This should help a lot of people. Very well said and will a good thread to refer folks to when the questions come. The jbs will be here soon.

What do they actually look like? I've seen some random webbing on a couple of my roses but never find anything when I look

Ken, do spider mites die when hosed down? I really hate to see them on the roses and I constantly battle with them grrrr

I don't know if water "kills" them. A bunch probably drown. All I know is they HATE water and after being washed off a time or two, will go elsewhere. They do lay eggs so washing several times a week over a couple of weeks usually takes care of the major problems. I'm use to washing my plants down (under the foliage and on top) at least once a week. Being so tiny, they are almost impossible to see until they build up a big city of their own on the underside of the foliage. When the foliage gets that dull, grayish look to it and webs start to appear, they have set up house.

Thanks for the info. I will take a look tomorrow. When you say you wash your bushes down what exactly is that? Judy

Thanks for this Ken. Spider mites are a real problem in my area, because of the drought.

The spider mite life cycle from egg to adult is five days. When my roses were badly infested with spider mites, I was advised by this forum to blast the undersides of the leaves with water for at least five days in a row. It was too late for one of my miniature roses, but it worked for the rest. Now I recognize the signs (that peppery look) and take action early on. It also helps to keep weeds or any other debris away from the roses. I was told that minis are especially susceptible, because their foliage is closer to the ground. Here's more info: Natural Spider Mite Control.

I brought home a new rose bush not realizing it was infested with spider mites - gez.... Anyhoo, it's in quarantine now away from other roses. And Judy, as Jaminerose4u writes... (I do a good spray of water from above and then) getting low with the sprayer nozzle near to the ground and directing water upward as well to wash those little buggers away.

Ugh!!! We generally don't have spider mites here but it seems most all of my mail order roses come with a nice colony of them. Do they winter over in Z5b? We can have temps as low as -15 with no snow cover. I know that this will kill ticks because there is no snow to insulate them. Does it kill the mites too?

Sharon

Spider mites hibernate, but all stages, egg to adult would die at that temperature. Source: Cold Hardiness In The Two Spotted Spider Mite.

Thanks jasminerose for the info.

I'm really confused about this. I have two webs on my baby sundowner that appear to have two small black spiders on the underside of the leaves. I've seen some small winged bugs in the webbing. I didn't blast them with water as I assumed spiders would be a good thing (even though I do not like spiders) but now I'm nervous that it might be spider mites. The leaves look ok right now, maybe one or two yellow spots but nothing bad. So I guess my question is how do I differentiate small spider webbing & spider mite webs? If they are spiders do I let them be or get rid of them.

Spider mites are VERY small. Hold a piece of white paper under the effected foliage and shake the foliage - spider mites look like dots of salt and pepper on the paper. If your spider is large enough to distinguish his features, he is a true spider (a good guy).

Spider mites overwinter as a mature female under bark or mulch. Usually under the plant on which they were feeding. I doubt wether removing such materials would prevent them thou.

I should have said the two spotted spider mite. Other spider mites over winter as eggs.

Patty- do you get mites? I have never had them on my roses until I bought mail order. Was I just lucky? From what I've read they are said to prefer drier environments not humid and damp like Massachusetts is. Is this not correct?

I am bringing this thread back to life since I found spider mites on my brand new Cream Veranda.

It came as bare root and is in a brand new pot. Nothing around it has shown any infestation.

luckily on this forum I had just read about spider mites and knew to begin flushing them with water.

I was so bummed because I have been so diligent with my new babies and then to get spider mites, like when your perfect child gets head lice lol.

I'm glad I caught it early but where did they come from ?

Are these leaves due to spider mites?

Another plant

Could be just a mixture of older and blackspotty leaves,(first pic looks like that) possibly with a nutrient deficiency (all that darker green veining) but that last pic has enough detail to look like spider mites as I have experienced them.. Has it been hot dry or dusty where you are? check the undersides of the leaves, cos that's where they live- can you see tiny grey or black specks, or a sort of general film of speckly crud ? If so..its probably spider mites.

Its hot, dry and dusty during summer here, so spide rmites happen every year on a few of the roses. After some research I sprayed a miticide- spraying stuff makes me nervous (I put on the full battle gear of long sleeved shirt and mask, and felt compelled to wash everything including myself straight afterwards), and this one stunk to high heaven. It worked though- two sprays a fortnight apart, and there were no more mites, and the roses were happy again.It did worry me a bit to spray chemicals about, so since then I've tried the drench daily with the hose treatment, but to be honest, its not been that effective. Things dry off too quickly when its hot here; washing can fully line dry in an hour, even in early morning..So I cant really recommend a treatment.

How I noticed mine was the plan is really a clean plant and no black spot and I was looking at it yesterday and saw kind of Webbie silvery looking leaves. And then I turned the leaf over and there he was little teeny tiny red spider mite so I got right on it after being bummed and walking around wondering how this could happen to my perfect garden haha. Then I started really flushing it . I already did it again this morning so I'll take care of those suckers. But you're leaves don't look like what mine were at all. I am a novice but your leaves look fungal

OK thanks everyone. It has not been hot or dry but rather very wet and raining several times a week for weeks.

I actually do see those little red mites on a lot of my roses. I am pretty sure I got my mites from a mail ordered rose. Sigh. I should have quarantined it first.

