This article has info on using biological controls, might help;

Here is a link that might be useful: UC IPM-Spider Mites

Doesn't make much sense; are you sure they are spider mites and not some other type of small spider. Can you see them? Can you post a close-up photo?

Mike - they are in 1/2 wine barrels - no upside down dunking is gonna go down :P

Barb - thanks, am leaning in that direction

John - will take out the DSLR and see what I can photo

Nope. Most likely spider mites. We're having a spider mite explosion this year in S. California I have never had such a time with them, they are everywhere in my yard. I attribute this to having an extremely dry winter and spring. Serge, hose your tree off every day. They do not like being sprayed with water. Fertilize your trees very, very well. They take advantage of stressed trees, and be sure your trees are well watered (water-stressed trees are more susceptible). Try switching to insecticidal soaps from oils for a while, and alternate between hosing off, and the insecticidal soap spray. All I can hope for is a big increase in lacewings, soon.

Patty S.

There are many highly effective miticides but some are not labeled for fruits or the formulations that are labeled can't be bought. One application of Acramite applied June 1 controls spider mites in my greenhouse all summer long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acramite

This post was edited by fruitnut on Sat, Jun 14, 14 at 0:33

Mites in general like dry and dirty (dust). We occasionally get broad mites on our lemons in the dry season, but never in the rainy season.

Well, that won't help....But I like the idea's that Patty and others are giving you...

Thank God I never have that kind of mite battle..I never have mites once my plants go outside and I put the hose to work..I guess I could thank the beneficial insects too..

MIke

every 6 days

every day, sir. every day. twice a day if you can. You are giving them enough time for a new generation of eggs. Also stop the neem. You are killing off the beneficials that will eventually control them.

fruitnut, what is the concentration of Acramite? How much product in how many gallons of water? Expensive stuff, but at this point, I am having ornamentals (junipers) severely affected as well, allowing the mites to hide out in those plants, and jump to my citrus. It's been a really rough year for mites.

Patty S.

OK if I stop the neem and spray every day or even 2x a day...what I am spraying with? Plain water? Water + Soap? Can I keep using Rosemary oil?

The ultimate product to combat mites is Bayer Oberon; but I don't know if you can get it where you are, or if you need a pest applicator license. Perhaps the active ingredient at a lower dosage is available.

Patty:

I've got an older formulation that has lasted me 10 yrs and counting. It's a very low concentration, like 1.5 ml per gallon. It's ~$5-10 per year for a 1700 sq ft greenhouse. One spray lasts the whole summer if I get good coverage. There are other materials that would work on ornamentals. I'd say at least a half dozen materials that hammer the little buggers.

If you bought the Acramite linked above I think it would last a lifetime or close to it. Many of those other materials on that link are also very effective but most aren't labeled for fruit.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Sun, Jun 15, 14 at 23:52

SO sorry to read of your battle. Would hate to be faced with that. This is what I'ved gleaned from some internet searches that may help you. Azamax is a neem oil based insecticide, but it is much more concentrated. The folks who raise medicinal crops use this with some good experience winning mite wars. https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/azatrol-azamax-vs-mites-a-scam.49021/
see post #20

And here's the army: http://www.bugsforbugs.com.au/californicus-information/
For sale:
http://www.territorialseed.com - Spider-Mite Predators
ZBG032P

Hope you get the upper hand!

Here is a link that might be useful: Spider Mite Predators: NC-Neoseiulus californicus, Pack of 100

This post was edited by aztcqn on Mon, Jun 16, 14 at 3:28

OK to follow up what I did was to start showering the trees with water twice a day, every day.

Ta-daaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

No spider mites (well, no webs). Trees are looking greener, glossier, and I'm getting good new growth too.

yay.

Very good, Serge. Keep it up for a couple more weeks. Keep an eye on the trees and don't let them get water stressed.

Patty S.

Thanks I am keeping an eye on them!

One question....a couple of trees are starting to flower. Should I knock off the spraying so as to not disturb the flower/pollen?

No, water will not hurt the flowers. Just don't blast them too hard. They hang on well, or else, we'd never have any citrus fruit with areas that have significant rain storms :-)

Patty S.

Thanks, Patty.

Sometimes I wonder what I'd do without your advice.

