Thread: Spider mites
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Old June 29, 2017   #12
b54red
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
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Originally Posted by TexasTomat0 View Post
I've been battling spider mites for a few months now, using the same combo. It knocks them out but they keep on coming back. We've had a really dry few weeks up until this past weekend when it poured. Seems like once they get into a plant they're nearly impossible to get ride of.

It's tedious making sure to hit every single underside of the leaf, wish they'd hang out on the tops so they were easier to spray.


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I found several things that will help with keeping the mites off for a much longer time. One is to spray with the mix of Permethrin, Dawn and DE and then remove most of the damaged leaves over the next few days then repeat the spraying so you get any leaves you might have missed the first time.

Made sure you are getting as much of the food grade DE into your sprayer as it can handle without clogging constantly. I have found that the heavier the film of DE that shows up when the plants dry the more effective it is. Also make sure to use the Permethrin in a strong enough combination for it to kill the adults quickly.

There is no way to keep the mites off for too long because new ones will come in on the wind and start the whole mess over again within a few weeks if the weather stays dry. I am actually shocked to see them show up this quickly with only two days without rain. I rarely have a problem with them when the weather stays wet but this year they have started moving in despite the wet weather. It started back raining a bit again today and it cooled off so maybe that one spraying that I did will do the trick but I'm afraid I will need to repeat it since a lot of the DE got washed off last night and today.

Bill
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