Hi all,

I have a bunch of plants in containers on my balcony (since I live in an apartment, I can't have a "real" garden). Some of them do well and have never had any problems, but some of them seem to be constantly battling infestations of one kind or another. On my balcony, my gazania is always battling aphids and sometimes ants. My begonia was doing great but I think the ants spread from my gazania. Now that I got rid of the ants (for now), I just noticed that the begonia has spider mites. I got a rose a couple of weeks ago that also has spider mites. I spray the affected plants with water mixed with neem oil and dish soap, which helps a lot (much better than the harsh chemicals I tried in the past) but never seems to fully get rid of the problem. Or, once I think it has, a new bug comes along! I can't figure out why I keep having so many problems: I live on the 3rd floor and the surrounding area is sprayed weekly with pesticides. Any suggestions?