Oh no! Not again!

wxman · Post by **wxman** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:55 pm

Went downstairs today into my plant room and noticed one of my orinocos had yellowing leaves on the edges, and the green parts looked "sickly". I feared the worst and looked underneath and SURE enough, spider mites! These are the culprits that killed my cavendish bananas in the house last winter. The stats of my plant room are as follows.

Air temp: 75F night / 85F day
Humidity: 36% to 60% - I mist all plants every other day

They were running rampant on that banana. I'm sure the other bananas have them now too, but not as bad as I can't see them yet and see no damage. No damage on the palms yet, either. I mixed up a spray bottle of Joy dish soap and water and sprayed the hell out of all the leaves, top and bottom sides. I didn't see them crawling around anymore after the spray down.

Will the yellow spots on the leaves repair themselves, or are they dead? How do I keep these damn things gone? It's only October and if I'm dealing with these now, it's gonna be a nightmare come January!!! For those of you that bring bananas inside in the winter, what do you do to make them STAY AWAY? And if you had them, how did you get RID of them? They are putting out 1-2 leaves a week in the basement, so health isn't an issue, it's just these damn things trying to suck the life out of them!!!

oppalm · Post by **oppalm** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:58 am

when I bring stuff inside for winter I put it in my garage for a couple of days and spray twice with Schultz 3 in 1 spray which is a miticide, fungicide and insecticide. Once inside I keep an eye on all plants for bugs and such. Spraying every couple of days (with a water and soap mixture) for a few weeks is not too much. I also run an oscillating fan on a timer in my plant room and it comes on twice a day and runs for 6 hours at a time. I am afraid the leaves that already yellow will not heal themselves. As you know, once you start with spider mites they are tought to get rid of, but you stay after them. If you still have them after 2 weeks , you'll need to mix a batch of insecticidal soap (google it) and spray for another few weeks.

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:06 am

These thing are brutal! I just had my first run in too, wx. I used the 3 in 1 for the good bottle and the label and also bought Neem concentrate for 12 bucks at Lowes. It makes 16 gallons of spider mite killing good stuff, much cheaper solution. The premix bottle is 0.9 % Neem oil in a 24 Oz. bottle and the concentrate is 70 % Neem in a 16 Oz. bottle for six bucks more. The concentrate make -85- 24 Oz. bottles at that rate, that's a lot of killing power!!!

The spider mite cycle is every seven days so I would say spray again in five and then again in another five. Then for good measure you could do it more if you want. I say doing it every five days because if they lay eggs they'll keep coming back. This is why people can't get rid of them they only spray when they see them, to late they already layed eggs for the next round. I can't believe there bothering me already. I had to cut a few leaves off my self, I should have known better! I just thought they were getting used to the house. This should do the trick though.

Not to freak you out but do you think we could have this problem in the washy huts?

Bill

wxman · Post by **wxman** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:16 am

I don't think we'll have problems in our washy enclosures. I didn't last year and I think it stays too humid and cold in there during the winter for mites or any bugs to thrive. I don't let it go above 50 if I can help it.

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:03 pm

That's good! That is one problem we really don't need to deal with!

Bill

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:55 pm

I hate those bugs!
I started spraying my plants a few weeks before I brought them in because of what happened last year with those damn bugs.
I found out the culprit was a nursery I ordered my Latisectus and Martianus from last/this year.
It pays to keep new palms/plants away from your plants until you can check them.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:29 pm

It pays to keep new palms/plants away from your plants until you can check them

You're bang on, Jim!

My biggest bug problems (weeds too) were with plants I've just brought home from the nursery.
I assumed they'd be clean.
Wrong.

Having said that, though, I've also learned to keep the temp down in the house.
There are always MORE spider mites and fungus gnats when the house is too warm.
Seems to bring 'em out faster?

Barb

Okanagan desert-palms · Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:36 pm

The warmer and drier it is the more mites proliferate. You also need a oscillating fan to keep that air moving not only for the bugs but for fungus and mold. As other members have stated "Google spider mites" Hope this helps.

John

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:05 am

I started spraying my plants a few weeks before I brought them in and still spray them(every 3-5 days) with LEMON scented dishwashing soap.
No mites.It's hard to open the windows in this place once all the plants are in place and I'm not spraying poison inside like I did last year.
It's easier to kill yourself than those damn bugs with that stuff!