you did not say.. you knew.. and used the paper trick .. i made a presumption .. forgive me ... God help me.. lol ... and you are 100% sure they are juniper... all to often peeps who drop in from the sky ... use all kinds of common names ... and we provide all kinds of answers.. and when a pic is finally posted.. it isnt a pine tree... and we have wasted a lot of time and effort ... and finally ... are you in Arkansas.. or OH ..??? not that i think it matters .... but it might ... what i believe you are asking.. is whether Js have dormant buds or not ... so that is you cut back ... will they rebud like trees might ... the general answer for conifers is no they dont ... Js however are a bit more aggressive with resprouting.. but i wouldnt bet the farm on then doing such ... cut back to any side branch that is unaffected ... a pic will get you a full latin ID ... as there are many types of Js ... as well as better suggestions as to how to prune them ... ken ps: i would also suggest you look into juniper tip blight ... which has caused me to destroy many of the Js in my collection just north of the MI/OH border .. as i always wonder.. what came first.. the bug or the disease stressed plant ...

Hi Jeff! I really enjoyed your post... Most of us can understand what you are going through, so no worries. It just makes us feel better knowing we have others that truly understand the addiction and the many hoops we will go through for our trees. The fight with spider mites is a constant battle this time of year, so don't think you are the only one. I would agree with K... My choice for spider mites is also the Bayer 3 In 1 for mites. Just sprayed last night and will set off spray bombs in the greenhouse again in a few days. Merry Christmas to you and your family and to ALL of the family here on the Plumeria Forum!!! Take care, Laura

Harry...I recently tried spraying full strenght rubbing alcohol on some that are on my plumeria. They never batted an eye! I've tried nearly everything on the market, within reasonable costs, and home made crap as well. You also have to rotate the products you use or the pests will soon shrug it off. I thought mites were tough. I don't believe there is any pest more tough and adaptable than thrips. It's a battle that will go on forever. Even the big money pesticides($200+)/pint have no guarantees of cleaning them out. If a plant is not too large and you have the time and the patience...get a bucket of soapy water and a wash cloth and start cleaning the leaves by hand...even branches. I've done this more times than I care to remember and it is the only way I've found to get rid of a particular outbreak. It's only a break in their cycle though. Most of these pests go thru several cycles and can be found in your soil, mulch, gravel/dirt on the floor, and on the plant itself. Not all methods work on all cycles. It's brutal and they have the upper hand. Systemics don't even always work and growing fruit trees, you need to be careful what you use and when...and there's still a doubt whether it is safe or not, a few claim they are...or whether it will kill the mites. I used a good systemic on the plumeria and it didn't slow them down a bit. Where do you draw the line in the sand? I had them on my bananas in the greenhouse one year. I purchased Cali predator mites and they pretty much irradicated the mites on the nanas. There was no evidence of them on the plumeria all this summer. Why now? How now? Beats the he!! out of me. Humidity? Forget it. You've all heard how high I keep my humidity in the greenhouse. No affect at all on mites. The only thing neem has done for me is to make every object and surface around the plant a sticky mess. Hort oils were not much better. So what to do? Try everything and rotate them. Make sure whatever you use can penetrate their little webbing. Blast your plants with the hose before bringing them indoors. Try beneficial nematodes. Forget ladybugs and green lacewing larvae...waste of time and money. The predator mites may benefit but you have to look at their environmental requirements. You could look into one of the more nasty fogger type pesticides. Pop that off and shut up your garage and turn off all fans. Your garage is not attached to the house so you don't have to worry about anything making it inside. You need to make a stand before the population gets out of control and spreads to other plants. Try to keep plants from touching in the mean time...hard to do I know. Sorry to have rambled on guys but this has become a personal war for me...and I can't stand losing. I will never win this war...I just need to keep at the rebels long enough to wear them down some.

Spray with neem oil solution on a weekly basis. It should take care of them. I would recommend continuing treatment even after you no longer see them on the leaves, just to keep potential re -infestations at bay. Also make sure you do it early in the mornings, or as the sun is setting. I've heard that prevents any kind of chemical burning or negative results to the leaves. We applied neem oil to our tomatoes earlier this year once we noticed spider mites, and it completely took care of the problem...so I don't think it's too late for you :) just a heads up though, if you've never used it before, neem oil has a very distinct odor Here is a link that might be useful: Here's a write up I did on my blog a few weeks back on neem oil