Fighting Spider Mites

Lexington, SC(Zone 8a)

That'd be a lot of re-potting and dirt. Our average pot size is probably 14"; with the largest being 24" - about 200 plants total. I do love the large tropicals. Unfortunately, so do the bugs.

I think most of the plants have been repotted at least once this summer. The infestations I suspect occur with plants in close contact or that never have any precip on them. Several stay indoors all year, and they seem to be prone to such infestations, especially at work where it's so dry. I basically have to use the predator mites there since I can't spray.

I did take a look at the Oil I purchased several months ago, and it's 70% neem extract and 30% something else. It is a systemic and lord does it smell. Rotten onions is a good way to put it, LOL. I may go and purchase one of those containers you can hook up to the hose, and apply it that way before wintering the plants. For those already in, I'm likely just going to try the mites. The 8' Palm is just too big to take in and out... we already busted one pot earlier this year.

Luckily and or strangely (knock on wood) I've noticed by far and large that spider mites leave my pothos and monstera alone. I've seen them on the pothos in the past (which worries me bc of all the leaves), but I've never seem them very active on the mostera's. Maybe I've just been lucky. Today was the first time I'd ever seen them attack a White BOP, but now I know to watch out for them there too. I do know they mutilate my EE faster than anything else, so this year I'm just going to chop them off at the base before brining them in. They could probably use the hibernation anyway.

This message was edited Sep 18, 2007 10:11 PM

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