I recently bought a pot of tightly-packed Parlor Palm seedlings, and after I got them home I discovered hitch-hikers hiding among the leaves--spider mites. Today I ran a Yahoo search for "spider mites" and found a page that says "It has been suggested that spraying plants with a 1:1 mixture of alcohol and water will kill spider mites on contact." I really don't want to use chemical-based pesticides on my houseplants, so I think this is a great idea.

I've been browsing around this forum looking for messages on this subject, and have found that several people have recommended the use of diluted alcohol to kill pests. Does an alcohol:water ratio of 1:1 work best, or should it be diluted more?

Here is a link that might be useful: The page where I found that quote