Mites on my Dendrobium!!!!

[LovePhals]

I just found mites on my dendrobium. They are spider mites. I have had them on the past on my oncidium sweet sugar. I have this Den with many other plants and really hope they are not all over my other plants
Is a mixture of Alochol, neem oil and water ok to use on it? I need to treat very quickly, it appears I caught it early.
I noticed the leaf of my dendrobium discoloring and thought it was leaf age. When watering today I noticed webbing between leaves and looked closer and see it is spider mites!!

[kindrag23]

Oh boy good ol' spider mites, I battle them in winter on my gardenia. I am not sure about the home made solution though. I use the Bayer with Neem Oil to get rid of mine but I am not so sure if it would be okay on orchids or not.

[bethmarie]

For action you can take immediately, try the advice from Ray's website: isolate the plant and bathe it weekly with mildly soapy water. Be sure to wash away any webbing and give the undersides of leaves a good scrubbing. This will remove all or most of the adults, but it won’t affect the eggs. To get these, you have to wait a week until they hatch, then wash again. Repeat once more a week later.

I've had repeated run ins with mites, too. I didn't have permanent success getting rid of them with home remedies, but others have. Sucrashield did the job well, after repeated applications.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by bethmarie

For action you can take immediately, try the advice from Ray's website: isolate the plant and bathe it weekly with mildly soapy water. Be sure to wash away any webbing and give the undersides of leaves a good scrubbing. This will remove all or most of the adults, but it won’t affect the eggs. To get these, you have to wait a week until they hatch, then wash again. Repeat once more a week later.

I've had repeated run ins with mites, too. I didn't have permanent success getting rid of them with home remedies, but others have. Sucrashield did the job well, after repeated applications.

This is about what I've been doing. Except I've got mites on little seedlings that are watered a couple of times a week. So I'm washing them down with plain water every time I water, then with soapy water every couple of weeks. It's keeping them at bay, not conviced I've got rid of them yet. The plants are growing well and are healthy though with the way I'm keeping them at bay, they certainly weren't when the mites had taken hold of them.

[silken]

If you want to use a miticide, Malathion works well on spider mites, but it stinks. You need to do it several times to get any eggs that hatch and spray the underside of leaves as well.

[NYCorchidman]

Do you have a lot of plants??

If so, check them and pick out the ones infested with mites to treat. Or you can just spray.

Neem oil (or read labels) can damage the plant badly if used on hot day, so be sure to spray the early morning or at night. Keep it in the shade.

If have just a few orchids, then I would take safer ( to humans) method, which is basically just washing with water or soapy water.

In such hot days in the summer, mites can cycle in just few days, so I would wash down every three or five days at minimum.

You have not caught this early since you found out that you have mites by seeing the damage done and there are webs. That means there are tons!!!!

Make sure you water your orchids good as well because water stressed plants are like mites magnets.

They will keep coming back to the drought stressed plants first.

So give your plants GOOD watering each time you water, don't leave them done dry too long, wash the plants down every three or five days, so you will be fine. Although you should always be on the lookout for any pests and disease.

Good luck!

[BettyE]

I like to use a recipe that was given to me in Hawaii, by a small retail grower. Here it is: 20% alcohol (91% is best ), 20% regular 409, 60% water, Put everything in a spray bottle, and gently shake. Spray ALL surfaces of the orchid. Do this once a week for three weeks. You will have no more insects of any kind! BettyE
P.S. You can use this method of spraying even when the weather is very hot, (90+ degrees)

[LovePhals]

Oh no, I hope there are not tons. I got the ones that were on the plant with a very heavy water spray then Bayer. I haven't seen anymore since I posted! I am still keeping this plant secluded from my others.

NYCorchidman- I have kept the plants too dry. I have this Den with 15 other orchids on a rack. I don't see any on my other plants thank goodness.

Betty- I will try that solution, thanks!

[BettyE]

Mites thrive when it's warm & dry. Keep the humidity up, if you can...BettyE.