Apparently this is the familiar annual cleome. In this study the spider plants reduced mites most effectively when they were packed in among the roses at a rate of 8 one-gallon spider plants per square meter. Here is a link that might be useful: another study

Spidermites: I had two bushes infested earlier - short floribundas in a prime (hot, dry) location. All the dwarf alberta spruce had spider mites also. I sprayed once with TetraSan 5 from Rosemania. I sprayed the whole garden in part because I had lost one rose to Rose Rosette. One spraying did it - all species of plant life made a quick recovery. I know the roses had red spider mites, the spruce another type. The TetraSan handled both. I have since added some of those water crystals to the soil under the two floribundas that were infested to help maintain some humidity. Short roses in hot locations seem particularly prone to spider mite infestations. I taught DH to spray down the spruce thoroughly every time he waters or has the hose out for something. I don't know what it is with those dwarf spruce though - they all have nice locations, nice soil, heavy mulch. I think they are just annoying me cause DH likes them and I don't.

Hi GreenDreamhome: I applaud your experimenting, and would love to hear the results. Years ago we had a drought, with temp. over 100, my Eglantyne rose had spider-mites from the nursery. Spraying with water didn't help. It was planted near a brick border, which reflected the heat onto the rose. I kept pruning, that didn't help. Finally I moved it away from the brick border, to a partial shade location, with a wet manure mulch. After spraying with water, I used 70% rubbing alcohol with paper towel to rub off the affected branches. That rose was freed of spider mite, and sprouted healthy leaves. I checked all the sites on spider-mites, and could not find garlic as effective. From U. of Colorado Extension: "Spider mites: Symptoms of injury include flecking, discoloration (bronzing) and scorching of leaves. Natural enemies include small lady beetles, predatory mites, minute pirate bugs, big-eyed bugs and predatory thrips. One reason that spider mites become a problem is insecticides that kill their natural predators." **** From Straw: Ever since I rubbed off all the branches with alcohol & pruned off the tip ... zero spider-mite in my garden for the past 3 years. I planted lots of Calendula which host green lacewings. Best wishes in combating spider-mites, they are hard to get rid off. From eHow: "Spider Mite Predators - Three main predators are: phytoseiulus persimilis, neoseiulus californicus and mesoseiulus longipes. All three are effective in temperature levels from 55 to 100 degrees and in humidity as low as 45 percent. Beneficial Insects - Green lacewings can be introduced to a garden as larvae and will consume spider mite populations. Ladybugs & Praying mantis and spined soldier bugs have been used to combat mites." Some info. from below link: "Washing away the mites' webs will interrupt their natural life cycle and prevent them from multiplying. Use a strong blast of water to wash. Do this in the morning for three days in a row. You can use a hand-held vacuum to remove the mites and webs from your plants. After vacuuming the plants, place the contents of the canister in a plastic bag and put the bag in the freezer for several hours to kill the mites." *** From Straw: the spider-mite infestation of my Eglantyne was so bad that if I had pruned more, it would had been too short. That's why I rubbed the branches & some leaves with paper towel doused with rubbing alcohol. When I wiped the kitchen floor with 70% alcohol, even ants got killed. The advantage of alcohol is it evaporates quickly, easily washed off, and won't harm beneficial insects introduced later on to the garden. Calendula seeds are sold cheap & the flowers are pretty & edible & used for medicinal purpose. I also use calendula petals in cooking to give rice-casserole a yellow color. Calendula thrives in hot & dry conditions, and host green lacewings which devour both aphids and spider mites. See picture of yellow Calendula flower that I used in my bouquet, along with red Firefighter rose: Here is a link that might be useful: Organic ways to stop spider mites This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 18:16

Thanks a lot everyone. I gave her a thorough and hard spray of cold water from the shower for 3-4 minutes. I could visibly see an improvement with a lot of the mites gone. There are quite a few still left and I will repeat it everyday for the next 6-7 days. Also sprayed the underside of the leaves with diluted eucalyptus water after the spray. The mites are mostly localised near the base of the plant, so spraying that part with water results in the pot receiving a lot of water. It has good drainage but I hope that isn't a problem? Some of the leaves and flowers were damaged, but other than that it is fine. Is it OK to continue this everyday for the entire week? Thanks again for all your help - never thought a simple cold water spray would improve things that much!