Mother Freaking Spider Mites!! Argh!!

[jocierk]

I have also been battling spider mites so I feel your pain. Mine are itty bitty and bright red (the larger gray ones preceded them but were super easy to kill) they also don't actually have an webbing so I am thinking they could also be flat mites (looked at them with a 40x jewelers loupe and they are clearly some kind of mite). First I sprayed Bayer Dual Action Rose and Flower and that got rid of the gray ones. Once I noticed the red ones a few weeks later I brought the Bayer back out and it didn't phase them, I followed that with Garden Safe Fungicide3 and that didn't help. After that I hung plastic and did a Doktor Doom fogger (Pyrethrum) and they laughed at that. Then I sprayed each orchid with Bonide Dead bug Brew (spinosad) which actually helped kill off a noticeable amount of adults but I don't think it did anything for the eggs cause they came back with a vengeance. If you are trying to be natural and you can stay vigilant (dunk or spray every 4 days or so) I actually recommend this stuff. Its also supposed to be totally pet safe and doesn't stink. Since then I have dunked in Azamax and then a week later in more Dead Bug Brew and I just got done dunking in Horticultural Oil.

If my orchids live through all this I will be amazed but it seems like nothing is working as well as the reviews claim it does. I have lost 5 little bellina hybrids to mite damage at this point and one small cattleya. I have about 60 orchids and the mites for sure prefer the ones with thin delicate leaves, however they also seem to love my Angreacum (I account this to it being the most expensive orchid I own). I am hoping the previous two dunks will weaken the stupid things enough that the horticultural oil will finish them off.

I should also note that the humidity in the orchid room is high...stays around 75-80 lately... and this hasn't deterred the mites at all. I actually noticed the first explosion of the little red ones after I hiked up the humidity cause the orchids seemed dry.

Please keep us posted on how it all goes for you. I really hope you can get yours under control faster than I have been able to.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by jocierk

I have also been battling spider mites so I feel your pain. Mine are itty bitty and bright red (the larger gray ones preceded them but were super easy to kill) they also don't actually have an webbing so I am thinking they could also be flat mites (looked at them with a 40x jewelers loupe and they are clearly some kind of mite). First I sprayed Bayer Dual Action Rose and Flower and that got rid of the gray ones. Once I noticed the red ones a few weeks later I brought the Bayer back out and it didn't phase them, I followed that with Garden Safe Fungicide3 and that didn't help. After that I hung plastic and did a Doktor Doom fogger (Pyrethrum) and they laughed at that. Then I sprayed each orchid with Bonide Dead bug Brew (spinosad) which actually helped kill off a noticeable amount of adults but I don't think it did anything for the eggs cause they came back with a vengeance. If you are trying to be natural and you can stay vigilant (dunk or spray every 4 days or so) I actually recommend this stuff. Its also supposed to be totally pet safe and doesn't stink. Since then I have dunked in Azamax and then a week later in more Dead Bug Brew and I just got done dunking in Horticultural Oil.

There are mites...and then there are spider mites. They are not the same and treatments for them aren't always interchangeable.

As for your red mites -- are you sure those aren't predatory mites? I get very fast moving red mites in the spring/early summer and for years I kept trying to kill them but I never seemed to get rid of them. I would spray something and the next day there would be thousands again! And every spring I had more than I had the year before! Well, I found out a couple of years ago that what I've been trying to kill is actually a good guy. I leave them be now.

Here's some info on them -
Predatory Running Mite - What's That Bug?

I don't know if this is what you have but I know I've carried some in w/the plants in the fall and I just leave them be. I think they go dormant though because I never see too many after a certain period. Could be they are dying off w/out a food source. ??

Anyway...just throwing it out there. Mites/spider mites - there is more than one "red" one and not all mites are harmful.