Kelthane does sound interesting, but it's probably not avaible here in Canada since most of the strong chemicals have been done away with. Safer's bug soap is good. I also routinely soap my orchids with dish detergent. I use it as a soil drench and as a spray about 3 times 10-14 days apart every few months. I have used Safer's Endall with the canola oil in it on my orchids and it hurt the leaves, so I would be very careful of what oils I used. I have used Neem oil and they didn't mind, if you can stand the smell.

P.S. Scale really hates soap.:evil: :biggrin:

I have used End-All without problem on Catts, Phal, Paph, Den, Tol, Cym. I do water the plants well before treating for any pests and make sure the temperature is not to high in the grow area.

Other than that I use Neem oil - the smell only presists 2 days......a whole lot less time than Kelthane or any of the other killers (bugs and people)!

There is a homemade solution that also works well from the COC web news. See Canadian Orchid Congress Newsletter - VOL16.4 - September 2004

It works pretty good and I believe that Christina at the Orchid Shop uses it also.

Some other references of note: An Evaluation of Selected Miticides for Control of Two-Spotted Spider Mites on Marigolds
Miticide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They might help in narrowing down a chemical safe to orchids and registered for use in Canada. Kelthane is only 1 of dozens of miticides and with orchardists just as concerned, chemical companies are working overtime to find substitutes. For what it's worth, Kelthane is banned in Michigan as well. I just happen to possess a small supply :evil:

Pest Control
 

The Spider mite Life cycle is in 5 stages Fom Eggs to Larva to 1St nymph stage to 2nd Nymph stage to Adult. This life cycle depends on temps. The entire cycle can be over 10 days in periods of higher temps. As temps and daylength decrease females go into hibernation and crawl into a dark place until better conditions prevail.

Why is it important to know about their life cycle you ask?

With this knowledge it becomes much easier to eradicate them.

Two factors in orchid culture facilitate an explosion of spider mites. One is lack of Humidity. They flourish in low humidity growing areas. The second is plants that are stressed due to chronic lack of water. So that is something that is just as important as which pesticide to use.

Which pesticide to use depends on situation and which stage of the life cycle. If you are growing in a home Using a pesticide meant for a greenhouse is not a good idea. There are lots of pesticides out there but the market for the home gardener is relatively small. The more toxic stuff is available only to growers who have a pesticide applicators licence (in Canada) Those growers also have access to more info on toxcicity, which stage of the life cycle it is effective on and whether it is systemic or non systemic killing on contact and if it acts over several days or if as soon as it is dry it stops being effective.
Personally I favor products such as Trounce or End All in my greenhouse It is considered an organic product and works against a broad range of insects. It kills on contact but isn't effective once it dries. Plus its toxicity is very low and won't have any detrimental effects on people or animals WEll unless they drink it I suppose.:hmm
The trick with such products is to consider life cycle. So if the mites have a 10 day life cycle sprayng every two weeks will not eradicate them.

So once you have picked your pesticide you now have to think about the most effective way to spray it. The best time to spray is at the end of the day. The other thing that is EXTREMELY important is to make sure the plants are well watered before you spray. Dry plants can be damaged by pesticides This is called Phytoxicity.

So my recomendations are; use something like End All, Trounce or Dr Doom These all contain Pyrethrins. Spray every 10 days for three weeks and time your spraying for the evening, sun and pesticides don't mix, and make sure the plants have been watered that day. The other thing you can do is mist the plants daily with cool water because spidermites HATE wet humid conditions and cold water so that will also help. Over the long term take a look at your cultural conditions and possibly not let your plants get so dry but even more important you need to raise the humidity to at least 60 % higher is better.

This should help in the bug fights! :fight :cheer:

Nicely done Christina! Excellent info.

Excellent job, Christina! :clap:

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with our members :dance:

Excellent info Christina, shed's a whole new light on insecticides, some in which I never knew existed, not to mention the little buggers :evil: life cycles.

Keep in mind folks... the above is ONLY for Canada. Dr Doom is NOT available except in Canada. What is registered in your country is what you should be using.

:shock: Much happen here today.:biggrin: We're gonna get those mites! Thanks for the article on spraying for the two spotted spider mite, a very interesting experiment. I'm willing to bet there's some melathyon and cygon2E hanging out in some gardening sheds around here too. I had people in the nursery buying it up by the armful as it was being illegalized.;)

Hey Christina, thanks for the info.

Believe me I've been growing these things since roughly 1998 and have NEVER had these things. Had some mealy bugs on the odd one, went through a small aphid infestation (only had a few plants at the time) and saw more than my share of scale. Tried everything from Safers, Endall Trounce, Neem Oil, this spray, that spray, voodoo, witchdoctor....have even sprayed 70% alcohol and a mixture of water and Diazinon. :dumb: I have never had this much trouble with a pest....if I didn't cherish the plants so much I would set the little buggers on fire!! :((

I unfortunately cannot get the humidity any higher than 40% and keep it there....it goes up down and sometimes the meter reads LL which means none at all. I have pebble trays, water trays and have gone through my share of humidifiers, and they are not cheap. Man I would give my left arm for a greenhouse. *sigh* :(

Had my shelves in the basement with an HID light but had no blooms, so I switched to plan B. Built myself a shelf and had to put it in the upstairs bedroom because of the ceiling height in the basement....it just wasn't high enough and the shelf is 7 feet high. I love it up here where my computer room and bedroom are...have the whole upstairs to myself. :biggrin: Only problem, is that it's much harder to keep the humidity higher.

I will see if I can find a picture of my shelf to post here.