(That goes for a bunch of people here)

Gardenweb should provide some kind of elevated status (badge, goodies) for knowledgeable and helpful people.

I also squish as many as I can to reduce numbers. I'm gradually getting rid of mine as the summer progresses. :(

Okay, fruitnut, I have given up. I have ordered Acramite. This summer has just been impossible for spider mites. They seem to really love my junipers and some of my container citrus. Two of my container citrus are across from two junipers in containers that seem to be supporting each other's infestations, so, I'm just going to have to resort to Acramite. I am sure there is severe crossover to spiders, but, if I want to save these 4 plants, I have no choice. They are also infesting my two very large topiary junipers out front, as well as devastated a variegated pittosporum I had (past tense, didn't make it, due to infestation and inadequate watering on my part, which makes the plant more susceptible). So, resorting to non-organic tactics, which I don't do too often, but with our severe drought and dry, VERY dusty summer (dust is much worse due to constant Water Authority construction traffic behind our house), I just can't win this battle without the "big guns". Ugh.

Patty S.

Patty, I am sorry to hear of this..I can't imagine teh battle you have..It must be very frustratiung...If you were able to use your water freely and keep your plants clean, that might help?

By the way, I e-mailed you days ago..Hope you got that since it's not like you not to respond)

MIke

Well, not exactly, Mike. We're on water restrictions. I can only water Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. And, with my last 2 month water bill exceeding $1,100, I am trying to be very careful how I water. That is really just beyond the pale. And I did get your email on 9/2, and responded back, but I haven't gotten an email since? I check my Spam folder every day, as aol sends a lot of stuff erroneously to my Spam folder. I do spray down my container citrus, but I think these 4 container plants are sort of supporting this spider mite infestation between themselves, as they are all very close to each other. I don't have issues like this with my other container citrus. Just odd, and you know how it is - once they set in, it is very tough to get rid of them, even if they're outdoors all year long. Usually, our rainy season will really make a dent in them, but we didn't have one last winter. So, it is just doubly bad this year :-(

Patty S.

I often have battles with spider mites on indoor and outdoor plants. Especially roses and gardenias. Back in the day, I used a systemic product called Di-Syston(disulfoton). You applied it to the soil and it would be taken up by the roots and dispersed throughout the plant. It worked incredibly well, ridding even the worst infestations of spider mites, whiteflies and scale. Of course, it was taken off the market back in 2009 due to its toxicity. I have yet to find any insecticide that works as well as this one. The ones out there today are so useless they seem to have little to no effect. I went to a Bonide training seminar last year for my job... I work in a greenhouse... The instructor asked us to raise our hands if we ever use windshield wiper fluid... We were then told that windshield wiper fluid is far more toxic than any product Bonide sells. I had to chuckle... Perhaps that is why none of them work!!

My trees were covered my spider mite webbing very heavily. I noticed that spiders were so tiny that I needed 3X readers to see them. They were all out in the webs and none on the plants, I realized that Charlotte's_Web and its egg casing had given berth, so I left them be.

Just saw this thread and had to add, I'm also in SoCal Zone 10, Sunset 24ish, and wow, the spider mites are *out of control* in my garden! I've been using Neem oil, spinosad (labeled organic), Captain Jack's Deadbug (also supposed to be organic. . .and the spider mites are just cray-zy. Do I have an answer? Nope. Just wanted to commiserate.

They've been bad up here in NorCal too. I think it has a lot to do with the drought the last few years. I would bet the winter rain cuts way down on their population, cold too. But we've had very little rain and not much frost either. So more adults are surviving over the winter. We need several good winters for so many reasons! Good luck everyone!

By the way catchick, try a combo of neem oil and pyrethrins. This combo has worked well for me. The pyrethrins get the adults quickly and has a bit of residual effect so it will work for a few days to help get the hatching young. And the neem oil smothers the eggs, plus it has a growth regulating effect also, which keeps any hatching young from molting into adults, so they can't breed.

Spinosad works better on chewing insects like leaf miners and caterpillars. It doesn't work too well on sucking type insects like spider mites or aphids.

Several companies make a neem oil/pyrethrins combo, check the labels. And they're both organic.

There was one nifty take-away from a day-long, greenhouse management seminar I took at the regional botanical garden. They have an acre under glass and use this first on all soft-bodied insects; I've found it works a treat even on scale....

