Spider mites can be an extremely troublesome problem for indoor gardeners. Although these pests appear similar to insects, they’re actually related to spiders, ticks and scorpions and extremely sensitive to oils used for gardening purposes.
Spider mites thrive in warm conditions with low humidity levels, quickly amassing populations that attack plants by puncturing leaves and sucking out plant cells such as chlorophyll from them.
Neem Oil
Spider mites can cause havoc among many indoor and outdoor plants, particularly vegetables like tomatoes and peppers. Tomato and pepper plants in particular are susceptible to spider mite infestation, often resulting in yellow leaves, but even small-leafed vegetables like peas and beans are vulnerable. Spider mites puncture leaf cells to siphon sap through holes they punctured into leaves – regular misting with water as well as applying neem oil can help avoid an infestation of these pests.
Neem oil contains an anti-mite compound known as azadirachtin which disrupts their digestive and reproductive systems, ultimately killing it. Neem oil also dissuades beneficial insects like lady bugs or predatory mites that attack spider mites from preying upon their populations – providing a natural means to decrease population.
Apply neem oil using a garden sprayer to the infested plant, making sure all areas, especially undersides of leaves where spider mites live are covered by it. Do this at least weekly until all spider mites have vanished from the plant.
Neem oil should never be applied to plants that are water-stressed or temperatures exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit as this will damage their tissue. Neem oil also inhibits soil microbes that break down organic matter for improved nutrient availability.
insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils may also be effective at controlling spider mite infestation. These products kill mites on contact while leaving behind a protective residue to deter future invasions for up to 30 days or longer, although their effectiveness depends on temperature conditions; so use early in an outbreak and regularly until all mites have disappeared from plants.
Long-lasting pesticides like bifenthrin can disrupt the delicate ecological balance that keeps spider mite populations under control, and may invite other harmful insects into an area. Instead, use short-lived insecticidal soaps such as neem oil to kill mites directly upon contact; just be wary when spraying these substances so you don’t accidentally spray the stem or flowers of plants with it as this will also kill them!
Irrigation
Twospotted spider mites are among the many mite species which cause plant damage. Their feeding strategy involves using their piercing-sucking mouthparts to pierce individual plant cells and empty their contents – leaving behind spots or yellowed foliage on leaves, leaving some species, especially dense-flowered ones wilting in response. If severe infestations of citrus trees take place they typically result in their death.
Mite control can best be achieved through keeping plants moist in a controlled way, yet regularly watered with small amounts. Most indoor houseplants thrive when fed small amounts of water on a regular basis to avoid dust accumulation which attracts mites.
Water can help dilute the scent-emitting plants’ secretions, decreasing their attractiveness to spider mites. If your home or garden are heavily infested with spider mites, give a good rinse with your garden hose in order to dislodge and break up their silky webs.
When watering a garden, use materials such as insecticidal soap or horticultural oil for mite control. Both petroleum-based horticultural oil and plant-based oils like neem, canola or cottonseed oil can be effective. When spraying these materials at temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit they could potentially harm plants.
If you decide to treat your plants with pesticides, select those designed specifically to combat mites. Spray all areas of the garden thoroughly – pay special attention to spraying beneath leaves and stems!
Elements such as elemental sulfur are an effective general-use chemical spray against spider mite infestation, though its strong odor and tendency to burn plant tissue limit its use indoors. Many gardeners opt for more natural methods of spider mite control by concocting homemade remedies using ingredients found in their kitchen pantry and applying this solution in spray bottles to all plants showing signs of infestation by spraying both sides of each leaf surface with this solution.
Cultural Practices
Two-spotted spider mites (family Tetranychidae) are tiny mites that infest and damage many types of plants in gardens and landscapes, feeding by puncturing leaf tissue with their whiplike mouthparts and sucking fluid out from individual cells – visible by visible stippling on underside of leaves, which can result in serious plant stress or damage to blooming or fruiting plants.
Mites reproduce rapidly under warm, dry conditions, quickly outnumbering their hosts and quickly multiplying to uncontrollable numbers. One female mite may lay 10-15 eggs daily and quickly increase in population to hundreds of thousands within days – most often found damaging vegetable crops or greenhouse plants by sucking life out of them.
Mite infestation damages plants in two ways. Mites feed on plant parts directly while interfering with photosynthesis by sucking fluid from chloroplasts – this reduces food and oxygen production in cells as well as giving leaves an unsightly yellow or stippled appearance.
There are various methods available to you for decreasing the prevalence of spider mites. Proper irrigation practices are key in order to avoid water stress in plants that increases their vulnerability to mite infestation, while overhead watering, which may normally be discouraged in terms of integrated pest management (IPM), may actually increase humidity locally around the plant and help decrease vulnerability to mite infestation.
Keep in mind that mites do not pose any harm to humans, pets or livestock. Although their fangs can puncture the skin of some animals such as cats and dogs, their fangs are too small for human skin penetration – meaning that should they come into contact with anyone they will eventually drop off and move onto another host – including other pets such as dogs or cats.
Cultural practices can help control spider mites in gardens and greenhouses where they are most prevalent, including adequate irrigation and spraying plants with water or horticultural oils, soap, or both – usually more effective than broad-spectrum insecticide treatments, which may actually facilitate more outbreaks by killing off natural enemies of the mites.
Pesticides
Spider mites are a common problem in both annual vegetable crops (tomatoes, squash) and ornamentals, including ornamental trees like spruces. When populations reach dangerously high levels on evergreens such as spruce trees, spider mites can defoliate it entirely and even kill it completely.
Mites can be difficult to manage using chemical pesticides due to their quick adaptations; thus it’s wise to resort to less toxic methods first as much as possible. Since mites also become resistant quickly to natural predators such as predator birds or spiders, natural methods are recommended as means of control.
Medium to heavy infestations of mites can generally be eliminated by spraying the plant with strong blasts of water, directed towards the undersides of its leaves and needles. This treatment should be repeated regularly until all mites have been eradicated from your garden.
One serious cause is often the use of broad-spectrum insecticides for controlling other pests, which may cause “mite flare” by killing off predatory insects that normally keep spider mite populations under control. Another potential trigger may be exposure of spider mites to specific fungus which increases their reproduction rates exponentially.
These mites can quickly spread throughout your houseplant collection if they find an infested plant; if this happens to you, treat the entire group immediately to contain the problem before it spirals out of control. They often arrive via shoes, clothing, hats, pet fur or infested plants themselves.
Spider mites are eight-legged arachnids more closely related to ticks and spiders than insects. Barely visible with the naked eye, these eight-legged creatures can only be seen through a microscope. Feeding on plant cells they puncture and drain of their contents by sucking their contents out through small holes at their surface layer, spider mite damage can be seen on leaves, flowers, stems and berries of infested plants while heavily infested plants take on a bronze or flecked appearance while often covered by fine silk webbings.
