Red spider attack- seem to love egg plants too much.

michael johnson · August 14, 2006

This is twice this season-those rotten little red spiders have dared to invade my egg plants, mostly on the bottom few leaves, they seem to suck all the life out of the leaf very quickly.

Twice I have sprayed them this year with liquid Derris, which seemed to do the job ok, at the time, but the little blighters came back again last week.

I use Derris because its supposed to be safe on food stuffs, because normaly I am loath to use any from of insecticide on my crops as I grow everything on an organic base tradition.

Red spiders are notoriously hard to see at first, and I get out a big magnifying glass and study each leaf with it to try to spot the cause- and yes-there the little blighters were again- like tiny pinhead size or smaller on very fine thread webs- I paniced quickly and made a dash for the Derris bottle.

Hope that the last of the little blighters this season- I might try smoke fumigation pellets, or burning green sulphur in the winter in the conservatory and greenhouse-that should settle the little devils for good-Hopefully.

westocast73 · August 14, 2006

Just a question. When you say Red Spiders are you reffering to the mites ( Red Spider Mite ) or is this some other local pest? This might be an obvious question but I just wanted to make sure I was on topic with your post.

If it is Red Spider Mites then I have them as well but because I don't use a greenhouse and am just outdoor gardening I find they tend to never get out of control and the odd one I find hasnt caused much / if any damage. I know in greenhouses bug problems can be amplified though as I became brutally aware of when I went to help a friend deal with an insane Aphid problem in his greenhouse. ( He had gone away for a month and left the greenhouse all on timers but when he came back half the plants were absolutely covered in Aphids.)

michael johnson · August 15, 2006

No- its the Red Spider mites that I refer to, once you get them in a greenhouse they are quite a problem and can very quickly destroy whole crops, the leaves appear to have millions of tiny pin ★★★★★ holes in them, quickly take on a rusty colour-wither and die.

westocast73 · August 17, 2006

Yea, greenhouses are beautiful but can become a real hell can't they?

August 14, 2006	#1
michael johnson Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK. Posts: 960	Red spider attack- seem to love egg plants too much. This is twice this season-those rotten little red spiders have dared to invade my egg plants, mostly on the bottom few leaves, they seem to suck all the life out of the leaf very quickly. Twice I have sprayed them this year with liquid Derris, which seemed to do the job ok, at the time, but the little blighters came back again last week. I use Derris because its supposed to be safe on food stuffs, because normaly I am loath to use any from of insecticide on my crops as I grow everything on an organic base tradition. Red spiders are notoriously hard to see at first, and I get out a big magnifying glass and study each leaf with it to try to spot the cause- and yes-there the little blighters were again- like tiny pinhead size or smaller on very fine thread webs- I paniced quickly and made a dash for the Derris bottle. Hope that the last of the little blighters this season- I might try smoke fumigation pellets, or burning green sulphur in the winter in the conservatory and greenhouse-that should settle the little devils for good-Hopefully.

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August 14, 2006	#2
westocast73 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 144	Just a question. When you say Red Spiders are you reffering to the mites ( Red Spider Mite ) or is this some other local pest? This might be an obvious question but I just wanted to make sure I was on topic with your post. If it is Red Spider Mites then I have them as well but because I don't use a greenhouse and am just outdoor gardening I find they tend to never get out of control and the odd one I find hasnt caused much / if any damage. I know in greenhouses bug problems can be amplified though as I became brutally aware of when I went to help a friend deal with an insane Aphid problem in his greenhouse. ( He had gone away for a month and left the greenhouse all on timers but when he came back half the plants were absolutely covered in Aphids.)

August 15, 2006	#3
michael johnson Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK. Posts: 960	No- its the Red Spider mites that I refer to, once you get them in a greenhouse they are quite a problem and can very quickly destroy whole crops, the leaves appear to have millions of tiny pin ★★★★★ holes in them, quickly take on a rusty colour-wither and die.

August 17, 2006	#4
westocast73 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 144	Yea, greenhouses are beautiful but can become a real hell can't they?