I honestly don't know what the value of the bleach water might contribute to your pest management program. I fear more for the health of your plants (not meant to be submerged nor to take up sodium hypochlorite. It seems to me that gingerly rinsing your cuttings, as well as scrubbing the containers and plant locations will go a long ways in getting rid of the darned things.

If you feel that you must add some sort of chemical to the rinse water, then rubbing alcohol would be milder than bleach. But I wouldn't submerge your cuttings in that solution for 6 hours, either.

What kinds of plants have become infested with the mites?

Lord help me, I have "super mites" here---nothing will kill them, nothing. Not cleaning, rinsing, spraying, scrubbing, soaping, chemicals, or non-chemicals. The mites are all over on the outside trees/bushes and no matter what I do, they come in and get me. Since I have turned the heater on the population has exploded. I have a humidifier on but it doesn't help----and if the humidity goes over 50% in the house I'll get condensation problems. I did do the bleach soak last night on a multitude of different cuttings and so far everything seems OK----time will tell if they root or not. I suppose I could try submerging in water and alcohol next time...this is all an expierment here as I am at my wit's end. This is one of several severe outbreaks I've had in the past few years, and I'm about to throw in the towel and give up plants forever. If anyone else has had this problem and solved it let me know!

Hi shiver, while I understand your frustration, I don't think you need to go to such extremes. If you do want to soak your plants to assure that the mites are gone, 15 minutes or so should do the trick. I have soaked (and continue to) dozens of (new) plants and cuttings over the years and they have all done fine. But I have never soaked them more than 15 minutes or with bleach in the water. I usually just add a bit of mild soap (or you can add some insecticidal soap, which is better). Rhizo's suggestion about alcohol is much, much better than bleach. I have done that as well on occasion and the plants have survived it.

If itÂll put your mind at ease about soaking, I soak the entire plant from tip to root  15 minutes max! Since I convert all my plants to hydroculture, I soak each and every one of them (no exceptions) before moving them from soil to water in order to eliminate any and all pests to give the plant a peaceful chance to convert without interference/stress from bugs. I have never lost a plant to soaking and there has never been any damage to the leaves either. So at the very least, my plants are living proof that it can be done safely  but with vigilance.

But I cannot swear to bleachÂand definitely not for so many hours. 15 minutes with a mild solution should be more than enough.

Shiver, I'd worry about soaking plants in bleach, too. Seems a bit harsh, no? You'd think water along would kill them..You must have a bad infestation. I wish you the best of luck, but please be careful..Toni

Since you've mentioned that you've had bad problems with them outside, that sort of explains a few things. Mites will come in with you, and find their way inside by other means quite readily.

If some of your landscaping plants are deciduous, you can begin a little regime of dormant oil spraying, which will be very helpful in getting rid of mites and their eggs over the winter. In your location, you can't use an oil spray on evergreen plants, though. Not until spring.

A few holidays ago, I inadvertently brought some spider mites inside with some holly branches. I soon gained control with a spray solution of one part rubbing alcohol to three parts water. I kept it in a spray bottle at all times and used it frequently, whether I saw mites or not.

Just to update everyone on my experiment: there appears to have been zero damage from soaking cuttings overnight in water and bleach (thank goodness). More importantly, there is not a spider mite in sight, and the ones I had were darn near immortal! I thank everyone who offfered their tidbit of wisdon----while I would NOT tell someone with a small infestation to try my technique, it may be useful for those who's collections have been demon-possessed by "super" spider mites.

These are some of the cuttings that have now starting to root after the bleach soak: various ivies, pothos, pepperomias, philodendrons, spider plant babies, and both cane and rex begonias. The begonias lost all their leaves off the cuttings, but the stems are still rooting. Also a few AV leaves appear to be doing fine as well, though it is too soon to tell if they're rooting. Who knew plants could take such abuse? I hope I never have to do it again!

I have an as yet very small infestation of spider mites. I've tried insecticidal soaps...no luck. 91% isopropyl alcohol kills them in less than 2-3 seconds, though! I haven't tried spraying that alcohol directly on my plants.

I plan to dust with food grade diatomaceous earth to see if that will work. If not that, then I'll go to pyrethrin, an extract of painted daisies (permethrin is a pyrethroid/synthetic variation on pyrethrin).

If you're soaking overnight, plain water will kill the mites just as dead as bleach water.

When I was taking OH, bleach water was all we used as fungicide, miticide, any type of bugicide on our cuttings, pots, tags, clippers, shovels, whatever. It was the recommended prescription from Cal Poly about 20 years ago. Any OH student would use bleach, now they use chemicals, and the plants seem to do worse for it. Don't use it on soil, because this kills good microbes, but you can bake your soil, or use certified weed free mix, this is usually pre-baked.

Use about 1/4 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water, but do not soak more than 15 minutes and rinse all the bleach off the plants. This is just strong enough to leave a slime on your hands. Then keep your plants isolated from the other plants.

Another thing to try is veggie wash. Spray it on then let it sit for about half an hour, do not let it dry, but keep it wet, then rinse it off and dry the plant.

The mild soap and water trick works best for super mites, IMHO. I have a small crassula that's had mites for almost a year now. I tried water; everything from a gentle spritzing to blasting it so hard the leaves almost came off and I'd also tried safer insecticidal spray. Finally I just wrapped the pot in cling wrap, held it upside down and swirled it around in a tub full of soapy water. That did the trick (finally!). Now it's just really top heavy and I don't think I can wait until spring to repot. This plant is like a problem child, there's always something going wrong but I just can't get rid of it!

Wow this thread is old---Oct '06! Thanks for weighing in everyone.

I refuse to battle mites any longer. Now I throw out any plant that gets them---I'm done playing games with those beasties. I know it's harsh and painful, but it's kept my collection mite free for almost 2 years now. And that people, is the ultimate VICTORY for me!

Tobacco juice.

Try this, anti-stress 2000

It is not a pesticide. It is a polymer that forms a barrier on plant leaves. Mites either cannot penetrate it, or the polymer suffocates the mites themselves - I don't know. But it works. 2 applications within a week, mites are gone. It is safe to use indoors. good luck.

Spider mites are immune to just about all the sprays out there but one - Ortho's Systemic which turns the whole plant toxic. It's the ONLY thing that works for me and works well, works fast and works every time. I first hose the plant off if possible, then spray it completely until it's dripping. I do this several times skipping a few days between sprays. It works!

Spray in well ventilated area.

I'm a microbiologist and work in a plant-microbe interaction lab. We always use bleach water to surface sterilize our plants for propagation or for getting a sterile sample of plant tissue to be inoculated with a desired microbe. The plants seem to do fine and I can say for sure that it gets rid of any undesired (micro)organism. I can only assume it would be effective for eliminating mites.

The benefit, I think, of spraying with 1:1 alcohol water is that the alcohol will quickly evaporate, leaving behind no residue that may harm the plant.

Just my $0.02!

Just a warning about a systemic spray. Jades are very intolerant to some chemicals so make sure you read the label.

I am surprised I have not posted in this old thread. I use a combination of Dr.Bronners peppermint soap- a couple of drops in a bottle of water, The next day I use alcohol-I use a generous amount mixed in water. And then I use hydrogen peroxide mixed in water. I tend to be aggressive with spraying as it keeps me awake thinking of bugs in my plants!