mites, I Loathe them...

Mellow Mullet

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...almost as much as squirrels. When the summer heats up, the mite population. I usually do preventative spraying but I have been really busy this year and have not sprayed. They ate two of my serissas and half killed another. Time to Break out the Avid.

John

2014:
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Today:

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2014:DSC08984-1.jpg

Today:
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crust

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I hate-um too. This year I popped for some Abamectin (generic Avid) and a tyvek suit--It works.
 

Mellow Mullet

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I hate-um too. This year I popped for some Abamectin (generic Avid) and a tyvek suit--It works.
I like the Avid, but it is good to rotate, I usually use Forbid in the spring, Avid in the mid summer, and Bayer Insect, disease, and mite control in the fall. But this year I didn't do it and paid the price.

John
 

crust

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The cost makes me squirm because I have so many plants--I used the Abamectin (Avid) and then the Bayers (imidacloprid). I am thinking of getting real Merit(imidacloprid) next year because the Bayers is a weird green slime with extra fert and the liquid is difficult to know how to dose--it does work though.
 

jk_lewis

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I've never seen spider mite damage look like that. Mites are sucking insects; they suck the juices from the leaves, but don't "eat" them. Neither do they to my knowledge defoliate a plant.

You said these were Serissa. It seems more likely to me that something else may have been involved -- like too many chemicals applied at once -- or the Serissa merely acting like Serissa?
 

MartyB

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Regarding Serissas, is it normal for them to have greenish fungus-looking growth around the base of the trunk? I have one that i have been trying to rid of what is suspiciously close to that green ring around the first picture and thought it was due to my watering habits at first. I almost desertified the tree trying to kill the greenish crap by laying off the watering. As soon as i water the green comes creeping up the trunk.....
 

Mellow Mullet

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I've never seen spider mite damage look like that. Mites are sucking insects; they suck the juices from the leaves, but don't "eat" them. Neither do they to my knowledge defoliate a plant.

You said these were Serissa. It seems more likely to me that something else may have been involved -- like too many chemicals applied at once -- or the Serissa merely acting like Serissa?

Jim,

It was mites, I took some samples to work and looked at them under the microscope. They did suck the juice out of the leaves and new growth, the leaves then fell off.
 

Mellow Mullet

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Regarding Serissas, is it normal for them to have greenish fungus-looking growth around the base of the trunk? I have one that i have been trying to rid of what is suspiciously close to that green ring around the first picture and thought it was due to my watering habits at first. I almost desertified the tree trying to kill the greenish crap by laying off the watering. As soon as i water the green comes creeping up the trunk.....


Marty,

Yeah, mine get the green on them too. I think that it is the texture of the bark that makes it easy for algae to grow. I just knock it off with a tooth brush from time to time or when I show it off. I thought it might be the soil staying too wet but the soil is quite free draining and is quite dry before each watering. Of course here, there is the frequent rain and humidity which help keep the algae growing, most of my trees have some on the trunks.
 
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