Spidermites are awful. As heat and humidity set in, they should diminish some. I find that oil spray works on them.

What's a megabloom on tomatoes? I just got mine in the ground today, but a couple of them do have fruit set already. Would have had more but %$&*% bambi chewed off the tops. Hope he had a tummy ache.

Spider mites are ruining a few precious plants in the garden. I have tried (in a haphazard way) the basics of soapy water, hot pepper spray, etc. Today I went out and purchased some supposedly organic concoction by Bayer - we'll see if it works. The entire garden has been remarkably pest free except for flea beetles on the eggplants (3) and spider mites on the lulo's (an eggplant relative). I only got two potato beetles on the entire patch of 'taters. Some leaf damage from other pests but nothing monumental. If I had known the 'taters were gonna be so easy to grow I would have mulched them deeper to get more tubers.

The flea beetles (which always damage the eggplants) are this year munching them so bad that the tiny seedlings never got more than a few inches tall. They didn't stand a chance so I yanked them and replaced with store bought seedlings which will be sprayed and sprayed and sprayed until they get big enough to maintain the onslaught.

The lulo's will get a leaf trim (get the mites with the leaves and toss everything in the trash, NOT the compost pile) and then sprayed over and over until I see healthy leaves. Their fruits aren't ripe until fall anyway and by then they will have either recovered or died.

I put three 'Stupice' tomatoes in the ground in March and protected them with wall-o-waters through the last frosty nights. The results - I have been picking ripe tomatoes for the last two weeks. Lots of gorgeous tho small fruits, but they have just a hint of summertime flavor. All the other t'maters are up and running with only a few showing a few small fruit (one being a 'Cherokee Purple' from the spring swap). I way overdid the tomato planting this year and out of the entire planting only one plant seems to be in trouble. I have a back up 'Mexican Midget' from last years swap that will get plopped down in its spot tomorrow.

Glad you mentioned wall-o-waters,John. A neighbor near the old house puts them in the ground mid-late February in the wall-o-waters and gets a huge crop.

As for the flea beetles, there's a common weed I don't know the name of but I always let grow because the flea beetles hit that before anything else.

My container garden is practically overrun by the little buggers. Best I can figure is when my Grand Duke of Tuscany Arabian Jasmine (which I overwinter in a sunny spot inside) was infested, I must not have gotten all of them and they spread to my other containers once I put The Duke outside in the spring. I nearly lost The Duke this winter due to the infestation - the mites just WOULD NOT DIE no matter how much castille soapy mix I sprayed on them. This is the worst I've ever seen the persistent little pests. Hope y'all are faring better than I am! Sometimes I question whether my devotion to organic gardening is really worth it ;).

Natural deterrents for spidermites: Rain and wind. Spray leaf undersides with a nozzle in the morning to continually dislodge the webs and crawlers.