Can I plant a new dwarf Alberta in same spot as spider mites

Hi! My old dwarf Alberta Spruce succumbed to spider mites. I took it out last year and the area has had some perennial flowers for 2 seasons. Now I am wondering if it would be safe to plant a new dwarf Alberta spruce in the same spot? Will the spider mites overtake the healthy new bush as well?

My guess is that they'd be back, but Spider Mites don't have to be a death sentence to a plant. I have heard just a hard spray of water on the plant discourages them. And of course, there's several chemical sprays like Neem, if you don't mind chemicals.

If you plant it anywhere else in your yard it can still get spider mites, so I don't think your risk is much different if you plant it in the same spot vs somewhere else in your yard. It's not like those soil-born fungal diseases where you have to avoid planting susceptible things in the same location--spider mites are mobile so if they're in your area and they like dwarf alberta's the new one could get them no matter where you plant it. The key is to be vigilant and catch them early--as shortleaf pointed out there are things you can do about them and they aren't going to kill the plant if you catch them soon enough and takes steps to treat the plant.

Thank-you for your replies. I think I may plant another one in the same spot then. We have a couple in another area of our yard and my husband sprayed one hard with water and said it looked like a cloud rose up out of it. He was wondering if that was the spider mites. How can you tell if you are starting to get an infestation? A little browning? I heard something about seeing webs?

Another issue was that when my husband sheared the two aforementioned bushes last summer, the spots where he had sheared turned brown. Fortunately the new growth covered those spots. But I was wondering if it is a bad idea to shear dwarf alberta spruce in general. Will we always get brown spots where we make a cut? When I look around at other yards, I don't like the strange bulbous look some dwarf alberta spruce get. Do you know what I mean? They tend to lose their straight lines and get bulges everywhere and sometimes it looks very unnattractive.

They don't take well to shearing, particularly not heavy shearing - if you want to keep the shape, frequent light shearing is better than occasional heavy shearing, and don't cut back into brown (old) stems.

Resin

Haha! A cloud huh?! I don't know what that was. It mighta been the Mites putting a curse out! Seriously tho, I think your doing the right thing. I think I shoulda added up there "periodically" a spray of water, I think if their regularly hit with water they'll stop coming around, like once a week or so.
I also heard that about webs, very tiny webs. But, if you look REAL close they're supposed to be visible to the naked eye, and the Mites too. I'd hafta look extra hard because I'm over 40. Needing bifocals at 40 isn't a joke. I said "can I have single vision glasses one more time?" That was a mistake! A few years ago, I cut off the whole cone (top) of a Dwarf Alberta Spruce and I thot "there it goes, now its ruined", it is growing a new top! I looked at it tonite, it grew again from the same leader, which is nice! In a couple years it should look like it was never cut off. At first when I did it, it looked terrible, hard to look at terrible. But, it looked even worse all brown on the top third or so before I cut it. I wouldn't recommend that kind of shearing either tho. This was about 5 years ago. Back then, I just wanted to get rid of the Mites immediately and cutting off the brown spot was a sure way I thot then. I pretty much got rid of the Mites, but boy did that thing ever look bad for a long time! I think any kind of chemical spray should be a last resort, when I also applied Neem© spray to it before I cut it, wasps and Granddaddy long-legs came out of there, I think I killed them and I felt bad.
And I tell you, watering makes a big difference! I planted 2 here and 1 at my Mom's, all at the same time - April of 04', they were $20 each from Walmart. My Mom watered hers every day, and my friend here never watered hers. It was one of hers here that got the Mite damage so bad, maybe not watering makes them more susceptible..dunno. The well-watered one at my Mom's is dense, nicely green and a really good shape and all. It is about one third bigger! There is no way I'd consider, digging-it-up-to-transplant-it-big..lol I am considering, and likely will try to dig the 2 up here to transplant, or try my hand at making a topiary out of them, if they survive a dig.
I've seen that old bulbous shape you speak of, not a good look. I think I'd make one look like a Great Pyramid of Egypt before I had that! It could be 20 years or so before one reaches that stage though. Yeah, I'd go with a light shearing if shearing is done.
Its so much faster and less unsightly, the foliage should grow back much faster of course. I took a photo of that Dwarf Alberta Spruce (now, thats a mouthful!) today.
It still looks kinda flattish but it's getting it's cone back slowly.
Will

Heres my Mom's in April 04'

Heres the same one at my Mom's earlier this month.

That's incredible that your bush's top grew back! Who would have thought? That is too bad about the Neem spray getting to the daddy long legs. They are nice spiders. If all it takes to keep the bugs at bay is a hard spray periodically that is not too bad. I do douse mine with the dehumidifier tank full of water every other day or so to keep it watered as well. I guess I will continue doing that then!

Heres one before and after I lopped the top.
I couldn't find a photo where I had just lopped the top. My guess is I did it 6 mos. or so before the bottom photo. These 2 photos are less than a year apart.

Heres that one in the back, it wasn't as bad oddly enuff, and I didn't need to cut it, I just sprayed it with Neem©. Imagine that closest one completely bare on the top. In the top photo you can see they were working on it. I always contributed it to Spider Mites.
It eventually filled back in and I didn't deem it lopworthy.