I have about 20 or so (large plants and seedlings) brugs, some in the ground and others in pots.
A few of them (both in-ground and pot grown) are growing small, curly new leaves but otherwise seem healthy and still flower. It doesn't seem to be spider mites. Has anyone any suggestions ?
Heather
It looks to me like broadmites. They aren't visible to the naked eye, but they do make the new growth curl and become stiff and you can even see a bronzing of the leaves at some point. Larger leaves will curl under at the edges sometimes. I use Avid on mine, but it is very expensive if you don't already have it. I am going to try Floramite next because I've already used Avid three time. I'm waiting to see if they come back again. It is possible that it is something else, but it sure looks like what I had. Good Luck.
I think I read on the label that Floramite doesn't work on broadmites, Shirley.
Welcome to the misery club Heather. I HATE THESE MITES!!!! I can now spot them a mile away just as they are starting. They seem to go to the new tender growth first.
I use Neem and it really works for me but you have to cover them all and let none escape. I take off all the big leaves that seem affected (bag them immediately to toss), leaving the smallest. Spray Neem all over them, esp on the backs. Do all the new growth clusters on all surrounding brugs even if they do not look deformed yet. Neem is not an insecticide like others, so the mites do not build up a tolerance to it like they do to Avid. There is a new kind on eBay that a friend showed me that I may try. It is supposed to be even better.
GOOD LUCK no matter what you use. You will be amazed how terrible they look now but how the new growth will all be normal. If you strip them, remember not to water as much for they will not have all those leaves to support.
I would check all your brugs new cluster growth on top of each branch to see if the mites are starting there. Since you only have 20, I would spray each new leaf cluster well. Nip them in the bud so to speak!! They spread FAST so hurry.
Oh and some report Neem burns if used in the sun. I use it here in the sun with no trouble, but here it usually is in the high 60s or low 70s. So spray at an appropriate time with that in mind if you use Neem oil.
They shouldn't call them broadmite... it has caused a one-liner overload alarm in my left eye!!
I know it says it doesn't work on broadmites, but that doesn't mean I can't try it. LOL! I haven't tried Neem yet either, but until I try it, I won't know if it will work for me, so I'm waiting to see what the last treatment of Avid did. Pylon will work, but I don't have it yet and at the price of it, I doubt I ever will. My main thing is to use different control methods so that the mites don't become resistant to the one that really works when I need it.
I have been trying anything I can get my hands on. Almost all my brugs. are affected this year. I am going to try Neem next since it is the only thing that I know of besides Avid that I haven't tried.
I purchased some Oil from Home Depo, they said it was as good as Neem but much cheaper, so far ir has worked on my Brugs, it is called All Seasons Spray Oil it was $10 for 16 0z, you use 21/2 to 5 TBS to a gallon of water.
At the first of summer I had about half of my brugs do the very same thing. The leaves would curl, get brittle and fall off. I just started twice a day giving them all a bath with the sprayer on the hose. Morning and late afternoon when I would water I would spray them all down real good. I don't really know if this helped or not but they are all looking pretty good now. I never used neem or any thing on them for mites. I am learning that Brugs are real bug magnets. But when they start blooming you forget all about that. My first Brug is blooming, and I also have 7 more with buds on them.
Linda
Does anyone know if it affects Daturas? I have daturas that look like that.
I used to have a serious bad problem with these kinds of mites until I started using the water treatment. Simple water sprayed directly into the new growing tips has been my salvation. Broad, cyclamen ...whichever they are... these mites are no longer a problem for me.
so far nothing has bothered my Dats. wish the Brugs were as easy.
I agree with Shirley (Brugie), I've only tried a few that are out there on the market and seems to me that in my observation if you use it continuously it will be useless on down the road... by using different control methods I can see where the mites would become resistant to the one and I, too want one that works when I need it...so it's always good to try other things out there. What is good for one person could be totally different results for others.
