Imidacloprid - Suitable to eradicate Spider Mites?

[rbarata]

Well, here Imacloporid is 25 euros for 1 litre, and acaricides for mites not that much more.

I buy Calipso (Bayer) for 7,8 EURO (500 ml). Acaricides can only be bought by authorized people, who went under a trainning. These are EU laws, I think.

[wintergirl]

Having plants fade and look like crap because they have mites is time consuming to get them back to health. Preventative showers seem a lot easier.

[rbarata]

Preventative showers seem a lot easier.

That's something I've learned, although some of the plants suffer with it in winter with lower temps. Those need a sauna after the bath.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Good! Yay! I bought some diatomaceous earth (food quality) just in case. I heard that it works quite well. Anyone ever try that?

Food quality dust?

[jrguevar]

The use of a miticide or home mixtures will only depend on the scale where you want to use it, and both will work. A couple of years back I only used alcohol to control its population, when I only had 3 small plants identified with the plague, it was easy to wash them around; now with more than 100 plants and the most damaged one measuring more than 2meters (arundina bambusifolia) alcohol doesnt do the trick anymore. Im waiting to buy the abamectin to try it next week. Read the articles in the american orquid society about mites, you can find mostly two types a red and black one; here is a photo of what I found in a phal

[wintergirl]

I have more than 100 plants and I still use the alcohol water and Dawn Soap. I just mix it up in a big spray bottle. I look at my plants under a digital microscope so I know when I have mites.

[jrguevar]

Originally Posted by wintergirl

I have more than 100 plants and I still use the alcohol water and Dawn Soap. I just mix it up in a big spray bottle. I look at my plants under a digital microscope so I know when I have mites.

What plant species do you have and mountings? Rinsing the soap,OH,H2O gave me alot of crown rot, and not only in phals. I had a time when I cleaned like this all plants every 15 days but is a really time consuming and a real pain; missed more than one aplication and they go all wild about it

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by jrguevar

What plant species do you have and mountings? Rinsing the soap,OH,H2O gave me alot of crown rot, and not only in phals. I had a time when I cleaned like this all plants every 15 days but is a really time consuming and a real pain; missed more than one aplication and they go all wild about it

I didn't treat every single plant. I treated the ones that actually had false spider mites and the plants near them. Like I said I use the microscope first. The rest of my plants get rinsed with water to prevent. I have mostly species and a few of them look stressed but the false mites were starting to stress them too. I don't have a problem with crown rot and I really get my phals wet. I shake them upside down after they are rinsed. I also run a fan 24/7. I have started rinsing most of my plants and the ones that are not rinsed get misted. It works for me in my situation. Also when I treat I do it once a week x2-3 weeks. I think 15 days might be too long. Maybe try every 10 days or once a week. When I treat or rinse/water my plants I also wipe down the grow area. The digital microscopes are under $20 here.

[estación seca]

The mite life cycle can be less than a week when temperatures are warm, so every 15 days would be too long. I also use alcohol on my plants. I have some other plants the mites love, so they show damage first. In your climate a plumeria would serve this function well.

Also, if your growing area is very humid, there will be much less trouble with mites. They will first attack the plants in the lowest humidity areas.

[rbarata]

I do it once/week, soap and alcohol, during four weeks.