Unless you are planting only a pot or two I would not plant exclusively one time of annual as I almost invariably have different plants do better in different years. For example if you planted all Portulaca and it was a Hot dry year they might look amazing while everyone elses annuals failed. They next year might be exceptionally rainy and cool and your Portulaca would all rot and you would have nothing. Impatiens may thrive one year but pick up a disease the next. By the way have you grown annual Vinca? Thrives in summer heat and sun (or a little shade) and is generally pest free.

As far as taking precautionary measures to avoid pests and fungal diseases, you want to make it less friendly of an environment for it/them.

Water less, especially in pots, wait till they dry.

Provide extra air flow and sun penetration into the canopies.

Don't plant out too early. If all there is, is your nice lush plants and no other real greenery around, everything will get attracted to it.

Stagger your plantings and avoid clumping of same species.

Make a sacrificial bed with plants that you know they like and set out early. In most cases they will go to that and avoid your prize crops.

Start early and use a preventative maintenance spray which consists of dish soap and garlic. Use on overcast days, apply regularly.

Spider mites can be easily beaten by spraying the plants and soil well with the above mix, increasing air flow, and letting pots dry.

Recipe. Spray bottle with a good squirt of liquid dish soap, and minced fresh garlic strained.

Hi jordanmichelle,

I second Ken's suggestion to discard your current pot media as a biohazard that is infected with many things, including very likely spider mite eggs. And sterilize the pots themselves. Don't just dump the media somewhere -- package it in your trash to go to your local landfill. And wash up after you handle it. With respect to your plants, it is a biohazard.

" I bought many insecticides and they only worked a couple days before they were back. "

Insecticides don't work on spider mites, because they aren't insects.

" Do you think the spider mites are simply prone to live in my area and there's nothing I can do as a precaution? "

There is lots you can do, like follow Ken's advice to start over with fresh uninfected media in your pots.

" I'm scared of insects and have a real phobia of spiders "

You're not up to a fight, so take the easy way out. If Petunias seem to be successful for you, I suggest you stick with them. There are a wide variety of petunias to pick from.

ZM

Thank you all for taking the time to answer.

As far as the media, I never reuse it and always buy new. I have 18 pots and at the end of the season, which is typically late summer, I dump out and discard old soil and store the pots in my garage. I like the tip of bleaching them prior to use.

Woodnative- I live in an area, which stays in the mid to upper 90's, if not 100's throughout the summer, with nearly no precipitation. I'm thinking the extreme heat could bring out the spider mites, as the past two summers, they showed up early July when we were having 105+ degree days for over a week. Portulaca always does incredibly well. Forgot to mention, I will continue to plant those. Only issue is they drop their seeds and I have them growing all over my rockery. Every year, more and more come up but we plan on replacing the rock and taking out a lot of the dirt soon. I'm excited to check out Vinca!

FastInk- Going to save your recipe to possibly use as a preventative. What you said makes sense. I live in a newly developed neighborhood and we have very few plants, maybe just a few small trees along the street and of course grass. My lush pots must seem like paradise to the pests. This is encouragement to start landscaping in the coming years.

KenAdrian- Could my pots have anything to do with the Spider Mites or just the mildew issues? I'm just trying to figure out where these mites are coming from. I understand the plants could have been stressed but compared to the average Joe, I take extremely good care of them, as far as watering, pruning, and fertilizing. Never had a problem with Spider Mites until we bought this house. Do you think it's possible they're prone to my area? Not sure if it's relevant, but I live in a newly constructed neighborhood, which used to be farmland and outside our neighborhood, we're surrounded by farming.

zen_man- Not a biologist here, so if they're not insects, what are they or do I even want to know? lol. You're reassuring me of my idea to stick with Petunias. I love my container annuals as a hobby and you're right, I'm not up to a fight with any kind of spider monster creature. I could care less about other insects. I also continuously have a bud worm problem every year, yet I don't mind plucking and spraying those guys. Spider Mites are another story. I was posting here to see if there might be some miraculous precaution to take so I don't have to see them again but it sounds like it could be a bit of a gamble and once they're present, it's a significant problem, as it's not just a quick spray and be gone with them ordeal.

Hi jordanmichelle,

" Spider Mites are another story. I was posting here to see if there
might be some miraculous precaution to take so I don't have to see them
again but it sounds like it could be a bit of a gamble and once they're
present, it's a significant problem, as it's not just a quick spray and
be gone with them ordeal. "

I have never had a problem with spider mites outdoors. They have effective natural enemies that normally keep them in check. One year, many years ago, I planted some French marigolds because someone told me they would repel garden enemies and, ironically, the marigolds served as a "spider mite magnet" and all died dramatically under a blanket of spider mite webs. My zinnias and other plants remained un-involved. I hesitate to suggest you plant marigolds as "sacrificial lambs", but that might be an experiment worth doing. But there are miticide sprays that will kill spider mites.

My indoor zinnias are a different story. Natural enemies are usually not present effectively indoors. One fateful Winter, spider mites wiped out my whole indoor zinnia project. And I didn't have a clue what was going on until it was too late. When I first saw microscopic little dot creatures forming their tiny webs on my zinnias, I thought to myself that I had never seen the "spiders" that make cobwebs, so I watched these cute little "cob spiders" cover my zinnias with their funny webs. And then one night, much to my surprise, my indoor zinnias all died. No survivors.

It was then that I realized, much too late, that those webs were not the product of "cob spiders", but a population explosion of spider mites. I now have a supply of a systemic miticide that I will use against indoor spider mites when and if they appear. But since I have discontinued the practice of bringing in cuttings from my favorite zinnias in the Fall, I have quit infecting my indoor zinnias with outdoor problems. Any product that I use indoors has to be systemic, because any sprays would contaminate my indoors air, which I like to breathe.

You could prevent and control your spider mites with commercial miticides, but I am not sure it is worth the trouble.

ZM