Hi Debbie - i've emailed the woman about the hostas, and with tax and shipping, it would come to - toooooo much! LOL I told her i would see if one of the local nurseries could bring them in. I was outside for awhile this morning, deadheading and weeding, but the bugs got too bad. Now it's deer flies and ankle flies doing all the biting. You can't win. One thing i need to find out something about is seed-saving. With some plants, the seeds are more obvious, but with something like geraniums, where are those seeds? Somewhere in the little pointy thing that's left after the flower, i guess, but is it a single seed or multiple ones? Dianthus too - i was looking at some this morning and wondering what to do with them. I could see with the saponaria - there are little pods that have formed. I'll have to get out and gather some of those seeds pdq. Some of my lilies have started to bloom, and i'll have to get some pictures of them. Some of the colours are unexpected - like, did i really plant this? I really need to write things down... Yesterday we did some garden tours, and they were pretty interesting. People have some lovely yards! And good ideas. One of the things i liked was a hollow piece of driftwood that had been filled with dirt and pansies were growing in it. I would probably do a different flower, though. And someone had a whole whiskey barrel with holes drilled all through it. It was filled with dirt, a pierced length of PVC pipe down the middle first, and the woman had planted begonias in the holes of the barrel. Are they fibrous, those little ones with the shiny leaves? Can't remember. Anyway, it was cute. Debbie, i'm not sure about the insulation. Do you mean those rigid sheets? I have a feeling we already have them under the current siding - not sure, though. They are on the porch for sure. The guys were on the roof for awhile this morning, but it was just too hot. Fortunately, if the siding needs to be done, the scaffolding will have to be taken down. Good thing! LOL Anyway, i should go and find something constructive to do. No idea what - i've already ripped out the living room carpet so that we'll HAVE to get new flooring, and put up new curtains on the patio door. And cleaned some closets. I suppose i could try to install some closet doors, but that would mean trying to get dh to help and he's out playing at something with his chainsaw or sawmill or something. Oh well, maybe i'll just be lazy! :) Take care - Marcia

You won't find spider mites OR beneficial predatory mites in your worm bin. The beneficials predate on spider mites, which will only be found on green plants. You have some sort of worm bin mite, about which know pretty much nothing. BUT with one click into Google using 'worm bin mites', I found you a bunch of articles to read. Click on google images first to see the duplicate of your picture. Which was excellent, by the way. By the way, there are many, many species of mites and they are found in all kinds of habitats. Each tend to be very habitat specific, meaning that you can often come pretty close to identifying them by observing where they reside. Here is a link that might be useful: Worm Bin Mites

Mites damage orchids quickly and quietlyoften their presence is not noticed until significant damage has occurred. Mites are visible, but their presence is easily determined by rubbing a white cloth over the area that is damaged. If mites or their eggs are present, a brownish residue will be left on the leaf. This will come off and be visible on the towel. Some spin light webs which are visible on the plant or at the base of the plant. A very good natural remedy is an oil/soap treatment. Dr. Martin Motes recommends using a light oil--such as vegetable oil. Olive oil is very heavy and could potentially damage plants. Using 2 TBS oil/gallon is sufficient, you can add a teaspoon of baking soda for a bit of antifungal. Remember to keep shaking the solution in the container to keep the oil mixed with the water. Spray thoroughly on all sides of the leaves. FOLLOW UP with a soap solution about 7 days later. Using 2 tsp/gallon of Joy or Dawn (dog shampoo is great too) not only does a number on the pests, it helps clean off the oil treatment. I actually follow up with a third treatment in another week with the same soap solution. The soap/oil mixture remedy has been shared in the past, but the University of Florida recently discounted it as the two agents act in direct opposition of each other and essentially decrease the effectiveness of the effort. Just like the TV ads say, the dishsoap is designed to cut grease (oil) in its tracks! :) AOS recommends Malathion, or Volk Oil/Sunspray for scale. Also Knox Out 2 FM or Orthene Turf, Tree and Ornamental Spray. Mites are nasty buggers to get control over. If the infestation is confined to one plant, isolate it to prevent spreading--watch for that carefully. Be careful to follow the label on preparations TO THE LETTER to avoid damage to plants. One tip for success is to make sure you do TWO treatments of your selected poison about 7-10 days apart in order to catch newly hatched pests. Submitted by Rhonda Heide

I had them once on a ever green and before I notice a 2 ft area was dead. I asked a nursery man about it and he said you can't see spider mites. He said to put a white sheet of paper under the area and shake the plant, then rub your fingers across the paper. If there are blood smears they are spider mites.