I just recently had a small spider mite problem on one of my plants and tried removing them by spraying the whole plant with cold water, which came recommended in some video. I added ice cubes to the water to make sure it was as cold as possible. It worked wonderfully and the mites didn't return .I removed everything visible (nets, mites) using a paper towel.
@@gameroli2022They literally attack everything comes in there way expect plants which are repellent towards such inspects....so I used many plants placed in between my hibiscus plants which works as insects repellent......n homemade insecticide will work on them ..take 5 ml of neem oil n 5 ml of liquid detergent add too 1 litre ice water n spray in 2 days gap it will be very helpful
Leaf miners are the bane of our garden. Would be nice to have an in depth review of options to control/eliminate them! Love Chris's style of sharing information. Down to earth and super practical. Thanks!
The worst case of spider mites I've had was on a tomato plant that overwintered here in Southern California. I learned to rip out the old tomatoes before spring arrived. During the heat of summer I try to regularly spray down my plants with water in the morning, and I've planted Dara carrot, dill, fennel, and yarrow to encourage lacewings which I'm starting to see around the garden more. I also let parsley and cilantro go to seed for the same reason. The hover flies like these plants, too.
Another infirmative video...Thank you!! How about talking about leafminers...i am in FL and they are my biggest pest problem on all garden. Love to learn how to prevent, treat and prevent...thank you for sharing so much for so many.
4-lined plant bugs were wreaking havoc on my peppers this past month. Another great video! Chris was a fantastic addition to the team. The wealth of knowledge from both of you is awesome.
Thanks Kevin and Chris! This info is so beneficial! I am noticing several plants suffering from spider mites in my garden, particularly boxwood. Another pest I have are leaf hoppers.
Ok the timing of this video is freaky, literally just found spider mites on my ficus umbellata about an hour ago and treated it and lost a calathea freddie to these darn mites a few days ago.
My buddy just got them like a week or two ago on some broccoli plants. I gave him some of my diatomaceous earth and he no longer has a mite problem. Give that a try too if nothing else is working.
Bad Airflow, high heat, low humidity and too much nitrogen are the 4 main reasons anyone gets spiders. I used to have them almost constantly. Once I'd dialed in the environmental parameters, it's been almost a year since I've seen one.
Great presentation. Think that I have Spider mites based on the webding she talked about. Got plants from a new dealer this year supposed to be organic. I had an infestation of oleander aphids which I’ve never seen before and now it appears I’ve got a new one from a new pest. My defense is not to buy plants from that dealer again. Love your podcast and listen to it as I’m driving in the car. Thanks for all the great information!
Spidermites killed my from-seed tomatillos this spring, but just today I picked up a couple at a greenhouse so I’m happy that I’ll be able to grow some still! I’ll be saving this video in case of future issues though!
Wow! Thank you! We moved into a new house and strawberry and raspberry plants started sprouting a few months ago, but I noticed spider webbing around the stems. This was so helpful
Spider mites love my sunflowers, beans, snap peas, basil, peppers, marigold and tomatoes🥲 There used to be some on my alocasia, but ever since moving it to a more shady spot, they somehow disappeared after many neem oil treatments. Thank you Chris!
@@SpiceyKy well, at least there are no possums, squirrels and rabbits around here 😅. Might grow them in pots and put that besides the other potted plants.
I never once won a battle against the spider mites. My calatheas.. my chili and tomato plants... I stay the bleep away from ivies too now. Spider mites are my arch nemesis. My hatred for them has no words.
Snails. They have seem to have taken over my yard this spring and I almost lost a baby artichoke! There were 10 or so on the two main leaves! I love having Chris on your channel. Thanks for adding her to your all star line up! 🤩🤩🤩
I have found a beer party in the garden does wonders. I use mini aluminum bread pans, small jars like empty jam/jelly jars or solo cups. In your infected areas or beds bury the containers so the lip is just a little above the ground and fill with cheep beer. Do this at night and the next morning you will find dead slugs/snails in the containers. Another possible option is to see if there is a farm or sanctuary with domestic ducks near you that you might borrow or rent some ducks for a couple of days. They will clean out your snails very quickly.
Rabbits generally don't like the smell of lavender. You can try growing some of it to keep them away. If that doesn't work, I've generally had good luck with chicken wire.
My golden raspberry was struggling with spider mites that I had no idea about.... and only thing I did was just wash the leaves off as much as I can for Multiple days. Now it's growing new leaves and new flowers.
@@annalisa6135 foliage spray spray in the evening to prevent burning and dont spray within 2 weeks of spraying neem oil as it will clog the pours on the leaves
Had some issues with spider mites at the beginning of the season but got them under control, the high humidity we have helps a lot. Flea Beatles are my biggest issue atm
Started balcony gardening this year. Had 2 pests so far; leaf miners in my spinach, and some caterpilars on my red cabbage. Caterpillars were plucked off and tossed away for the birds to find, but the leaf miners are more tricky. I'm treating with a neem oil solution to see if that works.
I live in San Diego County where it is dry and hot most of the time and so many of my mature trees have spider mites! I don't know what do do about them at that scale but I don't want to lose our trees!
So I purchased a fogger and an all natural IPM solution. It has been so effective at killing aphids. I suspect it would work really well on spider mites too.
I have them every year on my Angel Trumpet. I spray it multiple times with soapy water, I will add alcohol now. I did start watering it with very soapy water to make it taste bad to them. Hope that works too. Thanks!
Yep, had thrips all summer, between neem oil I'd been buying the predators some swartzski or some name bug, now back to spider mites. One keep the others down.. Have to grow in my basement so it's a constant battle. Always bleaching the environment tents ect. Spray neem oil or insecticide soaps every 4 days. Between use predatory mites. Also, pink and yellow sticky traps against the stems, then cold water sprays. Keeps the numbers low.
