Treatment for spider mites

[Earl Phillips]

I think I may have a sider mite infestation starting and am wondering if anyone has used Bonide  285 Mite X for getting rid of

these little fellows.  Will it hurt the worms if you spray the plants with growbed water a little later after treatment. Probably a day or

so because it is supposed to suffocate the hatching of any eggs!

Earl Phillips

[George]

I used miticides on roses way back but I eventually learned that washing them off with water works just as well - have been using that technique on all plants for 20 years or so.  You must repeat to deal with subsequent hatches.  

[Keith Rowan]

i read on the safety sheet that you should NOT use this around water

http://www.kellysolutions.com/erenewals/documentsubmit/KellyData%5C...

 

get some predatory mites.. once the spider mites are gone, they'll prey on each other and clean up themselves..

 

[Alex Veidel]

I've had a little luck with spinosad. The label doesn't claim to work for spider mite, but after an application, I noticed a lot of dead mites on my leaves. I do highly recommend predatory mites. P. persimilis is really great for cleaning up an existing problem, but not so great for prevention, as they need a large diet of spider mites to survive. Their diet is so refined, they won't eat anything else. I used a combination of P. persimilis and N. californicus  to tackle my spider mite woes. Californicus can go for long periods of time without food (and can supplement their diet with flower pollen). I've watched them stick around and balance the highs and lows of my spider mite population beautifully. Oh, and in the absence of spider mites, N. californicus eats P. persimilis, so everything balances itself out.

I recommend Green Methods as a distributor for the mites, I've had good luck with their products so far and they are the most affordable as well.

Spinosad: http://www.amazon.com/Monterey-LG6135-Contains-Spinosad-32-Ounce/dp...

Predatory mites:

P. persimilis: https://greenmethods.com/biocontrols/persimilis/

N. californicus: https://greenmethods.com/biocontrols/californicus/

[Converse]

Freshly brewed worm casting tea will get rid of spider mites.  It will not harm an AP system.

 - Converse