Has anyone tried a 1:1 mixture of rubbing alcohol and water? It is supposed to kill the mites on contact and evaporate fast.

Also I read about predatory mites which eat the spider mites and then eat each other or move on. Anyone have any experience with those?

Best option is to blast them with hose. Miticides available are some of the most potent chemicals available and in some places their sale has been banned too. You really do not want chemicals that strong around your house.

So stay safe. Blast them away with water. Make sure that you do in morning so that plant dries up fast.

I had a bunch arrive from the same nursery with spider mites. I don't want to use chemicals but the washing of the leaves now seems to have the mites on their next door neighbors.

I actually dug up and threw away a bunch of plants that I didn't love but couldn't gift to anybody!

On the ones that I like, I've just been cutting off the entire cane (loaded with roses) and throwing it away. Once again, probably too dramatic of an approach but since it's spreading from the contaminated ones with washing, I went overboard!

That being said, my plants actually look strong and healthy and I do get green lacewings delivered every two weeks, who are supposed to take care of them.

I wish that I could buy some patience! When the leaves are washed, doesn't it wash the eggs somewhere or does the water kill them?

Fortunately the one I'm dealing with is in a pot with nothing close to it. I've been doing the wash two to three times a day since Saturday. Today I put some fungicide on how long should I wait before I wash it again without washing off the fungicide can I do it sometime today?

in addition to the wash which I've been doing a couple times a day Sunday night it rained really hard. I continued with the wash on Monday and have seen no sign of the Little Critters since. But I will continue for at least a week to make sure all eggs are gone

The ironic thing for me is that mine came from a place where I was annoyed that they arrived covered in white fungicide since I'm no-spray. Does fungicide suppress them?

No , only a miticide will supress them like Avid, Floramite and others.

Thanks pink rose! I wonder if they said miticide and not fungicide was on them, now that I think about it. In any case, it only lasts for so long apparently!

Fungicides last 2 weeks only , while miticides may last a lot more like 6 weeks .

last summer , I too had a spider mite problem on some of my roses .The roses affected were in a bad shape , no new growth or blooms .In the end I had to use a miticide to control them . Since then, I always wash the leaves every time I water the roses .

Where do you buy miticide?

Any time the forecast shows consecutive hot, dry days I plan to spray the roses daily. I don't even WAIT for the suckers to appear. As a result I've never actually had spider mites.!!

Love Ken's post, it will help a lot of people. Kudos Ken

OK, water and natural predators it will be! Yes, kudos indeed to Ken! We've had a record setting dry May so that probably didn't help things.

Ken's water hose idea is great for retired people, which you guys can do that during the day. I can't hose the roses at night after work though, it would cost more problems. We're all facing the spider mites problem in rose gardening, but the time of water blasting roses is the key to solve the spider mites problem or create more problems (PM & BS). It's nice to be retired I shall say. :-)

LOL Summers! I've been gardening with floodlights and by the light of the moon so was just calculating which roses I like well enough to do all of this spraying! We're dry enough that I can get away with doing it at night, thank goodness.

I hope all of these green lacewings step it up a bit for the rest of them!

summersrythm

Miticides are expensive . I buy mine from a seller in ebay who sells them by the oz .The spray amount is only 1/4 tsp per gallon .I sprayed twice last summer with a five day interval , wiped them out completely .

Can you hose your roses early in the morning before work ?

Thanks pink rose. I don't have spider mites until late summer, I will keep Miticides in my rose file for just in case. Thanks for the info. I am not a morning person, I walk 2 dogs in the morning, and only have time for a cup of milk.....it take me about 45 mins at least driving to work.....and I have too many roses this year, just over 1000 now. I'd have to take the whole morning off to water them. :-) I can try water them really well on the weekend.

Well, as advertised, the water worked. I haven't seen any sign of the mites for 3 days. I will continue for a few more days to make sure all eggs are gone as well . Yay

pink rose,

Thank you for all the miticide info. I think I found your seller on Ebay...very nice to be able to buy in smaller quantities at a reasonable price. Since mites develop resistance fast, several different miticides can be bought for less than the price of one...what a great idea! I'm going to just spray water daily for a few days to see if that can take care of them, but I might also buy a few miticides just as backup.

I too am worried about the eggs getting spread around in the dirt and potentially over wintering. I don't know if I have to change out all the mulch in the fall or what.

I don't know if the water kills the eggs so that is why I was interested in the 1:1 rubbing alcohol mix which is supposed to kill the mites and the eggs.

I am also trying spraying neem oil for the more mature plants and water for the baby plants. I have also read that if you water your plant with neem oil and water suspension that it will make the leaves unpalatable to many pests and should not hurt the plant.

Be sure to hose the roses from the bottom up with a strong blast .I bought this spray head from Amazon :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AH4WOD0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for keeping us posted. I have a lot of irregular looking bushes now where I chopped off the canes so probably need a new plan!

Cori Ann gave me an idea with her using Protekt silicone spray to heat proof her plants. I read on forums that some marijuana grower used Harkers Duramitex Plus silicone bird spray to kill spider mites and eggs on their infested leaves. It is completely pesticide free as it is silicone.

So it seems Protekt might work as well for these mites although I don't know if the silicone is concentrated as Harkers to kill as well. It probably would work to make the leaves less tasty or more difficult for the mites to suck. I think I will try Protekt first since the Harkers bird spray is really expensive and the Protekt has potassium in it.