X, I just got a new Gardens Alive catalogue with a $20 certificate on it. Maybe I will try it.
These mites are really weird tho. Has anyone had this kind?
They don't start at the new growth. They work from the bottom of the plant up. There are definite webs and mites here.
However, the new leaf growth gets quite thick and curls in on the edges and kind of deformed, and yet I cannot see a thing on them. No webs etc.
AAAAaaaack - spider mites?
X, why did you wait so long to tell us about Pyola. :) Well doesn't matter now as I've ordered my Forbid and just pray it lives up to its claims. We gardeners work very hard to have beautiful flowers, spend a lot of money on fertilizers, soil conditioners, various sprays, in addition to the plant material. When I'm in the garden I want to see beauty, not death, and that what my garden visitors expect. Some of the real crusty ones will tell you this or that needs spraying if they see the slightest problem. No, these are not my friends, but people who are allowed in via one of my charity garden tours. So far, approx. 850 people have toured this year and it is becoming increasingly difficult to look good with all the bugs eating away the garden. Have to show you something cute my rusty iron friend brought to me several weeks ago. After thinking about it for several days, I decided to site it at the exit of my garden. In the old days of open English gardens, a pot was set at the exit in hopes people would leave a coin or two. My sense of humor always seems to be turned on, so I sat a pot on the top hand. Have not thought about it since placing it there,but today my sweetheart came inside howling his head off. In the pot was $2.85 cents.
Tussee
Hmm .. I've mentioned pyola lots of times! You probably missed the posts! It's saved many a brug overwintering in the greenhouse .. if one brug has mites then they all do .. that's why I always keep a bottle mixed up in there.
X
Yikes - I paid 90 bucks for Avid and thought that was high .... but if it worked, what the heck. I'm not willing to cough up $224. unless I can't find anything else to work. Yeah, I know .... I've paid more than that for a plant.
Avid works, but you do have to worry about them building resistance. The plants in the front are free of mites. Now it's the plants in the back with them. Mites have loved the heat we had. When they've had their 3 cycles of Avid I may hit them with some neem a week later in case any made it through. At least it smells good.
Mary
Tussee might have told us on another thread. If you notice, this was bumped from one last April. Over a year ago. It's hard to notice that right off.
The $2.85 was a real kick. LOL
I sure wouldn't want all of those people going thru my garden. Good grief.
LOL Tussee, soon you will be able to afford to buy another bottle of Forbid. Too cute. Let us know how it works for you. If it works in one spraying, it is worth the money, I think! I am getting a Hudson Fog Professional
Electric Ultra Low Volume Atomizer to apply it. If it works like it should, it will get to all the leaves I am hoping. It kills me to buy it at Rosemania though. I found it much cheaper online but they are sold out.
http://rosemania.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page2.html
Has anyone used it? I asked last year but no one had. My husband is going to kill me when he gets the Visa bill. But I am sick of getting nickled and dimed to death on this stuff. I just want a system that actually works well and fast.
I have never heard of Pyola either. But I know oils work well if you hit all the surfaces. My problem is my plants are so lush it is hard to hit all the surfaces. I only pull leaves if I absolutely have to. I have so many plants. Too many! But I will buy a bottle for sure to try when I do not have such a huge outbreak. It sounds more human friendly than most. Do you have a good online source, X? I haven't noticed it in the stores here.
The reason Forbid looks good to me is that it is new so the mites have not had the time to build a resistance to it, it has a long residual effect, low human toxicity and you do not have to hit the undersides of the leaves.
Avid has been around too long now so the mites are building a resistance. And Floramite does not kill broad mites, so what if you get broad mites next month? You will have to go buy another miticide.
I read an article about miticides and why they are so expensive. They have such a short life of real effectiveness because mites mutate so fast making the miticide less and less effective. So the companies have to make their money fast for all their costs in developing a new spray before that happens.
Jeanette, there are lots of different kinds of mites it seems. My spider mites attack lower leaves but do not deform them. They get speckled white then drop off. Have you tried your Floramite? I would use that up before it gets overused and the mites build up a resistance. I think it is a new miticide too so it should still be very effective if you have the right kind of mite.
Don't you just hate mites?
Last mite infestation I used AVID and then OVACIDE...kills the eggs. Have had small outbreaks, but they run out of gas and so away, not spreading!!!
Well, I now have Neem oil on the leaves Kell. Don't know if the Floramite would get thru the oil. What do you think? Also, I used the Di-syston so do you think all of these things would kill the plant???? Good grief!!!!
I always want to say "Charlie Brown:" after good grief. LOL
Oh Carol, I often think of you and your advice not to use coir. I only bought coir that was supposedly well washed, but I still think all the plants were harmed that I added coir to their soil mix. I should have listened to your warning.
Well Jeanette...LOL. Have new leaves grown up and are they mite free? Maybe you are cured?? I have no clue if Neem or any horticultural oil makes leaves not penetrable or if yes then for how long. I guess I need to do more research. I have read where mixing the miticide in the hort. oil is good to get mites in all stages so I assume it can be mixed together.
Carol, Kell, what is wrong with coir? I didn't hear that. Jeanette
COIR? Get thee behind me, Satan!!!!
I used Coir for years...loved it. A devil to rinse and rinse and rinse and rinse...get the picture?
Then we had a couple of problems: cool wet winter and osmocote that would not release (and when the 3 months were passed, I reapplied the Osmocote...RESULT: big...I mean BBIIGG salt build up which the coir reabsorbed, causing cellular damage in my whole Greenhouse. I grow and sell Hoyas...it was a disaster!!!! I had to REPOT over 2000 plants and lost about 10% to root rot.
I now WILL NOT USE Osmocote and only use Nutricote Triple 13. I will not use COIR and use fine orchid bark instead.
What a nightmare.
HTH
PS. Coir is a coconut husk byproduct from the Coconut Milk Industry (as well as oil). In Asia and the S. Pacific these operations take place on the beach...the bags of husk are floated out to boats in the ocean...a totally salty environment. I was told that there was a NZ company selling a salt free coir...but later learned that it was NOT 'washed' but treated with a chemical to neutralize the salt. Nearly impossible to do.
However...once rinsed of salt, COIR will REabsorb salts readily....which was what bit me in the XXX.
It was a devil of a winter!!!
Oh my Carol. I noticed the plants started to look poorly after I used this new osmocote I had bought with micro nutrients. I bought a 50 pound bag! I was thinking I had burned the roots and couldn't understand how it would. I bet it was the combination of the coir with the osmocote. Well, no way I am repotting them all. Live or die till spring, it is up to them.
I talked to a Vireya grower friend of mine...Sherla...and she told me of a grower in Florida who lost his ENTIRE greenhouses, sued Osmocote and WON!!! It is a good product when it works correctly...but, it seems, the release mechanisms are not very stable and they can really mess things up. There are things you CAN do to 'change' the salt in the soil....can't remember what they are...by flushing something thru it.... Calcium? You might check with your Extension Service.....