spider mites

[Jason_mazzy]

Ivermectin is very easy to get. Any tractor supply or farm supply store has it. It is primarily used as a cattle wormer.

 

[Beng]

It worked!!! Applied it twice and no more spider mite as far as I can tell.

I use Dawn dish washing liquid on mine.

Why Milk?? Seems like this would just make mold and cause me to stay away from the smell rather then the bugs. Does it make the PH of the leaves less interesting for the mites or something?

 

[Poink88]

Why Milk?? Seems like this would just make mold and cause me to stay away from the smell rather then the bugs. Does it make the PH of the leaves less interesting for the mites or something?

As posted before. There is no bad smell...very sweet smelling actually because of the dishwashing liquid and the sweet smell of milk. It dries up totally before it start to sour (at least here in my place). Caveat...all unused solution must be refrigerated and used in a few days or disposed. Else it will smell.

Why milk? I was told it is the lactic acid that eats through the exoskeleton of the insects (same effect as boric acid). Not sure how accurate that was but as I said, I've used this before on aphids and it worked wonderfully and recently with spider mites with same excellent results. I just checked the tree today...not any mite activity I can see and I checked it thoroughly.

Best advise I can tell you...just try it and see the results for yourself.

 

[Beng]

As posted before. There is no bad smell...very sweet smelling actually because of the dishwashing liquid and the sweet smell of milk. It dries up totally before it start to sour (at least here in my place). Caveat...all unused solution must be refrigerated and used in a few days or disposed. Else it will smell.

Why milk? I was told it is the lactic acid that eats through the exoskeleton of the insects (same effect as boric acid). Not sure how accurate that was but as I said, I've used this before on aphids and it worked wonderfully and recently with spider mites with same excellent results. I just checked the tree today...not any mite activity I can see and I checked it thoroughly.

Best advise I can tell you...just try it and see the results for yourself.

Interesting, my neighbors ivy has aphids on it, I was gonna nuke them before they get on my trees but since it's the neighbors ivy I will try this milk fix first. Makes sense in theory! What kind of milk, 0%, 2%, straight?

 

[Poink88]

Interesting, my neighbors ivy has aphids on it, I was gonna nuke them before they get on my trees but since it's the neighbors ivy I will try this milk fix first. Makes sense in theory! What kind of milk, 0%, 2%, straight?

I use whatever is in the fridge (I try to use the oldest possible ) and was told it doesn't matter. I would opt for full milk if I am buying one though...just because I am not a believer of buying watered down products and the fat probably help suffocate insects as well like horticultural oil does.

FYI, the cedar elm that was stunted after the mite attack, totally no growth for a while and is the reason why I checked. A week after treatment, it started growing like crazy again. I've pruned and pinched it twice since.

 

[jkd2572]

I mixed a bomb of Avid and spectracide. I think I finally got them.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I've been reading this thread, to my eye some good suggestions and some poor suggestions. Only one person tangentially mentioned it, so I will shout it out just to emphasize the point. Pestacides are toxins. There is a risk of harming yourself, your plants and your environment every time you use them. So it is important to use them correctly.

As JKD referred to,

READ THE LABEL, IF A PEST YOU WANT TO KILL IS NOT LISTED, the PESTACIDE SHOULD NOT BE USED. ONLY USE A PESTACIDE FOR LISTED TARGETS. READ THE SECTION OF SPECIES APPROVED FOR USE ON, if your species is not listed, there is the possibility the pestacide might harm your plant. Species that are close relatives of approved useage species will likely tolerate the pestacide well. But read, read, read, and understand the label.

Spider and false spider mites are NOT INSECTS, they are related to spiders. Many insectacides only kill insects, not arachnids. READ THE LABEL. If it does not specifically list mites, it likely is not effective for mites, or like imidicloprid, can aggrevate a mite infestation.

I'll outline what I do in another post. Need to get back to work right now.

