dear brains-trust

[tessa]

works a treat on the greenies, patrina.
beat-a-bug....found in every big green warehouse

(can i spray them fruits???)

[Catntree]

Spraying every few days with plain old water will keep the spider mites at bay...especially if you spray the undersides of leaves.

A good homemade spider mite spray is 1/20th rubbing alcohol, one quick squirt natural dishsoap (dye and fragrance free) in a gallon of water.

It's nice to knock down the mites with an insecticide, then do a maintainence spray weekly with above formula.

Of course then I start to worry about fungal diseases if I spray too much

[dice]

Note: You can buy ready-made earthworm casting
tea, but it is not cheap, and who knows whether
it is strong enough to knock down mites or any
other insect pest. It is organic, though, where that
is a concern (it is a fertilizer, too, for a bonus).

[Suze]

Originally Posted by tessa

(can i spray them fruits???)

Yes.

Originally Posted by Catntree

Spraying every few days with plain old water will keep the spider mites at bay...especially if you spray the undersides of leaves.

A good homemade spider mite spray is 1/20th rubbing alcohol, one quick squirt natural dishsoap (dye and fragrance free) in a gallon of water.

It's nice to knock down the mites with an insecticide, then do a maintainence spray weekly with above formula.

Of course then I start to worry about fungal diseases if I spray too much

Regular spraying with water has never worked very well for me, several others in warm zones have reported the same. I'm not sure why that is. Different, tougher "strain" of mites, beats me...

Even people in warm, humid climates where it rains frequently have posted about severe spider mite problems that were killing their plants.

And of course, as you mentioned, spraying the plants with water every few days increases the possibility of fungal disease. When I tried it, it didn't help much at all with the mites, and I ended up with a horrific case of early blight for my trouble.

I have found soap sprays to be somewhat helpful, but it can make the plants photosensitive, and is usually best rinsed off after a few minutes in warm climates. So it also involves a lot of wetting of the foliage.

[tessa]

thanks suze and everyone for your help and tips.
i will revisit this thread if anything changes. at the moment....i am giving the plants the 'all clear' and hoping for a rapid recovery.

just FYI on the tomato russet mites....
they seem to do their thing entirely on the TOP sides of the leaves. also...they make no webs. the first you'll notice...is that leaves have taken on a bronze/rust coloured hue.
that's when you need your looker-er thingy for confirmation.

[tessa]

i'll just post a piccie of what the bronzing looks like in case it's helpful for anyone else. i did a search of this site, and there's no other info on these bleeding mites...besides this thread.

[BigdaddyJ]

Spidermites are easily contolled by green lacewings. Buy or order some and release them at the earliest onset of infestation and be prepared to say goodbye to your mites in a couple weeks.

Totally organic. Totally natural. And best of all totally easy to apply...

Throw away all those messy and inefective (long term anyway) sprays and enjoy nature working in harmony and letting you free to enjoy your tomatoes.

[cosmicgardener]

Tessa, I have listed some plants that will host lacewings and other predatory insects in another thread "Whitefly" - if you need seeds for any of them sing out. They are all attractive plants to naturalise in your garden. I'll post something about it on the Garden Delights forum because others might find it useful.

cos - off to shop.........

[tessa]

thanks folks.
i have to say i've honestly never seen a green lacewing here...had to google them to have a look. they're pretty!