My thoughts and comments are that I'll bet you would like to see this post moved down the line! Especially since we've put our heads together and solved the problem! ;-)

An embarrassed thank you. Off to the archives with it then! ;o)

Al

Ok, are you going to share the answer with the rest of us? I'm rather curious after all this time!

Sorry. Here's the skinny: After getting some help from Dorie in the way of photos & written input, it was evident that mite infestations can indeed be so bad as to show webbing that looks remarkably similar to tent caterpillars/web worms. The photos that my friend sent had small insects suspended in the webbing that she was able to identify with a magnifying glass subsequent to mailing me the photos. Diagnosis: Red spider mites.

I suggested she remove as much webbing as possible by hand & treat with a sharp spray of water followed by an insecticidal soap application. I advised her to follow up with neem oil treatments every two weeks for several weeks. I have found neem very safe and very effective on mites as both an antifeedant and a chemosterilizer (it renders them unable to reproduce).

Al

Wow, some mites! Thanks-

Sorry for getting a hold of this so late. Just last week, I noticed in our courtyard, many pansies and violas (which I haven't gotten around to pulling out yet) were encased in webs. I couldn't believe it. My fiance who is actually a grape and stonefruit farmer knew exactly what it was. Mites. I never saw them actually encase an entire plant like a 'tent' as you described above, but that's exactly how it looked.

Since these are considered winter annuals here in CA, they needed to be pulled out long ago to make way for the summer ones,---but I just haven't gotten around to it. Last night, I got rid of them and sprayed the surrounding, remaining items with Neem. I'll have to continue to re-spray for a while.

in my experience with web spinning red spider mites, i have found it is best to treat the infected plants every 3 days as their life cycle will cause a fresh hatch of "babies" this often. another thing that you might try to spray with is liquid seaweed(ascophyllum nodosodum). the seaweed doesnt leave any film and is much healthier than the neem oil.