O
orchideya
Guest
There is no reason to have to surrender to spider mites. They're one of the easiest pests to control. Better than ANY chemical; use Horticultural Oil at 10 or maximum, 15 mls per litre of water. Spray the entire plant thoroughly. It's found in any garden centre. It's a very ultra-fine grade of mineral oil; far better than thicker grades of mineral oil found in pharmacies, which can suffocate your plants. It's got up to 3% emulsifiers to make it mix with water. Usually one thorough spray gets rid of mites completely. If your conditions encourage mites to thrive (hot/dry), just spray once a month for continuous control. If you have a lot of plants, use an electronic paint sprayer to "fog" the plants with a wet mist. DO NOT go crazy and spray every few days and DO NOT use at anything greater than 15 ml per litre. If you do, you will run the risk of damaging your plants by suffocating their stomata. The damage shows up as blotchy yellowing and browning of the foliage. Plants will recover from that; but, they look like hell until they outgrow it.
Thanks for the recipe John_M.
Yes, it was before my tanks, so dry and warm house conditions didn't help. Rusty brown patches all over the foliage. I couldn't look at them anymore.