Calvin I hope cj reads this but on an earlier thread, I think she eliminated them from her greenhouse with Neem. I used the really big guns and eliminated mine but the stuff is expensive and probably shouldn't be used in a home environment. Neem should be user friendly in your home, I think. It should also be available in any garden center, big box store, etc.

Alcohol can also be used to kill mites but be careful and keep the plant away from cold drafts. Alcohol + cold = cell damage - don't ask me how I know :>)

Brooke

An insecticide won't work since spider mites are "mites" and not insects, and you will need a miticide. Whatever you use, you must also treat the soil, as eggs will continue to hatch and if you only treat the above-the-media portion, the mites will be an on-going problem. The usual recommendation is once a week for three weeks running.

Once the mite are gone, simply keeping the leaves and the plant as a whole clean will keep them from coming back. They like dust.

Treating plants is a lot like treating humans. When you are sick you often don't know whether you have a cold, flu or other respiratory virus. Testing could tell you but that would require a doctors visit and the wait for results. In the meantime there is bed rest, fluids, aspirin or ibuprofen/acetaminophen. These steps have been proven to help one feel better whether one knows the exact cause of illness or not. Now, AFAIK, spider mites are invisible to the naked eye and even low power magnification. True, they don't like water and/or humid conditions but water alone is not likely to kill them off. And this is assuming that we are even talking about mites in the first place. Pictures would help here. Alcohol is what I usually use on suspected pests no matter their biology but straight alcohol might be a little hard on tender new growth. Schultz and Safers both have Neem based products that you might try. In the Schultz product there is also miticide and fungicide in other words, its the 'broad spectrum' antibiotic of the pesticide world.

H

Sorry for the duplicate information but when I started my response no one else had posted.

H

sorry Calvin but I know that from years of experience just dousing your plant with water won't work. Ive tried it many times. At the least add some dish soap to your spray water. I'd recommend safers or horticultural oil. For big guns, who's technical name is acaricide, kelthane is really good though I don't think its for indoor use. I THINK avid would be another choice but don't quote me on that. In too lazy to look it up. I have also used azatin with great success.

re: spider mites, orchids and water

My experience is that water sprayed using an outdoor hose and spray nozzle is quite effective at blasting spider mites from my orchid plants and tomato plants when outdoors. These plants are vigorously sprayed as appropriate during the warmer months of March-November.

What works for me may not be appropriate for hobbyists with different conditions.

--Stitz--

Calvin, is it possible that since you can actually see the red dots they are aphids? There are red aphids, and aphids tend to cluster on new growth, as I learned when I was growing gardenias.

I think spider mites are supposed to be too small to see with the naked eye (unless you are using a high powered lens to see them?)

If they're aphids, they're an easier rid -- Neem or Safer's Insecticidal repeated at 5 days intervals will do it. In fact, soapy water and wiping them off will do it -- they drown.

And doesn't drowning the nasty little qstkgtlfds sound good?

Whatever they are, hope you can get rid of them for good.

I have constant battle with spider mite for a few years already. I tried neem oil, they disappeared for sometime then came back. They like my phals and paphs. But I just discovered they tend to stay on those plants I don't spray with water. I usually water my plants in the shower, but avoid doing so with my phals and paphs for fearing crown rot and spider mites tend to stick on these plants. I just started to shower all my plants recently and hopefully will get rid of these bugs.

Google 'two spot mite' or 'flat mite' and also 'black mite' and GNYOS, and you'll find some serious information.

Red spider mites can be up to ~.5mm, and thus visible. They tend to make webs. When they're red, they're in a non-eating phase, which is always a plus. :P They tend to detest water moreso than flat mites. I would rather have red spiders than flat mites. The flat ones are more tropical and smaller at ~.25mm, and so are harder to deal with. I've been paranoid about flat mites for awhile now and I think I *might* have them, or might have had them. I really need a jewelers loupe to try to spot them.

All the suggestions given are what is usually recommended. I tried some Neem mixed with pyrethrin and a booster chemical and I individually sprayed every plant with alcohol. The more I've thought about it, the more just using alcohol every couple weeks or so makes sense to me. Assuming you can avoid getting them too cold, it really seems to be the ideal solution for mites. There are no resistence issues. It kills all the stages except eggs. Non toxic to plants and humans (within reason), easy to apply with a squirt bottle. And as a side benefit it will kill scale, mealies, and pretty much any other critter it contacts. Regular hard sprays with water is usually the number one recommendation. Do that, plus alcohol occasionally and some hard-core chemicals if you want...and I bet your problem will vanish.
-MB

Thanks for the advice - sorry no pictures since I have since watered them and scrubbed the leaves of the 3 infected plants with water, and I don't see any red dots anymore - if they come back I'll take a photo.

Mehitabel/H - yeah they're just barely visible red dots - I'm pretty sure they're not red aphids though because I've seen those and they're much bigger. These are the size of grains of fine sand / a pinhead.

Mr. B - what do you do wiht the alcohol - just wipe down the leaves, or do you actually pour it into the media which I assume is needed to kill eggs?

I do have safer's end all which seemed to take care of my thrip problem, so I will try that if they come back. I have neem oil, but apparently it stinks so I'm weary of using that indoors during the winter.

The alcohol won't kill the eggs. Wait until they hatch and spray again. You can hook the spray nozzle of a hand sprayer to the alcohol bottle. At least mine fits. Then just spray top and bottom surfaces of the leaves. Or just pour the alcohol into a small spray bottle.
-MB

My big guns for any mites in the GH is Conserve (you mix the powder with water). Not easy to find, I had to do an internet search. The stuff works on thrips as well.

Since I don't like using the more dangerous pesticides inside the house, in an emergency (like last week when I saw mites--definitely mites--on a little decorative ivy plant my daughter gave me) I spray Cinch (glass cleaner) and soak everything very well with it, wait a few minutes, then rinse it off in the sink. If necessary, I'll keep repeating the application, but the little buggers still want to return after a couple of months.

Sharon