It's the pressure of the spray that knocks them off. This may need to be done periodically. Get a longer hose. :)

The spray knocks them off but the cold and wet is not a Spidermites favorite habitat. They like it hot and dry.

It is important to get under the leaves because that is where they live. Take your hand and lift the branches when you spray. You might want to add a couple of drops of dish soap to your spray bottle. No more than 2 or 3 drops though to a pint, or the detergent will burn the leaves. The soap does kill the mites and smothers the eggs.

You are wise to do something every day. Spider mites hatch out every 3 to 5 days, That's why they are so hard to get rid of

Joanne,

There is a special hose nozzle called the Bug Blaster that is designed to be extra effective at using water to knock pests off of your plants. I first learned about the Bug Blaster on the Hidden Valley Hibiscus website.

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

The bug blaster is effective, it is also messy. I am not sure it would be useful indoors or on an enclosed porch. I use it outside where it gets to the heart of a thick foliage and cleans it up very nicely. I think mine came from Lee Valley. Al

Thank you for all of the advice. I did see the bug blaster at Petitis and will probably give that a shot (that and a longer hose) ;) Next year I will know to be viligent right from the start.... and also will not re-use soil from the tulips. I have a feeling that was part of the problem, because I'm mostly having issues with the plants in those containers.

Soaps do not suffocate anything. They work by dessicating an insect and are not effective on the eggs, and only marginally effective on the mites. That's why I recommended oil. It does suffocate both mites and eggs.

I doubt your old soil had much to do with your mite infestation. Especially if it was free of debris.

I'd be careful 'blasting' new guinea foliage. It's pretty delicate. You'd be better off just wiping it off with a damp paper towel, really after syringing the plants gently with water. Moisture does encourage the beneficials who predate spider mites and they help control the populations.

Getting them under control is not as hard as you are making it. ;-)

calliope,

I agree with you that you should be careful "blasting" New Guinea Impatiens because you could physically damage the foliage or flowers. However, you can modulate the force of the Bug Blaster by adjusting the faucet valve or by using a valve mounted between the hose and the Bug Blaster. I also agree that you wouldn't want to use the Bug Blaster indoors or even on the porch, but you could take the plants outside to wash them.

"You'd be better off just wiping it off with a damp paper towel, really after syringing the plants gently with water."

Such tender loving care would be desirable if you had few enough plants for that to be practical, and that might be the case here. But if you had a lot of plants, such individual care could take a lot of time.

ZM

Yes, I have about 20 plants and 2 hanging baskets.... (plus 3 kids and a dog)--- wiping off the leaves is not an option. Where can I find the oil you are talking about calliope? The plants are on my front porch (not enclosed) outside, so the bug blaster should be fine. I'm going to try both that and the oil and see if it helps. The 6 plants in one of the planters are really in bad shape. Time will tell if they show re-growth. Unfortunately they look awful in the process :(

I have wiped the leaves of a thousand easy lilies once when insecticides weren't an option. The joy is that once is usually enough to get them under control. I wouldn't even shrug at twenty plants. You've spent waaay more time that than that already.

Well once is certainly an option....I assumed this would be a daily event like the spraying! :) I haven't really done much except mist them with water every day after watering--that and pick off the dead leaves that keep appearing. One plant is stripped down to the stem. If wiping the leaves off once would help I'll certainly give it a go.

By "summer weight" oil... Is this what you mean?

Here is a link that might be useful: summer weight oil