Red spider mite...and other mites...

It is so discouraging to find that spider mite beats me each time. It's just determined to outlive all my treatments. I am thinking of cooking or microwaving all my soil before I do anything else because one little bug left over in a crook or cranny will restart the cycle. Or, I need to switch to some other plant group...I could grow zinnias, which I also like a great deal, but not as much as MGs. It breaks my heart to see a new plant I thought was spider-free infested again...I have watched these buggers under a magnifying glass and must say I used to completely underestimate them...They are so fast...They move so easily from one plant to the next by either using their silk-rope system or a free-taxi-ride on a fruit fly...Before I do anything else with MGs I must beat this mite...:=)

Can anybody get hold of the following article by Dr. Harry Bischoff Weiss: "Ancient Beliefs Concerning Insects" published in the Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society (Today's New York Entomological Society), Vol. 8, No. 2 from a local library?

It may be such an eye-opener to all of us who believe insects are stupid little critters that can be wiped out by another chemical. Insects have been far longer on this planet than humans and will probably outsmart us all...

Yesterday I read an article on the varroa mite that was inadvertently imported into German bee hives by some reasearchers who experimented crossing European bees with Asian bees. By now, statistically, EVERY German bee hive is infested with the varroa mite...

I sometimes have predaceous beetles and lacewing larvae that feed on the mites on my vines but there are too many mites sometimes for the beneficial insects to keep up. Do you have ladybird beetles in your part of the world?

Good luck with your pest situation.

Joseph

Martin, I have no answers - just thoughts, which I'll write from a standpoint of just beginning to learn. It's interesting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mite that mites have such a wide range of habitat from both soil and water to so many kinds of life forms.

I like Joseph's thinking about predators. Since your habitat invites mites happiest in your low humidity (red spider mites?), it seems sadly paradoxical that a parasite (Phytoseiulus persimilis) of red spider mites is most effective in humidity of at least 65%. Still, this link might be helpful - http://207.5.17.151/biobest/en/producten/nuttig/phytoseiulus.htm . There's a couple other ideas they recommend in tandem with P. persimilis.

Is there some way you can increase humidity for some of your plants? A fountain that would do double duty misting and fountaining? If you could find the right group of plants for your situation, there might be a synergy among them that would produce a plant community more supportive of its members. In permaculture, I think that's called a "guild". I don't know much about that - just pointing you in that direction. I think the following thread might have some abstract concepts about permaculture and guilds that might be transferable to your situation: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/695670/

Maybe different species of morning glories might be better than the ones you are currently tussling with. However, one interesting thing to do would be to sow 50 seeds of one kind of MG in which you are interested into a 2' or 3' diameter pot. You won't be growing them for the beauty of the plants or flowers. You'll be watching to see which one is most resistant to the mites, and then try to get it to produce at least a pod from which you can sow the next generation of seedlings, and so forth, until you've selectively bred a relatively mite-resistant MG for your area.

Anyhoo, it might also be worthwhile to research which plants are relatively mite-resistant for your area. There seem to be quite a few lovely desert morning glories - does anyone more knowledgeable on this forum have suggestions?

Thanks Karen for your advice, I have already a little fountain that helps to create humidity, but we say in German: it's a drop of water on a hot stone...
I also think that eventually the solution will be combining the right plants and creating a habitat that mites don't like too much. I am dead against chemicals because I can see how quickly mites build up resistance. It's not a bad idea to grow a pot of ipomoeas and find out if there is some in there that resist the mites. I bet that these mites also have a good sense of smell, so planting something that confuses their sense of smell such as garlic or onions might help too. In general, I have found that the mites don't like plants that have a hard surface because it seems they can't penetrate it or plant foligage which smells strongly such as geraniums or chrysanthemums...herbs they are not to keen on either...