jeep461, I would say you have a mite problem. Try a hot water spray for a few days once you strip off the leaves.

I never thought of microscopic. I was going to spray nematodes once all the plants were healthy. I am trying to head toward organic but it may take a while. Hot water? I have never sprayed any plant with hot water. I will try it on a few. I will hit the others with an IGR and Permethrin. I have not sprayed pesticide this year. Will mantis eat mites or even see them?

Jim

I think that mites are too small for a mantis. Maybe newly hatched mantids would eat mites but even then they might be too little. I'd just try the hot water and hold off on anything else. Even though Permethrin is natural I'd try one treatment at a time and wait to see if anything else is needed. Hope they clear up soon.
Karyn

Ok, I will give hot water a try. No shot gun for the little pests. I have been barkng up the wrong tree for a while. I googled mites and read all about them. karmahappytoes was 100% correct. I used to use insecticides all the time so I never had to deal with them. 1/50 of an inch. No wonder I did not see them.

I read about 30 search pages on them. Did the google images. Tapped the paper under the leaf. There they were. I will get after them tomorrow.

I thank you and my sick brugs thank you. We all are on the road to recovery. YEAHHHHHHHH

Jim

hmmm...i have the same problem here in Florida right now... grrrr...just hate those mites. I tried a systemic - doesn't seem to be working. So, just how 'hot' is the water you're supposed to use?? Hot from the tap? or..... just warm??? I'm always careful to NOT spray water on plants that's been in the hose, but maybe that'd be hot enough?? I did just buy an 'arm' for the hose so that I can really get under the leaves better, tho.......

We use it right out of the tap and if in a hurry will boil water and just put half in the sprayer with regular tap water. There are certain mites that the systemic won't kill and the hot water seems to do the trick. We treat for a full week, every day and strip off the leaves. Mites can do some serious damage if you don't stay on top of this.

Well see there ya go you learn something new every day :D
I hope your brugs are doing better now, Jeep.

I never knew about the hot water thing and mites.
I think this is the same problem I am having with my DayDreams brug and it is making me sick!! The leaves yellow and fall off look stunted and some are curly like in the photos above. I looked for mites as I've had them in the past and been able to deal with them-cant see any now. I have sprayed ortho systemic a few times-doesnt seem to help.
Did the superthrive and spray n grow etc. It will look a little better for awhile then back to the crappy leaves thing and it is not growing much either. Arrg!! I have brugs that I bought after this one that are 6 times bigger already and this one is still crappy!
The roots look really healthy white and are now coming out the bottom of the pot again since I repotted last.
Gonna try the hot water thing-hope it helps because Daydreams is turning into a NightMare lol.
~Lenette

What about Neem oil. I did the hot water thing on the badly infected plants. I talked with a local expert in Corpus Christi who does analysis at a nursery. He said to also try Neem oil with about 1 tablespoon per gallon of dish soap as a spray. I read a lot about it on the internet. It seems too good to be true.

Jim

One more thing. Those leaves you take off get rid of them. They are infested with eggs. Clean all the old leaves up also from around the area. I also found where the mites were trying to spread to other areas and plants. Aggressive little buggers.

Jeep,
I usually do use NEEM oil and it usually works lol. This time it didnt after quite a few tries I gave up and went to the systemic because it lists that it kills mites.
I tried the hot water thing this afternoon and brought my potted daydreams in and looked at the underleaves with a strong magnifying glass in the light. If there are mites they must be truly microscopic little buggers lol.

Yeah I remember about the picking up leaves thing. It has been awhile since I had a bad mite problem. The city has been digging up the roads and even some people's yards by my house to put a new sewer system in. It is very dry and dusty. It has also been windy and I have had to keep spraying off the leaves just to keep dirt off arrgh!
I wonder if that is what brought back the mites (dust)?
I hear that lacewing larvae will eat some types of spider mites and I actually found lacewing eggs after I had already sprayed of course :(
~SJN

I had a mild problem with a few plants. Then we had the last cold front about a week ago. Then it got real bad almost over night. I had really never had to deal with spider mites. I had a whole bunch with leaf curl. I thought it might have been the temperature change. Upon reply from karmahappytoes I did an inspection. I had them on about every plant. Thats 100+ brugs and on vegtables and other small plants. I hit them once, some still persisted. I then started removing all foliage that had them. I am about to hit them all again. I do not know where they came from. Thats kind of is like it happens here. Things tend to explode all of a sudden. Everthing went healthy to sick overnight. I have not sprayed pesticide this year. I have a orchard sprayer I used to use with a 30 gallon tank and a 5 hp pump. I am trying the organic /natural thing to see if I can make it work. I will give it 3 or more doses with daily inspection for a week to 10 days. I had heard Brugs were a magnet for pests.

Glad you seem to have your problem solved. I will stay on top of mine till it is solved.

Jim

I think I have it under control unless there is another massive hatch from somewhere else. The plants are 95%+ clean. Even the smallest change of a leaf color and I am inspecting it. Wow that was a major problem. It hit all my brugs, tomatoes, any soft tissue plant it could find. They went all from pretty to looking like they wanted to die in a few days. I will keep a close eye on them for another week+ that will allow any eggs to hatch that might. I am still researching the little critters after maybe 250+ pages. They are most remarkable pest. They have the ability to develope resistance to a pesticide in 1 or 2 generations. That is like 30 days or less. Some pesticides even make their population explode. Any way, I hope everyone reading this will npt have to experience it 1st hand. There was a powerpoint that I ran across that has endless hours of internet searching in one tidy package. I thought I might share.

to see link data

www.entomology.umn.edu/cues/4015/ppts/mites.ppt

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Mite powerpoint