No, but they seem to love my yucca. I'm constantly spraying them off. I just dunked one of my rootings that had them very bad.... I was wondering why it was struggling suddenly. Last year Viking Queen got them bad before I realized what they were. Now I recognize the inital symptoms and spray with water as soon as I notice them. thanks for the link. I'm off to read it now. : ))

Totoro: Thank you for that fantastic link. Read through that and I agree with the poster that CHEMICAL NITROGEN fertilizer DO ATTRACT PESTS such as spider mites. I only had one experience with spider-mites: that's when I bought a tiny own-root (Austin Eglantyne). It came in the mail WITH SPIDER MITES. I sprayed with water, that didn't help. WHAT I SHOULD HAD DONE WAS TO DUNK THE ENTIRE PLANT IN A BUCKET OF WATER to drown the spider mites, before planting.

Eglantyne has a wimpy reputation as own-root so I tried to force it to grow with MG-SOLUBLE-Fertilizer, that WORSENED SPIDER MITES. What helped was to move it from a hot brick-border, into a cool & partial shade northern location. Then I wiped the stems with alcohol, and it recuperated. Owner of Rose Unlimited also recommended NOT planting roses near HOT BRICK border, the reflected heat attracts spider mites.

Spider mites like it hot & dry. Except for that singular Eglantyne, I never see spider mites on other roses NOR marigolds (despite planting marigolds next to hot-brick-border) every year for over a decade.

That spider-mite infested Eglantyne died after that winter. So I bought a second own-root Eglantyne, but I used blood-meal NPK 12-0-0, NO spider mites whatsoever. I also made the soil more alkaline & loamy for faster water-uptake.

Info. from below link, which lists Dill and Chrysanthemums as effective against spider-mites. Yes, I do have a large patch of dill in my garden, and I plant Chrysanthemums in the fall.

https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/12-plants-that-repel-unwanted-insects

Other herbs

• Bay leaves: Repel flies.
• Chives: Repel carrot flies, Japanese beetle and aphids.
• Dill: Repels aphids, squash bugs, spider mites, cabbage loopers and tomato hornworms.
• Fennel: Repels aphids, slugs and snails.
• Lemon balm: Repels mosquitoes.
• Oregano: Repels many pests
• Parsley: Repels asparagus beetles.
• Thyme: Repels whiteflies, cabbage loopers, cabbage maggots, corn earworms, whiteflies, tomato hornworms and small whites.

Alliums

Plants in the Allium family, such as the dramatic Allium giganteum whose purple flower heads adorn stalks up to 6 feet tall, are regarded as a broad-spectrum natural insecticide. They repel numerous insects that plague vegetable gardens, including slugs, aphids, carrot flies and cabbage worms. They also will keep aphids off rose bushes. Alliums include small-growing herbs such as chives and garlic chives, leeks and shallots.

Chrysanthemums

Repel roaches, ants, Japanese beetles, ticks, silverfish, lice, fleas, bedbugs, spider mites, harlequin bugs and root-knot nematodes. The ingredient in chrysanthemums that makes them so effective as an insect-repelling companion plant is pyrethrum. Pyrethrum can be carcinogenic to humans and care should be taken in using them in this form.

Marigolds

Aphids, mosquitoes and even rabbits don't like the smell of marigolds.

The scent from various types of marigolds repels aphids, mosquitoes and even rabbits. The roots of marigolds are well-known among farmers to repel nematodes, though those qualities require a year to take effect.

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums release an airborne chemical that repels insects. Repel whiteflies, squash bugs, aphids, many beetles and cabbage loopers. Nasturtiums do not repel the all-important pollinator — the bumblebee.

Petunias

Repel aphids, tomato hornworms, asparagus beetles, leafhoppers and squash bugs. Some people think of petunias as nature’s pesticide.

Other ornamental flowers

• Common lantanas: Repel mosquitoes.
• Four o’clocks: Attract but poison Japanese beetle.
• Geraniums: Repel leafhoppers.
• Narcissus: Repel moles.

For the second time, I read through the Oklahoma Gardening link that Tortoro gave, and notice how stinky stuff like seaweed really attract pests:

ilovetoplant My tomatoes were attacked by spider mites, MAJOR MAJOR CASE OF APHIDS, white flies, and some kind of yellow/black polka dotted bugs in the end ... it must have been the seaweed spray, because that was all that I was using, after the initial fertilizer at planting. I was using seaweed spray every two weeks. ilovetoplant

From Straw: Agree with ilovetoplant !! In 2015 I DID NOT have thrips for the entire year, until late summer I bought Dr. Earth-FlowerGirl organic fertilizer with NPK 4-10-7 with STINKY fish bone meal, alfalfa meal, kelp, seaweed extract. That stinky fertilizer brought forth an explosion of blooms, along with explosion of thrips. That was the WORST THRIPS infestation in 30 decades of rose-growing !! The high phosphorus really burnt the plants after they are done with blooming, very much like the time I tested high-phosphorus chemical fertilizer on petunias in pots.

See below for what plants REPEL spider-mites. They recommend mums and shasta daisy, along with dill, garlic, chives, and allium family. Besides a dill patch, I also have a coriander patch. Plus Chinese chives/garlic to make pot-stickers .. very delicious but invasive:

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/companion-planting-defeat-spider-mites-73748.html

Kelly in MN also testified that the high-scent banana-smoothie she fed her roses attracted flying insects. such as midge, thrips, sawfly (which gives birth to rose slugs).

I googled what scents attract flies (thrips) and gnats (midge), here are the answers:

http://faithtap.com/7821/say-goodbye-to-fruit-flies-and-gnats-with-these-easy-solutions/

"The majority of gnats and flies are attracted to certain smells, especially fruit and sweet scents. Flies eat decaying matter, including rotten fruits, vegetables and meats."

Most of these solutions use pantry items and follow a simple method of creating a trap that the fruit flies and gnats can't escape. Quick steps to building such a trap include taking a cup or jar, filling it with one of the solutions listed below, then covering tightly with plastic wrap and poking multiple holes.

Alternately, you can also create a paper funnel trap by folding a piece of paper into a cone shape and snuggly fitting it in the mouth of a glass jar. The bottom of the funnel should have an opening that is about an inch wide and the tip should be about 2-inches away from the bottom of the jar. Place your bait of choice in the jar and watch as the bugs funnel in, but can't funnel out.

Red Wine

Much like us humans, fruit flies and gnats love red wine, or at least the smell of it. Combine 1/2 cup of red wine with 1 and a 1/2 cups of water and pour in the trap described above.

Apple Cider Vinegar

This is perhaps one of the more common home remedies since apple cider vinegar is cheap and easy to find. Heat about 1/2 cup or more of apple cider vinegar to make it more potent. Add a few drops of liquid soap and mix well. Pour the solution in the trap jar. The sweet smell of the vinegar will attract the flies and gnats, while the liquid soap essentially acts as the bug killer. Once the jar is filled with dead bugs, rinse and repeat.

Overripe/Rotten Food

Another simple way to build a trap is to actually use the items that attracted the pests in the first place. Substituting the liquid with an overripe fruit or vegetable in the trap jar, also works just as well. Just remember to take the jar with the trapped bugs and submerge it under water to kill them before setting up another trap.