Thanks. Can I rid my apartment of the infestation of the mites if I get rid of the 2 pepper plants? They are my only indoor plants now, but I want to start a ton of vegetables and flowers indoors next month. It sounds like getting rid of the pepper plants is the best option? I really like how pretty one of them is, but I don't even like it's peppers. I would really like to ensure no spider mites for the new peppers even if it means getting rid of the old ones. What do I need to do to get rid of spider mites in my apartment? Is dusting and vacuuming enough if I get rid of the pepper plants? What can I do to avoid a spider mite infestation in the future? Last summer was my first attempt to grow anything from seed, so this is all a big learning experience for me. Thanks!

I discovered spider mites last season late July, a few weeks before the start of harvest. At the time the plants were big and the mites were impossible to eliminate. My only hope was to slow them down so that new growth outpaced my pruning tick infested branches. By that time it was too late for anti mite oil to work because there were too many of them. Hard water showers every day helped slow them down a lot. This meant spraying the hose directly at the plants at full blast. At this point in the season when the tomatoes are little the anti mite oils might work. I got these mites on my eggplants and cucumbers as well but the tomato plants suffered the most. It was finding them on eggplants last season that led to my discovery of them killing my tomatoes. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my log entry on mites written last July

I live in Columbus Ohio and we had a very mild winter this year, so I don't believe it is weather related. We do have a dog, but he prefers to kill our grass :)and is too lazy to walk that far from our back door. I went to a local garden center today and they told me to bring back a few samples for them to look at...plan on doing that tomorrow. They were planted back in 2006 and we've never had any problems with them, they all looked good going into fall/winter. My husband just came up with an idea this morning I wanted to run past the two of you...he power washed our patio a couple of weeks ago, using only water, but had the power washer sitting a few feet away from the boxwoods. Started in the corner, where the first dead spot is and then moved it down to the vicinity of where the second dead spot is. Could the fumes from the power washer done that damage? I know we are going to need to cut away the dead spots, will the boxwoods grow back in that area if it was just the power washer that caused the damage? Is there anything I can do to help repair those two sections?

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.