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FREE TO GOOD HOME: Spider Mites

Blister

Blister

Yep, I got some if anyone is interested. In all seriousness, I noticed these little guys on my plants yesterday and have sprayed my plants down with some Safer Soap (tops and bottoms of the leaves). Then I got to wondering do you have to actually get the soap on 'their person' to kill the little buggers? I don't have what you'd call an infestation just yet (there's only a few here and there), but I've noticed that they're still on my plants and I squish them each time I find one. So what's the deal? Will the safer soap take care of them?

I was also thinking about trying some of the Diatomaceous earth if I can get my hands on some, but I haven't looked around town just yet. I used what I had on hand. Any advice on how to stop an infestation?
 
D.E.

FYI - Diatomaceous Earth can be found at any swimming pool store !!! (it is used in the filters as a filtration media)



Diatomaceous Earth
Kills Ants, Fleas, Ticks, Cockroaches, Earwigs, Slugs, Beetles, Flies, Silverfish, Bed Bugs and many other pests, naturally, without harsh synthetic chemicals!
 
Thanks for the replies all. Turns out that dad had some Diatomaceous Earth on hand. I'll give it a shot. I wouldn't mind getting some lady bugs in there as well though. I'll have to check at the local garden center to see if they have or know where I could get some.
 
Plant the right kind of plants. Plants with umbrella-shaped flowers attract ladybugs. Consider an herb garden with cilantro, dill or fennel or try a flower garden with cosmos, geraniums or coreopsis.
 
Does the Diatomaceous Earth have to be processed or can it be in natural form. As I can get a lot of it unprocessed since I work for a company that mines the stuff.
 
albert671 said:
Does the Diatomaceous Earth have to be processed or can it be in natural form. As I can get a lot of it unprocessed since I work for a company that mines the stuff.
Click to expand...

If its a fine flour you could use it as is as an insecticide. If you use a good duster it doesn't take much. I bought a 50Lb bag of food grade DE around 5 years ago and haven't used quite half of it yet.
 
Try to get your plant away from the heat. Spider mites loves the heat and try to get it humid... as this will hamper its multiplication. use neem oil. put some garlic around the plant. read somewhere that the mites don't like the smell :)
 
They don't like Sevin either :).

I tried using safers soap for a couple of weeks, squashing them when I found them (mites and aphids), but it was a loosing battle. Then when I talked to the folks at the local nursery they all but laughed at me and my attempts. I picked up a bottle of Sevin and rid myself of those little pests after 1 application. I found one winged aphid on one of my plants the other day and squashed it. I inspected the plants and haven't seen anything pop up yet. Could I have been lucky enough to have caught it before it could've done any damage? I'm hoping so.
 
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