Here's a Fatalii plant in a 10 gal container. This plant had an issue with Broad Mites early on. New growth twisted, older growth curled down while getting brittle and underside bronzing...........sound familar ?
Predator Mites will do the job
especially indoors, where mutiple connecting greenhouses and a variety of susceptible plants are grown. Beneficial insects will do the trick. I've used
Beneficial Nematodes indoors for Mealy Bug larvae.
Some folks have mentioned that Broad Mites are more privalent with the c.chinense, I'm not sure if that's totally true as most folks here grow more of that species then the others.
What I used to control the situation was a combo of products. First off I quaranteed the plant from the others. Easy to do since I can relocate the container, but as with the inground plants the adjacent (container/inground) plants will get treated also. First day I diluted
Azamax as specified with water into a 1 gal pump sprayer. The entire plant(s) from top to bottom needs to get treated. The wand from the sprayer makes that possible without damaging the leaves or cracking the stems. Indoors for foliar feeding I'll use a qt misting bottle, I can control the spray by feathering the mist. No way to spray the underside of the leaves properly with the qt misting outdoors as it doesn't work well when turned upside down.......lol The Azamax was sprayed at dusk and I covered the plant loosely with a ex-large trash bag. I also sprayed the perimeter plants with the same mix, leaving them uncovered. Early the next morning I removed the bag and hosed the residue off the plant with clean water. The same evening I mixed up
Avid miticide with water. Sprayed the plants, covering the Fatalii once again with a clean trash bag.. Once again the next morning I rinsed the residue off with water.
Results.........
After 2 weeks the new growth is coming in normal, flowers are not dropping off, the petiole is growing longer and narrow (whereas Broad mite damage causes a shorter petiole with a wider connection to the calyx), and finally pollen is available and fruits are forming.
I'm not saying what I've used will work for others...variables of climate and the condition of the plants can be questionable.
Broad Mite infestation doesn't spread like
wild fire but if usind chemicals under the wrong conditions can set your new growth
a blaze.....
For those who've battled the mites....hands down, post your solutions....
Greg
