How to deal with spider mites?

[jasonresno]

I am an indoor grower and every few weeks I have customers come in to my shop dealing with a really bad spider mite infestation. for those that haven't dealt with spider mites they are best described as microscopic little creatures start eating away at your plant. You can tell an infestation is really bad once webbing starts to appear on your plants. The problem with these pests is that they adapt very quickly to whatever regiment you are fighting them with. Oils only work for so long, they acclimate to pesticides pretty quickly, and breed on a 3 day cycle. so my question is for my sake as much as my customers: has anyone here found an organic and effective way to treat spider mites? I hate having to hand over pesticides so often.

 

[claudine]

I hate spider mites, they always try to attack my miniature roses. But it's not very hard to fight them. First of all, spider mites hate water, so if you wash your plants regularly, they'll go away. It's also good to wash leaves with tea. I did it once and it helped.
I know that some people use soap, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Pat]

My remedy is time intensive, I wash each leaf and stem with dish washing detergent. Do it once wait a few days and do it again even if you do not seen any mites. Do this for about two weeks and it should handle the problem. Another thing I do is put the plant inside a clear plastic bag spray bug spray inside the bag and close the top air tight and let the plant stay in the closed bag for a day or two. I saw this treatment a long time ago, it was called the Plant Hospital.

 

[jasonresno]

My remedy is time intensive, I wash each leaf and stem with dish washing detergent. Do it once wait a few days and do it again even if you do not seen any mites. Do this for about two weeks and it should handle the problem. Another thing I do is put the plant inside a clear plastic bag spray bug spray inside the bag and close the top air tight and let the plant stay in the closed bag for a day or two. I saw this treatment a long time ago, it was called the Plant Hospital.

I really like your bag suggestion. In regards to the dish soap: If I am growing a plant that I intend to ingest (peppers, herbs and so on) would you advise adding a rinsing step afterwards? I feel like having dish soap on my vegetables probably isn't too good for me. Or do you believe that it will wash away and not be something I have to worry about?

 

[ACSAPA]

I freaking hate spider mites. They are killing my Alocasia Polly. I'll give the dishwashing liquid tip a try. Thank you so much.

 

[Chuck]

I have found that the best way, at least for me, is to be pro-active with them. Before they show up I spray with a mixture of 2 oz liquid seaweed and 1 oz molasses per gallon of water about once a week. This seems to make the exterior of the leaves tougher and the infestation much less. This does not completely eliminate them although it does greatly reduce their numbers. When they invariably show up I then mix 2 oz of spinosad with the seaweed mixture. This regimen works quite well on vegetables and I don't see why it wouldn't work on flowers as well.