My only two survivors from last season's spider mite attack on about 10 balloon flowers are infested. Not nearly as bad, as I have caught it early. I took a toothpick under most of the leaves to hopefully scrape off eggs and spiders. I then dumped a bunch of Sevin on both of them, sprayed them with a water bottle with aspirin and water mix, and brought them inside as a quarantine. Their next victims will be my monkhoods and bleeding hearts, but hopefully I can stop this from happening.

Have you tried the Bayer mite control? How about neem oil? Good luck with your monkhoods and bleeding hearts!

No I haven't, I just discovered this infestation today. I will try those ideas and hopefully save them! Thank you!

I hope you can save them!

Found something about 1:3 mix of rubbing alcohol and water mix that kills spider mites on contact. A good idea?

I was able to knock out a horrible infestation within 36 hours on my Rothecas a few years ago with diatomaceous earth. You need to get a duster that makes clouds of it .. those dusters that you pump don't really work all that well .. the one I bought was pricey but it makes wonderfully wonderous clouds. You just want to make sure you are up wind of it and you get the dust on the bottom of the leaves. Here is a link to the duster:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ISCG7M%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-z-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB002ISCG7M/

Hope you can save your balloon flowers they are a lovely addition to the garden and bloom a long time if you remove spent blooms. I have the single and double in the blue color in my garden once you get them established they come back year after year. Here in the north they are late to emerge in the spring so a person needs to keep in mind where they are planted. I know some people have trouble getting them started but they are so worth the effort for the beauty they add to the garden. I bet mine have been in the garden at least 15 years.

Xeramtheum said:I was able to knock out a horrible infestation within 36 hours on my Rothecas a few years ago with diatomaceous earth. You need to get a duster that makes clouds of it .. those dusters that you pump don't really work all that well .. the one I bought was pricey but it makes wonderfully wonderous clouds. You just want to make sure you are up wind of it and you get the dust on the bottom of the leaves. Here is a link to the duster:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ISCG7M%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-z-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB002ISCG7M/

Thanks for the link. I was wondering how regular people put it down.

Lol! I call it my DE Gatlin Gun. You have to turn this knob and it makes a whirring sound that goes up in pitch the faster you turn and these splendidly awesome clouds of dust come out the end .. it's not called Dustin Miser for nothing .. uses very little compared to the pump applicators. You have to be very careful though about NOT breathing this stuff in .. very VERY bad for your lungs and nasal lining.

Thanks for the tip!

daylilydreams said:Hope you can save your balloon flowers they are a lovely addition to the garden and bloom a long time if you remove spent blooms. I have the single and double in the blue color in my garden once you get them established they come back year after year. Here in the north they are late to emerge in the spring so a person needs to keep in mind where they are planted. I know some people have trouble getting them started but they are so worth the effort for the beauty they add to the garden. I bet mine have been in the garden at least 15 years.

I definitely love them, I'm going to try my best to save them. My vision is a long stretch of purple and white along my balcony ledge. Getting a guaranteed solution to keeping them off my plants will help me decide on continuing to buy them. Spider mites work so fast, and with my eye-sight, they are often hard to detect! lol

Thanks for the link for the Dust Mizer! I have been using an old salt shaker and it's a very slow process! I put that on my shopping list to get for sure!

You're welcome .. it's an awesome tool.

I hadn't realized these plants were in pots when I read this the other day. If you are able to wipe each leaf, as described with a toothpick, a cotton ball moistened with rubbing alcohol might be more effective. The bottom of the leaves and the crotches made where leaves join stem are where they like to be. When the plants have time to dry before the sun hits them would be best.

For long-term blooms, especially in pots, temperate perennials really aren't the ideal plants for the job. If you can find Angelonia (with the annuals where you are,) they may have both colors, comes in purple, white, (and pink.) Loves to be dry, doesn't mind being in a pot, will bloom until it gets cold w/o deadheading.

Yah, I guess I should have mentioned they are house plants that sit on my balcony. I have no cotton balls, but instead have 71% alchohol, and mixed it 30% to the rest water. In a spray bottle, I blasted both plants under and top side. Hoping that may work from what I've read?

It appears to be working, yay! Tiffany, I made an additional mix of the alcohol and water mix in a clean pickle jar. Then took q-tips, and rubbbed all leaves top and underside I'm going to post some pics here soon, been busy with things

Multiple treatments appear necessary from what I've learned. But I want to try the neem oil. Is it found only at a nursery, or can I get it in, say, a Lowes or Home Depot? One down, last one left:




but tryin to

You can get it at Lowe's or HD.

Ok, awesome thank you