 

[Emrys]

Spray a little bit of the homemade stuff on the back of a small section on your tree. If is doesn't affect it, use it. Use ivory dishwashing liquid, wesson pure vegetable oil and the alcohol. Personally, I would not use what you are thinkign of using. The milk is going to smell, might cause some other issues and the detergent is harsh.

Rob

Im sure you or someone else has posted the ratio of the ingredients list above on another thread but if you dont mind will you post in what proportions you mix these ingredients.

Thanks

emrys

 

[october]

Im sure you or someone else has posted the ratio of the ingredients list above on another thread but if you dont mind will you post in what proportions you mix these ingredients.

Thanks

emrys

Here you go

1-2 table spoons of dishwashing liquid. Ivory is probably the best.
1 table spoon of pure vegetable oil. I use Wesson pure vegetable oil.

Mix this solution in 1 gallon of water. Then add to a spray bottle. Now, add 1 capful of rubbing alcohol to the spray bottle (the cap from the alcohol bottle). Shake well.

Spray all leaf/foliage surfaces, including the undersides and the trunk. Put something over the soil to prevent the solution from going into the soil. Rinse the tree off after 24 hours. I would cover the soil again on the rinse off. Wait a couple weeks and spray again.

Keep the tree out of full sun until the solution is rinsed off.

If scale is the problem. This treatment is even more effective if you pick off all the scale you see first, you don't have to though. A rounded edge tooth pick works well to remove them. After the scale are dead, they will probably remain on the tree. Dead scale flake off easily, live scale usually smear or bleed and are tougher to remove.

Rob

 

[Austin]

I had spider mites three times, once I used pesticide, the next I found an all natural pray that worked well but left everything sticky and finally I purchased a bag of lady bugs from homedepot and relseased them over three weeks (thats how long they say you can refrigerate them) and I have not had a problem with spider mites or any other bugs sense. Altho spiders have moved in to pry on the lady bugs but that has kept the grass hoppers and other pests out.

Lady Bugs eat aphids mites and scale. they also reproduce around thier food source, giving you year long protection against such pests. I purchased the bugs online from the homedepot website and they showed up in two days.

I'm sorry if anything like this was covered all ready it was a long thread to take a quick glance at I just thought this might be useful.

 

[Emrys]

Here you go

1-2 table spoons of dishwashing liquid. Ivory is probably the best.
1 table spoon of pure vegetable oil. I use Wesson pure vegetable oil.

Mix this solution in 1 gallon of water. Then add to a spray bottle. Now, add 1 capful of rubbing alcohol to the spray bottle (the cap from the alcohol bottle). Shake well.

Spray all leaf/foliage surfaces, including the undersides and the trunk. Put something over the soil to prevent the solution from going into the soil. Rinse the tree off after 24 hours. I would cover the soil again on the rinse off. Wait a couple weeks and spray again.

Keep the tree out of full sun until the solution is rinsed off.

If scale is the problem. This treatment is even more effective if you pick off all the scale you see first, you don't have to though. A rounded edge tooth pick works well to remove them. After the scale are dead, they will probably remain on the tree. Dead scale flake off easily, live scale usually smear or bleed and are tougher to remove.

Rob

Just to be clear: you add one cap full of alcohol to a small , say a one letter spray bottle? Or are you referring to a one gallon pump sprayer? Sorry sounding like a moron but I just want to be cjear.

 

[october]

Just to be clear: you add one cap full of alcohol to a small , say a one letter spray bottle? Or are you referring to a one gallon pump sprayer? Sorry sounding like a moron but I just want to be cjear.

Just a regular spray bottle like Lowes, Home Depot and garden centers sell. Not the really small ones that are as big as your hand. The regular size ones.

I believe one of my smaller trees had mites, I used this and it seemd like they were gone. However, I did still see some webs. They could have been just left on there from before though. I sprayed it again with Bonide all seasons horticultural oil. It is the concentrate you mix yourself. I think it might be a little more powerfu than the homemade stuff. However, I used the home made stuff and was able to control and kill scale for the last 5 years. However, I am wondering if the homemade stuff affects the color of trees like procumbens juniper. I am not sure about this, but I think it might be a possibilty.