For a 1 qt. garden sprayer. mix a capful or two of 91% isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) with a couple of drops of Dawn. Swirl, don't shake to mix.

Cheers

Saw a mite yesterday near a newly planted cara cara. Neighbors removed large diseased junipers three years ago. Since then, spiders and mites have been thick!

I've been reading a lot on spider mites this week. There is another excellent thread on spider mite control here on gardenweb somewhere. The Cal Extension blog also just put out a blog about soap use on mites, and how it doesn't interrupt. I'm trying to find it.

I'm with Patty on feeding plants really well -- spraying with chemicals makes me fear that I've undone all the good work souping up the the good microbes and critters in the soil. On the other hand, the Calif extension just blogged about soap use NOT interrupting the work of good arthropods, worms etc. Go figure. (Trying to find that link too.)

Below is a study -- both worm castings and aerated compost tea from worm castings have reduced spider mites.

SUPPRESSING PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES AND ARTHROPOD PESTS WITH VERMICOMPOST TEAS

BioCycle December 2007, Vol. 48, No. 12, p. 38

Greenhouse trials confirm that the sooner a tea is used after it is brewed, the more effective it is in influencing plant growth and suppressing diseases.
Part II

Clive A. Edwards, Norman Q. Arancon, Eric Emerson and Ryan Pulliam

PRODUCTION and use of aqueous extracts of thermophilic composts and vermicomposts, commonly termed teas, has expanded rapidly in the last two to three years, particularly since there is now a range of commercial tea brewing equipment available that can produce large or small quantities of teas. Unfortunately, there are relatively few published scientific studies which have reviewed the methods of production and uses of compost or vermicompost teas, optimal dilutions or application rates.
These teas have been used extensively, particularly by organic gardeners and farmers, to promote plant growth by application to soils as drenches, and to suppress plant diseases by soil or foliar sprays. These uses are still increasing as their methods of application and effectiveness are gradually being established.
Research in our laboratory at The Ohio State University has shown clearly that some form of agitation or aeration during production of vermicompost teas is necessary, if the teas are to be effective in promoting crop growth and suppressing pests and diseases. We have research under way into the shelf-life of vermicompost teas under different temperatures and in a range of containers. We have demonstrated the transport of microbial activity and diversity, key nutrients, and enzymatic activity from solid vermicomposts into teas.
Additionally, all our experience of the use of teas in greenhouse trials has confirmed that the sooner a vermicompost tea is used after it is brewed, the more effective it is in influencing plant growth and in suppressing pests and diseases. We have tested vermicompost teas extracted from vermicomposts produced from a range of animal manures such as pig or cattle wastes, as well as paper and food wastes, and all have been effective in promoting plant growth and disease suppression, independent of nutrient supply. After many laboratory and greenhouse trials, we decided that the optimal quantities of solid vermicomposts to water ratios were: 1:5 (20 percent), 1:10 (10 percent) and 1:20 (5 percent).

EFFECTS OF VERMICOMPOST TEAS ON PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES

We have demonstrated clearly that solid vermicomposts can suppress plant parasitic nematodes in the field (Arancon et al. 2003). Our experiments on the effects of vermicompost teas on nematodes were in the laboratory and greenhouse, in soils that had been artificially infested with the root knot of nematode (Meloidogyne incognita), which is a very serious pest of a wide range of crops all over the world. Six-week-old tomato seedlings were transplanted into 10 cm diameter pots containing a sand and loam (1:3 ratio) soil mixture to which the test tea treatments were applied. Drench treatments of teas were applied at seedling transplanting, and every two weeks thereafter. One week after transplanting 10,000 Meloidogyne hapla eggs were added to each plant pot in suspension in tap water. The eggs were collected from cultures maintained on infested tomato plants. Each treatment was replicated four times. Pots into which tomato plants had been transplanted were arranged on benches in a completely randomized design and the greenhouse was maintained at 25°C.
Plants were watered regularly with tempered line water. Thirty days after infestation with nematodes, soil was removed from the pots and the roots were washed to assess the extent of root damage and the numbers of root knots. The washed roots were rated for numbers of root knot galls and the numbers of galls per unit wet weight of roots counted. The effects of the nematodes on plant height were determined by growth measurements, including heights, leaf areas, fresh and the dry weights of leaves from plant tops and the dry weights of all above-ground tissues at the end of the experiment.
The relative growth of the tomato plants in response to the nematode infestations, after 30 days, are illustrated in Figure 1. The differences in growth between treatments, in response to the vermicompost teas were spectacular, and the reductions in numbers of root knot galls on the tomato roots in response to the vermicompost tea applications was considerable (Figures 2 and 3). These effects of vermicompost teas on plant parasitic nematode attacks were very similar to those in experiments that used solid vermicompost substituted into Metro-Mix 360 in the greenhouse (Arancon et al. 2003).