Kell, I wish I knew how you got up in those big tall brugs of your's to see if the leaves were curling and how you spray under each leaf? LOL...what do you use, binoculars? lolol! Sorry, I just got a vision of you doing that! ROFL! I can see you out in your fields behind the Church with you magnifying glass searching for broad mites and Lord knows how long it takes you to spray your crops LOL... One thing we can ALL agree on...we all hate mites!!!!
.............J
Thank you all for your input. Avid is not for sale in Canada but we can get Neem so that will be my first line of attack ! And I will start hosing down straight away . Are broadmites just as tiny as spider mites ? Because I can't see a thing, even with a magnifying glass.
Heather
I've seen tons of small and/or young plants with these mite problems but I don't recall ever seeing a more mature woodier tree with the problem. From my own experience the older the tree is the less mite prone it is.
Heatherbelle you can't see the mites with your naked eye. I believe for the broadmites you need a x10 magnifier.
From what I have read it is all the nitrogen we feed the brugs that cause them to be the mite magnet. They have so much green new growth.
Here in parts of California, broad mites no longer are killed by Avid I have read and I have also experienced. They act like you just sprayed them with with water. Neem is great because it is not an insecticide chemical and not toxic so bugs never build a tolerance for it.
I prefer a soil systemic but haven't found one that kills the broadmites. I always end up spraying myself no matter how careful I am. That is another reason I like Neem, it is a natural, toxic free substance from what I have read. People actually buy it to put on their skin.
I spray all my brugs hard with water each time I water them. We do not get rain here at all so I like to wash them down. I think the mites like the shower. I understand these mites like it moist where as Spider Mites like dry conditions. At night here, the fog rolls in and the plants are always wet. Neem is good for my roses in that it is a natural fungicide also.
I rarely get mites in the same area twice but they do move around to different locations. I grow brugs in 3 places all miles apart and all have had these at some point or other. They seems to esp like seedlings. Tender morsels!! I notice they do not show up till July usually. I just got rid of them in my back yard, and I have them in the front now on just 1 brug. Last night I treated 20 in my courtyard with Neem.
I have had them in all 3 locations this month. Not on every plant, just on a few. But, I treat fast when I see them. I hear they get carried around and spread by your clothes, so I change my clothes between locations. I just think they are around and when they find a host plant they like a lot, like brugs, they stay and colonize fast.
When I had only 3 brugs for years and years before I even knew the name, Brugmansia, I never had a mite in my yard except for fuschia mites on my tree fuschias. But I also did not fertilize like a mad woman or use pumped up soil for fast growth.
Here are some interesting links
http://www.optimara.com/doctoroptimara/diagnosis/broadmites.html
http://doityourself.com/fertilizer/horticulturaloil.htm
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/broad_mites.html
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/flowers/note28/note28.html
A new bug, this is so tiny, it is BRIGHT WHITE, it looks like a spec but as soon as you touch the leaf it fies away, I tried taking pictures but since it is so tiny i cannot get close enough for it to show. I cannot tell if this is what is making holes or if the Japanes Beatles are at it at night, does anyone know what this tiny bug is.
Sounds like a White Fly, Doris. They lay eggs and soon there will be thousands of them. I think they are one of the hardest bugs to get rid of.
GRRRRR darn Brugie I don't need any more bugs, these are so hard to see, but I have seen two or three on different leaves
I have started using Neem also. My young daturas from seed in the green house this spring had them also. I also have started stripping all the affected leaves off the plants and spraying them with water and neem treatment. They are coming out of it and starting to put on blooms. The heat here is still affecting everything. All my seedlings I got from the seed contest are coming out of it. Sure want to see some blooms from Brugies cross. Susanne X Mountain Magic.
I had those identified on Garden Foes, but I've totally forgotten what it was. I didn't do anything to kill them and, as it turns out, I had one each, on three brugs and that was it...if you get a magnifying glass and look at them very closely, they look like BRIGHT WHITE bats and they fly fast as the speed of light...
I was surprised to learn a few months back that whiteflies carry broadmites on their legs! Who'd a thunk it?
Well, I'll be darn, that's more than pretty sneaky of the whiteflies!! I would not have thunk it either??!!
Awww, they don't fight fair!
Whew, you can say that again, Jackie!!!!
