I am at my wits end T.T I had to toss 2 roses due to damage earlier this year and now that rainy season has come to Japan it is beginning to peak again. I posted before, and while the suggestion helped I am wondering mostly about 2 plants in particular. (Spider Mites are usually around March- October increasing about now and peaking in Summer).

I've been:

- spraying the leaves and undersides with neem oil and water.
-cleaned the leaves and tossed severely infected ones - double bagging them until trash day.
-monitor the watering levels.
- sprinkled cinnamon in the soil
-used sprays made for killing pests including spider mites

I am debating if I should toss my other two roses just in case to save my Jalapeno seedlings (some which are already showing signs of mite attacks) and my other bigger rose which is on the other side of my balcony. My cherry and orange tree so far have not shown any signs of attack- same with my cyclamen and marigolds.

I sprayed with neem oil today but probably will be trying some of the old recipes suggested last time which will be soapy water and tabasco sauce mixed together. I just don't know what else to do though...

What have you done that was effective? Will it be better to just cut my losses by tossing the two most infected plants and then attempt to focus on the mostly healthy ones?

AshleyD said:I am at my wits end T.T I had to toss 2 roses due to damage earlier this year and now that rainy season has come to Japan it is beginning to peak again. I posted before, and while the suggestion helped I am wondering mostly about 2 plants in particular. (Spider Mites are usually around March- October increasing about now and peaking in Summer).

I've been:

- spraying the leaves and undersides with neem oil and water.
-cleaned the leaves and tossed severely infected ones - double bagging them until trash day.
-monitor the watering levels.
- sprinkled cinnamon in the soil
-used sprays made for killing pests including spider mites

I am debating if I should toss my other two roses just in case to save my Jalapeno seedlings (some which are already showing signs of mite attacks) and my other bigger rose which is on the other side of my balcony. My cherry and orange tree so far have not shown any signs of attack- same with my cyclamen and marigolds.

I sprayed with neem oil today but probably will be trying some of the old recipes suggested last time which will be soapy water and tabasco sauce mixed together. I just don't know what else to do though...

What have you done that was effective? Will it be better to just cut my losses by tossing the two most infected plants and then attempt to focus on the mostly healthy ones?

Insecticidal soap is often effective. But you really have to spray the underleaves to get at them.

Hi Ashley,

I would use insecticidal soap also. The problem is that, no matter what you use, every surface, nook and cranny needs to be sprayed or you won't get them all.

I will look into insecticidal soaps. I looked up 殺虫石鹸 which was what google gave me as a translation for it.

Thanks all <3

Sounds like you'd prefer to use natural pesticides, so you may not want to do this, but -

Something was murdering my tall garden phlox years ago. Unusual because here they are usually pest-free. I sprayed with Sevin and then learned that Sevin actually makes spider mites increase! Who knew?

I was also having something eat into my daylily buds resulting in a lot of misshapen flowers. I didn't know if I might also have thrips. So, I got a systemic spray called Bonide online. Could not find any systemic SPRAYS at any box store, only granules to put around base of plant. Since this might kill good creatures in the soil, I want a foliar spray that would focus the insecticide on the plant itself, not the surrounding soil.

The Bonide totally stopped all my spider mite problems on the phlox, and all my other insect probs on the daylilies. It costs about $16 a quart, but I mix it about 1.5 TBSP per gallon, so it goes a long way.

Not organic but it works, and only 1 spraying was necessary to get rid of spider mites. I also spray the leaves of a weeping elm and weeping beech, which are prone to tent caterpillars and it stops that too. I use natural fertilizers and soil amendments and would rather not use chem pesticides, but when they are wiping out my plants, I resort to them.

@RobLaffin, Rob ...

All of my experience is with spider mites on roses, so you may want to experiment to see if my method works on other plants.

Spider mites like hot, dry conditions. Change that, and they disappear quickly.

If I have a rose infested with spider mites, I just wash the rose with a hard stream of water, you can put your hand behind soft growth, making sure I wash both the upper and lower surface of the leaves three days in row to break the breeding cycle.

Washing the rose down creates a more humid environment than spider mites like, so they move on.

On-going care is to wash the roses well at least once or twice a week.

In my garden, I usually spray down my roses every afternoon to slow down the transpiration rate, so I haven't had an infestation in years.

Thank you both!

I found one of my marigolds were heavily infected. I've been trying to be more careful. Spraying when I see them on my cherry, baby plants, and so on. One rose is recovering well. The other is in the air.

I'll keep on at it! So far looking it up a lot of the bonide stuff is import so it's a bit pricey to get. Japan does have stuff that works as medicine from mites and aphids, but I'm trying to avoid using it.

Ashley

The active ingredient in Bonide is Imidacloprid. Its used in a lot of products that can act as systemics. The nice thing about using a systemic bug killer is that it only kills bugs that bite your plants - the good bugs are safe.

I would have thought that last typhoon would have washed away all the spider mites.

oooo that's nifty.

I might have to save up some money then if things keep going in this way...

AND YOU WOULD THINK! We are in the middle of rainy season but my balcony stays pretty dry due to the next floor above me. It's also humid.... But I've been seeing a lot of them this year. Even the shop I get soil and sprays/fertiliser from had some mites on their roses x.x We have some more rainy days coming up. So I'll keep spraying my leaves down.

They just seem very common in my area. Hopefully they don't stick around.

DaisyI said:Ashley

The active ingredient in Bonide is Imidacloprid. Its used in a lot of products that can act as systemics. The nice thing about using a systemic bug killer is that it only kills bugs that bite your plants - the good bugs are safe.
:

I thought it was imidacloprid but when I did a Google search the Bonide product I found said the active ingredient was acephate so I wonder if it is changed or we are looking at different products. They were touting the acephate version as an alternative to neonicotinoids, which of course include imidacloprid, currently under fire for being detrimental to pollinators especially bees (because it gets into the nectar and pollen). Imidacloprid has also been reported to have caused spider mite outbreaks in some cases.

Bonide makes several products. The only one I have is miner killer, and that doesn't contain imidacloprid. Always read the label carefully!

I thought we were talking about Bonide Systemic Granules. The only active ingredient is imidacloprid.

Bayer 3 in 1 insect disease & mite control can also be used as a systemic (buy the concentrate) - the first ingredient is imidacloprid. It also contains tau-fluvalinate, a miticide, and Tebuconazole, a fungicide.

Those are the only two I've had experience with.

Rob mentioned Bonide spray, not granules, so I assume it is the acephate one?