Hi Kyle

I have found just regular household fly spray does the trick, spray from a reasonable distance, say 2ft, 600mm is safe, as the stuff coming out the can is very cold, the distance will help avoid cold burn.
This doesn't seem to have had any ill effect on my plants over the years.

Pinkbroms

Pinkbroms

When you say "fly spray" is there a certain brand? More importantly an active chemical? I doubt that we have all the same brand names.

Do you see microscopic red dots under the leaves? I've never webbing like that associated with spider mite, not that all-encompasing. Mites or not, I love imidacloprid on all my plants except Tillandsias. For those I use a diluted spray of a non-ionic soil/water surfactant. Products like "Water-In" work well. They smother whatever insects are on your plant and strip the protective coating of the eggs too. Just a tablespoon in a 16 oz. sprayer will do you well.

No red dots gonzer. I think I have identified these as "two spot spider mites" I dont have a good enough camera to get a good picture. I cant seem to find "water in" any where on the net, perhaps a link? it sounds like the dish soap trick however I don't know if dish soap is nonionic. I would like to find it and give it a try. I really don't want to end up spraying Avid or Forbid

Kyle, the product linked below will work just as good. Some nurseries/box stores might give you strange looks if you ask for a 'surfactant". Here you'll find it as a 'soil penetrant'.

Here is a link that might be useful: linky-doo

Spider mites thrive in a dry environment, and it looks like your tilly got pretty crispy, Kyle, making it a good target. I'd try the dish soap first, it's cheaper. Soaps and surfactants do pretty much the same thing, i.e. break the surface tension of water. Just make sure it's a soap and not a detergent, which has other ingredients that can harm your plant.

I had a feeling that stricta clump got pretty dry while we were gone, the irrigation system I built didn't quite hit all the plants. But now I'm back to watering by hand so along with proper watering and the surfactant gonzer told me about hopefully I can kick these guys out. I also got my hands on a few ML of Forbid Miticide in case I really want to take it to these guys.

thanks.
Kyle

I don't know a lot about broms but have had a fair bit of experience with two spotted mites/red spider (same thing) when I was in the nursery industry. If you have a long term problems with mites, besides raising the humidity around the plants, the use of predatory mites is a safe and effective solution. If you spot any dark red mites amongst the two spotted they are most likely the predatory mites which will not harm your plants. I'm not sure in other areas but here in southern Qld, we usually find the predatory mites turn up naturally within a week or so of the bad guys. Be careful if you spray pesticides as these good mites will be killed as well. I've attached a link about the predatory mites below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Predatory mites

Good info gail and good luck Kyle.

Gonzer, I found this at my local nursery supply store.(link below)I was afraid it might be to strong, what do you think?

Here is a link that might be useful: Southern AG Surfactant for herbicides

Honestly Kyle, it should be OK as long as you dilute it just to the point where the critter's will die. Mix a very diluted amount and spray it on unsuspecting ants to test for lethalness. If the ants die within 5-10 seconds you've got a safe and effective spray. Your product is used, as is mine, to make herbicide mixture stick to target plant's leaves more effectively. It's also used to penetrate hard soils, moisten overly dry potting mixes, and when sprayed on roads it keeps dust from flying about. They range from 10% to 25% to 80%. Mine is a generic brand (doesn't have a percentage) from work that I've found, through testing, gives me good results. The active ingredient alkyl aryl polyoxyethylene glycol is similar to car anti-freeze in it's make-up. Some people call surfactants/sticker/spreaders "horticultural anti-freeze" because of the chemical make-up and oftentimes blue color. I would say "Yes" it would be safe. It has the signal word "Caution" which is the safest and least toxic of EPA labeling (#2- Warning, #3 Danger). Make sure to drip-dry your plant to avoid pooling in the leaf bases.

Copy that Gonzer. I read the active ingredient and never made the connection to engine coolant until now, I used do use the same chemical in racecar engines, it was called Redline water-wetter. There is also a blue version by another manufacturer, but we had sponsorship from Redline oils.

Here is a link that might be useful: WaterWetter

Here's the stuff I use Kyle.

Here is a link that might be useful: super-wet