Rob

 

[Dav4]

Well, so much for dormant sprays...EVERY juniper I own has spider mites. They got their first of 3 isotox treatments today. I would have tried the homemade stuff, Rob, but the sun is high and hot right now and I'm reluctant to spray any oil on the foliage right now
...........I hate spider mites............

 

[october]

Well, so much for dormant sprays...EVERY juniper I own has spider mites. They got their first of 3 isotox treatments today. I would have tried the homemade stuff, Rob, but the sun is high and hot right now and I'm reluctant to spray any oil on the foliage right now
...........I hate spider mites............

Understandable.. I think for the first time, I have mites on one of my small junipers. I have to say.. I don't need this to be a problem now. Dealing with scale for years, then, couple years back, fungal diseases moving in, now mites. It is really making bonsai very difficult to do. I mean, if one branch dies or a section turns yellow, it wrecks the image. Which means the tree cannot be exhibited for a while, sometimes years.

Rob

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Well, so much for dormant sprays...EVERY juniper I own has spider mites. They got their first of 3 isotox treatments today. I would have tried the homemade stuff, Rob, but the sun is high and hot right now and I'm reluctant to spray any oil on the foliage right now
...........I hate spider mites............

Spray at night, but not oil in the summer. I found a few mites on a kishu in the ground, now I'm spraying everything every 4-7 days. For me, junis in the ground are far more vulnerable even than junis in cans sitting on the ground; weird. Knock 'em out Dave!

 

[Dav4]

Spray at night, but not oil in the summer. I found a few mites on a kishu in the ground, now I'm spraying everything every 4-7 days. For me, junis in the ground are far more vulnerable even than junis in cans sitting on the ground; weird. Knock 'em out Dave!

Yeah, I was trying to go easy on chemicals this year and was hoping the two dormant oil applications this past winter, spraying the foliage with water regularly, plus the 9 inches of rain we've had in June this year would keep the mite population down...whatever. Last year was significantly warmer with much less rain and the mites were barely an issue, go figure. I do suspect that the junipers I've got growing around my yard and neighborhood are the reservoir- not much I can do about that. And yeah, the juniper bonsai are gonna get sprayed with isotox every 5-7 days for three treatments now, and then again as needed later this summer...I'm mad!

 

[october]

I had a thought the other day. One of those things that just pops in your head. I realized that practically all I do now is spray. It is constant and seems to be getting worse as the years go on. I mean, either I am spraying different fungicides, oil or home made pesticide. It is getting quite annoying now. Also, I see that there are many on here and everywhere that are also going through this.

Rob

 

[nicholai hel]

Well it seems like it's been a mite-free summer for everyone

Any updated results about home-made recipes/nuking chemicals?

Abamectin seems to work for me so far. At least worked better than everything i tried last year.
Tried it on my recently infected elm.

 

[Vance Wood]

I used organic pyrethrum spray bought at walmart. Worked for me.

Shows how much I know. We used pyrethrum spray when I was in Viet Nam. It was not an unusual event when we went on patrol through a coffee plantation to run into a nest of weaver ants and find them all over your self, the vehicle and every thing. The best solution was pyrethrum. Pyrethrum works buy desolving the exoskeleton of the insect, in my understanding there is no way to immunize against its effects. I was not aware it was available.

 

[coh]

Shows how much I know. We used pyrethrum spray when I was in Viet Nam. It was not an unusual event when we went on patrol through a coffee plantation to run into a nest of weaver ants and find them all over your self, the vehicle and every thing. The best solution was pyrethrum. Pyrethrum works buy desolving the exoskeleton of the insect, in my understanding there is no way to immunize against its effects. I was not aware it was available.

Pyrethrum/pyrethrin is a neurotoxin that damages the nervous system of insects, it does not dissolve the exoskeleton.

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/pyrethrins.pdf