Lions and Tigers and Spider Mites, Oh My!
 

I decided not to hijack someone else's thread, so I'm copying a post from another thread I'd made, along with tmoney's response, and now adding to it.

My post from other thread:

Never say never... I've NEVER had spider mites. EVER. Two years ago decided to try growing Catasetum. All of a sudden this year, a spider mite infestation on all five. Having a party, live band, lots of snacks and beverages.

And having never experienced them before, it took me quite a while to figure out why the leaves were looking so funny. Duh.

Catasetum being a spider mite magnet... it's my new reality. UGH. :((

tmoney's reply:

Now carrying on with new thread here:

Yes! I noticed three of them that are just being eaten alive. And two right there with them that are still very green, a few mites here and there. Was wondering same thing. Interesting... three are SVO hybrids (the ones with mites) and the other two are both species that aren't being attacked nearly as much. I also have two reedstem Epis next to them, and one of them now looks suspicious. Gonna move them outside, chop them down to LECA level, and spray the heck out of 'em.

Literally in 60-some years of growing plants, I have never had spider mites before. It's just not something common in my neck of the woods.

tmoney, how have you been dealing with killing them off? I've been just spraying with alcohol every three days for about two weeks now. Pretty sure the mites are drinking it up along with their rock band and party favors. Going to do a Neem oil with surfactant later today, after a quick soak in water with Dawn. AND leave them on my back porch for awhile.

And those of you who grow a lot of Catasetum, please, how do you deal with this every year?!? Oh Steeeeve?

Stop! Don't Chop! It won't help get rid of the mites, but will damage your plants.

Spider mites are everywhere outside, even in Kansas. You've been lucky. They will come back.

They can be controlled with plain water. Take your plants to the shower. Spray all plant surfaces with a good spray of water. Do this every week or two. Yes, it is a lot easier when you have a growing area you can just spray down with a hose, like I have.

This would be a lot easier with a hand-held shower nozzle on a hose.

Water wasn't cutting it ES. I tried for about a week before moving to alcohol. Even with the alcohol spray, they're back in full force within a couple of days. I'm three weeks in now.

Yes, there's spider mites in Kansas, but mostly in Southeast Kansas. We don't see them often around here, but it's also been a VERY hot summer.

Wasn't going to chop the Ctsm... just the reedstem epis, which needed a bit of control in their lives anyway. :biggrin:

I'm also wondering (only my second summer of Ctsm) if it's going to affect size of this year's growth. So far, none are getting nearly as large as last year's pbulb, or whatever the heck you call them. I think perhaps I should take some pictures....

Next step is to increase the relative humidity in your growing area as high as possible. Get it over 80% and keep it there.

---------- Post added at 09:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------

Gave it some more thought. You can't spray down your entire growing area with a hose because it's inside your home, so there are still mites and eggs on the walls and furniture. The higher relative humidity will help a lot. I would consider spraying every inanimate object you can with rubbing alcohol or dish soap solution.

Get your humidity up. Spider mites LOVE dry conditions. Put in a humidifier if you can.

Ugh!! I am really feeling the creepy crawlies now! Is there maybe some kind of fogger I could use?

My humidity runs 75-80% anyway. I could probably run it up more by doing a load of towels and hanging them out to dry in the room.

IDK what your temps are but try dropping it 5 degrees. That will also raise the RH. Spider mites like heat and dry conditions.

Soapy water rather than just plain water... drown the little nasties. And if that doesn't cut it, a miticide. The ones specifically listed for spider mites tend to be outrageously expensive. But one that is sold for termites can work for a lot less money... I have a bottle of Bifenthrin that seems to work, and didn't break the bank.

I know ES says water will kill them, but my experience has been that the water is best used to dislodge and remove them from the plants. We converted our standup shower into a dog/plant shower by swapping the shower head for a 10’ garden hose (look for hose extender or hose reel connectors) and spray nozzle. Blast the suckers off with as much pressure as the foliage can safely stand, soap down the shower walls and rinse between plants. Shower heads and sink sprayers almost always have pressure reducers for water conservation. You will need the correct converter piece to go from the wall pipe to the garden hose. I ordered it online but you can probably find it locally.

Spider mites completely disappeared from my plants when I changed locations 8 years ago, without any treatment. I always assumed that the higher humidity in the summer, and also indoors in the winter (less cold, water based heating), makes this a hostile environment for them. Went from 100% of my plants with some level of infestation, to completely gone within a year after moving.