EFFECTS OF VERMICOMPOST TEAS ON ARTHROPOD PESTS

We have shown that solid vermicomposts can suppress spider mite, mealy bug and aphid populations in the field (Arancon et al. 2007). For our preliminary experiments into the suppression of arthropod pests by vermicompost teas, we chose two important groups of plant pests, aphids and spider mites. For the spider mite experiments, four tomato plants were placed into each 0.2 mm mesh cage (40 cm x 30 cm x 30), and 100 two-spotted spider mites (Tetranychus sp.) were released into each infested cage, with four replicate cages for each treatment.
The plants were treated with either water (control), aerated thermophilic 20 percent compost tea, or aerated 5 percent, 10 percent, or 20 percent vermicompost tea, produced from food waste vermicompost. The damage to the plants in these cages was assessed on a damage rating of 0 (no damage) to 5 (100 percent damage), eight days after pests were introduced into the cages. There were four replicate cages with no spider mite infestations, in order to assess any changes in leaf weights caused by the spider mite infestations.
Because spider mites are so small we did not count them, instead we assessed the amounts of the distinct damage that they caused to the plants. All three soil application rates of vermicompost teas decreased the amounts of damage by the spider mites compared with the water control significantly (P < 0.05). By comparison the traditional thermophilic compost tea had no significant effect on the spider mite damage.
We used the same experimental protocol in experiments on aphids. In these experiments, 100 aphids (Myzus persicae) were released onto four tomato plants, in each of the cages infected with aphids. A set of cages that had no aphid infestations was used to assess any changes in leaf weights caused by the aphids. The numbers of aphids on each plant were counted 13 days after infestation.
The results are summarized in Figure 4. Clearly, all three dilutions of aerated vermicompost teas suppressed the aphid populations significantly (P < 0.05) compared with the water control treatment whereas the aerated thermophilic compost tea had no significant effects on the aphid populations.
These results on the suppression of aphids and spider mites by vermicompost teas were very similar to those obtained from growing plants in the greenhouse in Metro Mix 360, substituted with a range of solid vermicomposts (Arancon et al. 2007). The suppression of aphids is particularly important since they are key vectors in the transmission of plant viruses. It seems clear that there is a good potential for suppression of arthropod pests by both vermicomposts and vermicompost teas using methods very acceptable to organic growers and farmers.

The authors are in the Soil Ecology Laboratory at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

FURTHER READING
Arancon, N.Q., Yardim, E., Edwards, C.A., Lee, S., 2003. The Trophic diversity of nematode communities in soils treated with vermicomposts. Pedobiologia 47, 736-740.
Arancon, N.Q., Edwards, C.A., Oliver, T.J., Byrne, R.J. 2007 Suppression of two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae), mealy bugs (Pseudococcus) and aphid (Myzus persicae) populations and damage by vermicomposts. Crop Protection 26, 26-39.

Found them! Here is the excellent GW thread on spider mites: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2048357/preventing-controlling-spider-mites?n=15

And here is the BLOG entry from UC on Soap Sprays as Insecticides:

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=18009

Thanks Baby G. Very interesting info.

Cory

You need a handheld microscope with LED lights to see the spider mites and monitor how well you're killing them. You also need to be able to see how many eggs are there so you can repeat your spray in a week when they hatch.. I've been using this little microscope for three years now and it works really well. It costs less than $5 on Amazon. I use Safer's Soap on the undersides of leaves, and on the stems. It's safe and kills them dead. Here's the link for the microscope:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002E0MU70/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

John

I went to a store called the dollar and bought 2 pairs of 3.25X readers when put together gives 10.5625x stereo vision, $2.14 including OH exorbitant Stadium tax to pay off the one billion dollar stadiums.

Steve