I'll warn you ahead of time, you may not like this response. I'll just give you my experience with using Avid and you can decide what works for you.

First, many mites are now Avid resistant. I used that stuff (following the instructions to the "t") and it never killed my mites. Second, it is some seriously toxic smelling stuff and gave me asthma attacks for days after using it, even though I used protective gear and sprayed outside----so be careful if you have respiratory problems. Third, it will damage the leaves of your violets and can occassionally kill them. If you do use it, spraying it under the leaves in a fine mist is just fine. DO NOT trade these plants until they have been completely clear of mites for a few months, as the critters can re-bound after Avid treatments.

Yes, mites can come in your home via outdoor plant material like leaves/flowers/evergreens, or they can even blow through window screens if you have plants outside that are infested with them.

Honestly, if it were me I would toss the plants. The toxicity of the miticide, the damage to the plants, and giving mites the time to spread to your other plants is a high risk to take. :( AVs are usually not too expensive to replace, so I would go for that option.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do---and don't let those buggies sour your love for plants! :)

I would say spraying over the plant and pushing the lever about three times should get coverage on the upper part of the plant. Don't forget to spray under the leaves.

While some commercials prefer to spray every 6 months or so as prevention, I would not recommend this for the average grower. This is why insects become resistant to to the poison.

If you spray, use two different products. One application with one product, then go to another product for the second spraying. For the third application, go back to the first chemical.

As the above grower commented, often it is less expensive to trash the infected plants and begin again after a good clean up in the plant room.

Leaves can definitely carry mite. They can bury eggs between layers of cells in the leaves. When the eggs hatch, another invasion begins.

An outbreak of mite can be very discouraging to the grower. Don't let it get you down. If only a few plants and leaves are involved, get rid of them and buy more. They will be much less expensive than the two products you have to purchase.

Many of us have had experience with mites and while it takes a seemingly long time to completely control them, you can beat them.

Don't trade or give leaves that might have been exposed to mites. I would say wait at least a year before spreading the leaves and possibly anything in them.

Nancy

Nancy

There are different types of mites and they cause different kind of damage. The worst, to my opinion, is clear body greenhouse mites that damages the center of the plant. That is what I had recently. I agree that tossing a sick damaged AV might be cheaper than buying expensive products and doing all sorts of laborious treatments. Unless it is a valuable plant and the damage is not significant. With mites, it is easier to prevent them. Sometimes all the spraying damages the plant to the point when it is plain ugly and you just want to cut the center damaged with mites out. However, if your AV is looking strong and the damage is not bad, it might be worth trying the spraying with miticides as there is more chance your plant would handle it ok.

If you do have an AV with badly damaged center, you can save the outer undamaged leaves and propagate them. But first wash them under lukewash water and then for 1-2 minutes in 10%- bleach solution (1 part liquid bleach + 9 parts water). It should kill all the mites/eggs/disease on the leaves. Then rinse the leaves thoroughly under lukewarm water for about 3-5 minutes to wash the bleach off. Allow leaves to air dry, cut or break the stems fresh to the length needed and propagate like you normally would.

That is at least what I had to do with my AVs. The leaves I saved are growing babies now, I am keeping an eye on them to make sure there is no more mites.

You can also save the root and propagate a new violet from it, clean the root from the ugly damaged center and any soil around. Treat in bleach solution (like described above), stick in fresh soil without covering the top. There will be a new plant growing on that root pretty soon.