I am so envious of those of you that keep posting these beautiful Brug. pictures. I am still waiting for all but the Jean Pasco to bloom. Then I planted 4 Brugs. that I picked up at the nursery and our 111 degree temps.
a couple weeks ago fried them to a crisp. They dropped all the buds and cooked alot of the leaves. Then yesterday I was checking the same 4 over and decided that two of them might have spider mites. I mixed up some alcohol, soap and water and sprayed the two.
This morning I went out and half of the leaves had either fallen off or were badly wilted. I guess maybe I put too much alcohol in my mixture. What do you all think.
Patricia
Getting really Frustrated
I know exactly how you feel, sure takes the fun out of growing brugs! I had buds, 90+ no rain for 5 weeks. Buds went somewhere when I wasn't looking, then had them on concrete driveway, HOT, they got spidermites, which I never had before, so didn't know they had them. DH sprayed with fruit spray for spidermites, lost about 7 brugs, 2 Passion Fls. Was so discouraged, wishing summer was over!
Now we have had rain, not enough, but will take it, temperatures in the 80's, so brugs are looking good again, nice green lleaves, lots of y's, things lookin' up. Hang in there!
Jerodsmom,
Just mist the plants with water and soak the soil really good everyday for a few days. The ones with leaves will come back and perk up. On really hot days I have to water mine twice a day, morning and evening.
try a systemic for the spider mites. Just put it a least 2 inches from the trunk. I use the rose food and systemic and it works great and gives the brug a boost. i would not spray my plants with alcohol.
Glory
Jul 28, 2002
Spider mites...I just heard on TV about using a garlic spray to combat spider mites....don't know if the liquid or the smell runs them away. LOL
Hey, gasoline and a match will kill the lil critters. lol
Well, Owen, sounds almost as good as spraying with fruit tree spray, between heat, spidermites and chemical spray, killed 7 brugs.
O.K. now all the leaves on both Brugs have fallen off. The tips of the very tips of the branches feel a little limp but other than that they stems all look healthy. Do you think that they will put out new leaves and recover? Should I cut both of the Brugs. back . Any help would be much appreciated.
Patricia, try putting them in the shade for a while. If they don't start coming back soon, I'd cut them back to about a foot and try starting some of the trunk as cuttings. Be sure to keep spraying for mites. Those little critters lay eggs and the cycle continues. They don't have to just live on leaves. We are having them horribly now. I'm told that ours are clover mites and impossible to see. Had a couple of the brugs that were mites from top to bottom. Sprayed with water and stripped most of the leaves. Will spray when it cools down tonight. You aren't alone with the mite problems. If you have any Sevin, spray with it or any other spray that says it will control spider mites. A lot of sprays will help control but won't get rid of them completely.
Hi Shirley, Thanks alot for the information. These brugs. are about 4 ft tall and planted in the ground. So it would be hard to move them into the shade. One is ' Peaches n' Cream' the other a yellow. The Yellow looks like it is starting to put on some new leaves. It is the Peaches that has limp tips on the branches. What is the absolute best thing that you can suggest that I use on my other brugs as needed for spider mites. It seems like every time I try to spray for a problem I damage the plants.
do they perk up at night? cause all of mine in the ground are wilting, and they are well watered. when evening comes they perk right back up..
Actually Patricia, I use several products as mites will get so they love the stuff. I've used Sevin, Poyola (sp) from Gardens Alive, Mavrik (expensive), Bugs B Gone (works pretty good), and other odds and ends.
jerodsmom, this is what i have heard, plants outside that you take the hose to a couple of times a day, should knock off the spider mites. if you can i would just hose them down good several times a day. peaches and cream was a kind of slow grower for me, i sent mine away. my local friend has hers planted in full sun all day and it seems to be doing okay, was blooming last i saw it, about waist high.
and yours is still growing slowly arlene:) nice but slow
My peaches n' Cream was doing really well and loaded with blossoms until I sprayed it with the alcohol and water. I don't even really know if what I saw was spider mites. I just get so upset if I see anything that might be that I always want to do something right away. They looked really healthy , I just saw what looked like a thinning of the leaves green coating which left a spider webby appearance on the underside of the leaves, but it was the entire leave not just at the base of the leaf.
I didn't see any webbing at the base of the leaves. It would help if anyone has an actual picture of what a spider mite infestation would look like for me to see.