I noticed the other day that my coral tree which I've been keeping inside the last couple months now has spider mites. How the heck do you get rid of these little monsters without using all kinds of chemicals? Anybody have a suggestion? Thanks guys.

Hi Banana man, What I do against mites is spray the plant off(weekly) in my shower, which works O.K. for a smaller one and gets harder the bigger the plant. It is hard (very!) to get rid of these pests without chemicals. One cheap but admittedly gross way is to make a tea of old ciggarette butts and spray with that,(be cafeful it stains and stinks!) allow to dry a day, rinse in shower, and repeat weekly as the mite eggs hatch, After a couple of weeks you can knock em back pretty well.

Greetings Guru! Now that you say that I do remember someone telling me once to use water and rinse them off, but I find it hard to believe that just using water would be good enough? Guess I'll have to try it and see. I like the old cig. "Ortho" mix hhaa I wonder of getting a can of fresh cheap tobacco would work better since it might have more of whatever in it to kill these little *&^%s ?

I heard indoor plants are much more likely to get mites too, I'm starting to believe this now.

I do love the idea of showering with my plants though, I already eat with them, sleep around them etc. I wonder if they could legalize "HomoBotanical" marriages?




Peace

Tea tree oil/water in a spray bottle really helps kill mites too. I agree taking a shower with your plants will make them happy, or if they're small you can wash them off the sink etc.


Stijn

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'All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.' - - - T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

indooor plants get spider mites much more easily than outdoor,....... i garuntee it ( sorry, i'm a horrid speller, can you believe i tutor English?) anyway,..... i have indoor tropicals and Mites love warm dryness. mist your plants when they're indoors. if you notice that they do have mites, use a mild solution of soap and water to spray and then rinse in the shower, or use a commercially produced insecticidal soap or chemical. it's tough to get rid of these buggers, but keep the affected plant away from the others. if one plant has them,... usually others do too. i've never tried tea-tree oil,...... but it give it a shot. sometimes Mites can become resistant to whatever you've been using, so be sure to switch it up.

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Cathy