Puzzling dilemma!

14 years ago

I recently sent out some cuttings to an e-buddy and she's found spider mites on them! I've never had spider mites and can't find any now (my first thought was, OH NO, not another bug to fight!...) And I had even sent out some of the same species to others that same week and have had no feedback about bugs. So I'm wondering if anyone knows how this could have happened? Do you suppose it's possible they got in the box in the mail somehow?? That doesn't really seem that feasible to me... The only thing that was different about the stuff I sent to her was that I had packed the cut ends with sphagnum (orchid moss, actually) about a week or so prior to get them started rooting. My next thought was that maybe the moss had them?? But I poured a bunch out of the bag and used my magnifying glass and couldn't see a thing. I'm stumped... I'm looking for ideas from you folks who send out a lot...

Denise in Omaha

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Comments (8)

mitzicos
14 years ago
Hi Denise,

Is she sure that is spider mites??? Couldn't be another thing?
It seems to me that is almost impossible a contamination during the trip or from the moss.
Denise
Original Author
14 years ago
She showed me a photo she'd found on the internet that looked like the bugs, and described them as having little webs. My mom had them on a Desert Rose a few years ago, so I've seen them and am pretty sure her description fits. It's a real puzzler!

Denise in Omaha
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mitzicos
14 years ago
Yes, this is a mistery to be solved!
scsva
14 years ago
Relax Denise. Your love and concern for all your plants is quite obvious. Keep on keeping on with what you have been doing. I wouldn't hesitate to receive a plant from you.

Susan
yangmahal
14 years ago
Denise, all the cuttings and plants you sent 3 weeks ago
are completely bug free and thriving. Strange things do
happen! Chin,Chin, Jan (:
greedygh0st
14 years ago
It is strange that she was seeing webs. Usually you don't see those until the infestation is quite well established. How long had she had the cuttings before she reported it?

Anyway, compared to scale and mealies, spider mites are so much easier to handle (on Hoyas). Keep calm and carry on, right? Sometimes there is no way of telling where they originated.
mdahms1979
14 years ago
A few mites don't do much damage but it's when their population explodes that they can do a number on a plant. Sometimes all it takes it the right temperatures and humidity for them to go out of control. I think the easiest way to kill them is to smother them with a soap and oil mix, palmolive and Neem works very well. Also soaking cuttings completely submerged in soapy water for an hour or so will drown them before you get everything packed up to ship. I would let the cuttings dry well before packaging though.
I really stinks to get plants with bugs but at the same time it can be very hard to prevent. I have mealies in my collection because of a commercial growers plants but if I did not start buying them I would never have really gotten into Hoyas. It's a trade off and I just consider insect pests to be part of growing plants.

Mike
greedygh0st
14 years ago
Hear hear! Sometimes to do the things you enjoy, you have to endure a little risk. I truly never resent anyone for passing a pest onto me. I know we all try to be conscientious and it still happens from time to time anyway. I'm just happy they were willing to share their plants with me and I roll up my sleeves.

Still, don't they feel like the STDs of the plant world?