Quote:
Originally Posted by Dewayne mater
Most years spider mites end up winning the war for my Spring tomatoes. So far, I'm winning this year. I've been aided by some June rain, some overcast skies that kept temps down, and vigilance. This year that has meant neem with permethrin alternating with Take Down insect spray (pyretherins and oil) from Monterrey with soap. I haven't had any luck with Spinosad on spider mites. I plan to use D.E. next spraying for an alternative. I also remove badly infested leaves and make sure they head to the landfill. A few times, I've also gone out and sprayed my plants with water to the point of being soaked in the heat of the afternoon. Spider mites don't care for wet conditions, but, you have to be careful about spreading fungal disease too.
Last year I used a couple of types of beneficial nematodes (cool weather, then hot weather types) and that seemed to help too.
I'm not feeling great about the use of poisons, but, I am feeling good about winning, so far.
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The only poison that I found effective by itself was Malthion but with its longer wait times and its tendency to burn tomato leaves when used at the strengths necessary to kill spider mites I quit using it years ago. By adding the DE and a good TBS of Dawn I am getting even better results with the much milder Permethrin and it is much safer to use. The mites don't build up any resistance to DE that I can see.
Bill