Spidermites and Aphids, oh my!

[WhippoorwillG]

I left for the weekend and came back to a disaster....small scale, but disaster all the same.

I had moved a lot of my trays into an inside area under lights so they could make it without watering for the weekend.

I have been combating aphids in the greenhouse, which the fire ants seem to keep farming for me, for a few weeks. I have had the most problems with pepper plants, and have sprayed them to near death multiple times with pyganic, only to see the aphids come back a few at a time. For some reason, I have been unable to totally disrupt the reproduction cycle or find where they are keeping residence, but have kept them in check.

Well I left for the weekend and came back to thousands of aphids on 100 or so pepper plants, and SPIDERMITES!!!!!!! I have never had to deal with spidermites, but they had spun webs between and around part of the plants. I have lost three or four plants so far and hope to save the rest.

What is the best way to defeat them. I am most concerned about them moving to the tomatoes once the peppers are removed...as I have about 1000 tomato plants that would break my heart to see destroyed by the pests. It is time to move the tomatoes to the field, but the peppers aren't big enough yet.

Suggestions? There is no fruit yet, so I am considering bombing the house and the greenhouse..... I try to stay organic, but at this point I am more concerned about not loosing a season.

[kurt]

Made from crushed crythanthemum flower.As all pesticides be careful around bees,and use as DIRECTED.About the safest and quickest I have found.If not ladybugs and lacewings will do the trick.
http://www.montereylawngarden.com/do...n(07)-1012.pdf

[Salsacharley]

My treatment is similar to Kurt's. I use Monterey 70% Neem, 3 Tablespoons per gallon of water. I add 4 Tablespoons of food grade DE to each gallon and spray every 5 to 10 days. You must move quickly. I lost about half of my tomato plants last year to spider mites. They are tough to get rid of and I don't believe you can have a manageable population of those dirty scumbags because they can repopulate at an astonishing speed. Good Luck!

Charley

[clkeiper]

Ladybugs. I ordered a package from Hirt's greenhouse and they are pretty close, so I went and picked them up and put some of them in my greenhouse on the pansies (which were covered and I went through a whole bottle of concentrated insecticidal soap [before I thought of the ladybugs] and still couldn't get them all.). They cleaned them up pretty well. I still had a bunch in the refrigerator and distributed those in the other greenhouse for the aphids on the tomatoes and peppers. They are amazingly clean now. I do believe they will decimate the mites, too.

[b54red]

A friend of mine who has several greenhouses recently told me he takes his small grill into the greenhouse and adds wet hickory chips and smokes the heck out of the greenhouse for a few hours then repeats it in a few days and said it wipes out aphids and spider mites. I have not tried it yet since I have had neither pest in my small greenhouse this year; but if they do appear I am going to move my electric smoker in and see if I can smoke them to death. It sounds like it might work but who knows. I know once aphids get on young pepper plants in the greenhouse it is almost impossible to remove them without resorting to some pretty potent poisons and using them frequently to break the life cycle. Spider mites are the same way but they are easier for me to control in the greenhouse than aphids for some reason yet outdoors they are much harder to control.

Bill

[clkeiper]

"I know once aphids get on young pepper plants in the greenhouse it is almost impossible to remove them without resorting to some pretty potent poisons and using them frequently to break the life cycle."

The ladybugs have done a fine job on controlling the aphids on the pansies and on the peppers and the tomatoes... better than me watching and spraying with insecticidal soap every other day.

[4season]

I was told aphids lay eggs in the soil but have also read some are born pregnant. They are a pain to deal with. Insecticidal soap didn't work well for me so I used a nasty trademarked 8. It worked well.

[WhippoorwillG]

Thank you all for the replies. The hickory smoke is one of the most interesting. Smoke and CO2 should at least slow them down. I am happy to report that I have slowed them but still not eradicated them.

[peebee]

I do hope you can get rid of them soon, since you are talking about a greenhouse environment, both the ladybugs and smoker methods sound great.
Last year I got the spider mites for the first time and I did neem and the Take Down Garden spray, to no avail. I had to pull up nearly every plant--tomatoes, cukes, zukes, peppers, eggplants and beans. Today, I was happily fertilizing my tomatoes and could not believe my eyes: there, on a volunteer Sungold, were the tell-tale webbings all over the fruits. They were not here the last time I checked, 2 days ago. My heart sank as I rushed to pull it out. I looked at some plants close by but do not see any...YET. Sigh...

[Blueaussi]

Using pesticides to get rid of spider mites is pretty much useless. They always come back with a vengeance! Their life cycle is short, and the pesticides have killed off any natural predators, so now there is nothing to keep them in check.

It's labor intensive, but a cold blast of water to the undersides of the leaves is one of the best controls for spider mites, aphids, and <spit!> thrips. I have an inexpensive watering wand on the hose, and I go through the garden squirting up on each plant, especially on the growing tips.

Note: This is control, not eradication. I usually follow up with beneficial insects to keep the bad guys in check.

[Iva]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

I use Monterey 70% Neem, 3 Tablespoons per gallon of water. I add 4 Tablespoons of food grade DE to each gallon and spray every 5 to 10 days.

Charley, could you please tell me what DE is?

[sdzejachok]

DE = diatomaceous earth. It's fossil diatom shells that poke holes in invertebrates.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Blueaussi

Using pesticides to get rid of spider mites is pretty much useless. They always come back with a vengeance! Their life cycle is short, and the pesticides have killed off any natural predators, so now there is nothing to keep them in check.

Hot Shot No-Pest Strips will kill them. You set the strip next to the plant to give out a constant dose, to kill the eggs as they keep hatching out. On the down side, the active ingredient is dichlorvos, an organophosphate, most of which are banned by now. The label says "do not use in living spaces."

[Iva]

Originally Posted by sdzejachok

DE = diatomaceous earth. It's fossil diatom shells that poke holes in invertebrates.

Thank you very much!