I found these marks on one of my roths today---

Looked under the leaf with my trusty pocket microscope and sure enough there were those little menaces feasting on my lovely plant.

I washed them off with soap and water and then went to the store. Amazingly I found that now Schultz Garden Safe has a new pyrethrin spray that is WATER BASED! (the old formula had Canola oil) This should be big news for us paph growers. All the mite-killing power of pyrethrin without the danger of horticultural oil!

I am testing some out before spraying all my plants. I think I caught the mites early enough this summer so that I can stay a step ahead of them. Last year it was the other way around.

Justin

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3233/damnmiteszd6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Oh I loathe these nasty pests...Let us know how it works out for you!

I do too, teresa! You're not alone! :p

It's not the Garden Safe brand. it is just the regular Schultz Houseplants and Garden Insect Spray.

Good luck and keep us updated! :fcrossed:

They are OK just don't let the plants be under strong light it burns the leaves and flowers.

Ramon:D

Found spider mites in my compots too--they prey on the weak.
We'll see just how gentle the new formulation is now for seedlings.

I think I caught the mites early enough this year so that I am ahead of them. Several pyrethrin applications this week have pretty much eradicated the current wave.

Sadly look at what they did to my stonei seedlings before I got a handle on them (some of the orange stuff is just cinnamon but you get the idea). Just look at all that damage in the leaf tips and margins. The plants should be fine but I was so angry when I found mites were feasting on all my compots.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/6089/stoneimitedamagelj1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Does anyone else use this kind of hand microscope? it is only$10 from radio shack and really helps with detecting spider mite populations--you can see every stage including egg and larvae which are normally invisible to the naked eye so you can tell how well the war is going. Superior technology will prevail!

it is an awesome tool!

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/4387/handscopetc0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Thanks for the update, Justin! Cool tool! Your seedlings look like they will make it.