In a former life, I used to work with inbred mice. The minimum number of generations of brother X sister mating was 20 consecutive generations before an "inbred strain" was considered established. In many cases, the number far exceeded F20. The advantage in that situation was that after 20 generations, the resulting population was considered to be genetically identical (or close to it). This has terrific potential in medical research. Theoretically, genetics is no longer a variable. A particular trait can be "highlighted" with inbreds. A rare mutant trait may become normal in all individuals. As bambi pointed out, fatal traits are often highlighted by chance instead of "desirable" traits. It is rare to get inbreds to F20 because they simply die out! In plants, this may or may not be desirable. Each individual will eventually appear identical. Nurseries would go broke--no variety! --Stitz--

Oh Boy.. You finally got MITES????! Congrats...lol Seriously. There was sone good suggestions here.. Thsi is what I do and I have yet to have a spider mite issue in my greenhouse, although that is not to say I don't have at least one mite in there.. In fact, when containing any kind of plant in any confined area, that is the chance we take and in fact quite common. Personally I thing every one of us folks that grows indoors has at least one pest or two. The key is to accept it, not to panic, never be disappointed if you think you rid them all and see on again, keep on top of them, never letting them take control, and prevention. I always keep a fan circulating the air in mine. I use a spray bottle, you know, the kind you spray pesticde out of, the big pump ones and spray my plants early in the a.m as frequent as possible. It keeps the air humid in there all day, keep the plants clean and discourages any pests.. The fan prevent disease problems and allows me to use water this way. I would not use all that Neem..It will eventually suffocate your plants if you use too much too often, including buds and new growth. I would use a good horticultural oil in a spray end bottle or one that attaches to a hose. Why don't you drain your hose so it won't freeze up or keep it stored inside until you use it again? That is what I do. I always have access to a hose even when it's below 0 Too, keep the area clean of debris and dead leaves, especially on the floor and on the shelves..I would also spay your pots and all surrounding area.. You should be able to fight this with ease//to be honest, i would rather have mite than scale or mealy.. Hopefully you have gained some good ideas from us here... P.s..Find a way to consistently spray down your leaves with water and keep a fan going..This alone will help prevent many issues! Mike

Bees and Ants are related - so you may be sensitive to ant stings as well as bees and wasps. Though most people believe they get bitten by ants in reality ants grab a hold of you with their front end while they sting you with the back end. So it looks like you're only getting bitten. Their stingers are usually too small for the human eye to see. A lot of people are only allergic to honeybee stings and have very little sensitivity to wasp or even hornet stings. I've been bitten and stung by just about everything and honeybee venom is the worst for me. All of them hurt but honeybee stings take days to go away whereas most of the others only last an hour or so. Also know that plenty of people that start out sensitive to bee stings grow out of it - and likewise, people that never had much of a problem can develop a sensitivity at the drop of a hat. Allergic reactions don't always follow the rules.

Guten tag mein freund Christian, Welcome to this forum. I lived in Mannheim, Germany for 3 years and traveled to Italy were my father was born. I am also back on this fig forum with many of my good fig friends, Christian, Rafed, Art, Martin, Mario, Giuseppe, Aaron and many others. All of us here have been very helpful to each other in the past years and now here again at GARDENWEB-HOUZZ in the future years. It is cold here -3 degrees F. daytime temperature Phil from Northern Ohio