Thanks, Chris and Kevin! That was very helpful. Gorgeous hollyhocks, btw. White flies really gave me a time towards the end of winter before letting plants outside.. Any advice for the future would be welcomed!.Thanks!
Excellent video, thank you! Are these really all options? I wonder how spider mites are controlled by farmers? I doubt they walk around huge tomato fields with soap or oil hand sprayers.. And I noticed a gallon of Neem Oil spray costs about $30 on Amazon, so if I use it throughout the season on my 60 tomato plants my home grown tomatoes are going to cost likely more than if I just buy them at a farmers market.
Thanks. In response to the question at the end about the pest giving the most trouble: it's slugs for me. They're coming out in force and devouring my baby corn plants, pumpkin and squashes, radish tops, and of course lettuces. I've been setting beer traps, laying out thorny branches, coffee grounds, and just going out every night to try to find and kill any I see but they are relentless.
Don't do beer traps - you may be calling all the slugs in your neighborhood to your yard. I've had better success with sluggo and copper tape around the beds
By far the plum curculio or stink bugs on my stone fruit spray dormant and horticultural oil in fall and before buds broke but still and I sprayed neem oil every 7 to 10 days
Terrific and informative. My patio is dry and hot, perfect breeding ground for spider mites, it turns out. This content gives clear measures I can try.
Having major problems with white fly and slugs, especially white fly. As far as spider mites, I have tried all of the suggested remedies on my snail vines, 20 feet long so not practical to do anything leaf by leaf, but here in Phoenix as soon as it gets hot they get bad. I tried a neem oil soil drench this year and so far doing well, repeating it every week.
Great video! A pest I would love to see featured on your channel is root aphids. There is not a lot of information on how to deal with them in a vegetable garden. Most information comes from cannabis growers.
Chilli Thrips are my nemesis this year. I’m a rose specialist here in San Diego, and most of my clients have them, as well as the Balboa Park Rose Garden I help take care of. I’m alternating with Hachi Hachi and Conserve (spinosad) and it’s keeping them at bay, but not eradicating them.
I get spider mites on my beans and other soft plants. Along with mealy bugs on my jaide tree, but thanks to your advice I got rid of mealy bugs. Now to try spider mite solutions.
I only have indoor plants, mostly orchids, and thrips randomly pop up like once a year.... I've never seen adults just the younger orange stage. It's so frustrating, but spraying them with the insecticidal soap seems to help a lot.
For the past 4 or 5 years, my garden nemesis has been the spider mites. I too live in California, but in the central valley west of Sacramento. Perfect environment for them.
Thank you Chris again, couldn’t have come at a better time as I just found Spider mites a couple of days ago on my tiny tiny raspberry seedling pods from an outside source. I have them growing in my seedling room by themselves so they quarantined if I can get them now. BTW Kevin- I just got my Epic seed starting 6 cell & 4 cell pods… I’ll never have to replace them again these bad boys or phenomenal! I hope your making plans for larger sizes too?
You can also tell if you have spider mite by finding small clusters of yellow spots in any area of the leaf. Thats the early indication you have spider mite.
Look into companion plants for the aphids and squash borers. Powdery mildew and blight will need other help. I forget what it is as it has been about 40 years since I dealt with them.
This video is PERFECT for what I needed right now! I got some spider mites that are absolutely DECIMATING my chocolate mint and my oregano. I managed to propagate the mint with the one sprig that hadn't gotten infested yet, but the main plant's leaves have nearly all died. I pruned most of the dead ones off, though, (can't afford to prune them *all* off,) so hopefully what's left can grow back. The oregano isn't being hit as hard yet, but leaves are definitely dying off. I'm gonna go find a better spot for the choc mint clone so I don't lose it, too. *Love* dealing with these tiny jerks with my first ever garden (kept completely indoors) within just a few months of starting it >:(
Don't worry, the mint will eventually recover. Nothing can kill the damn stuff hahaha. Mint is more of an invincible pest than spider mites in some people's gardens.
I had spidermites target my outdoor plants for the first time last year because we had an extra dry and dusty summer. Fortunately I was able to get them under control. My most obnoxious and difficult to control pest is FLEA BEETLES! I have completely given up on growing any brassicas during the summer because they are so hard to keep in check. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I grow brassicas as a winter crop, here the main problem is white cabbage moths, and growing them through summer would be a constant battle. No doubt depends on your climate, I'm in a cold temperate climate with some heavy frosts in winter and they love it. I protect them with a hoop tunnel covered in white 50% shadecloth to get the plants started in early autumn then they grow like mad through winter :)
I just got my first pest on my little raised garden: flea beetles all over my broccoli! I got a spray from a local nursery, but they seem to be coming back. Feels like all I can do is pick off and squish the ones I find, so twice a day I'm like a little monkey over my plants. :(
I am growing Dalias and wanted to plant taller plants behind them so I purchased Hollyhocks. My Hollyhocks weren't growing so I moved the mulch and dug down a bit and the bulbs were soft and fell apart. what did I do wrong with them? 😢
Earwigs bugs for days here. Right now just making sure i don't keep large still amounts of water. I have also cut way down on broadcast watering. I also live by a creek so i have blood sucking vampires for days I have not noticed them effecting my plats but they sure make it annoying for me to go out and take care of my plats.
Excellent instructive video. Interesting to know about humidity. Does whitefly also dislike humidity as the greenhouse I use is susceptible to both. The gardener addresses this by keeping all vents open.
I’ve been fighting spider mites on my two raspberry plants for over a year now. Tried cutting them back, hosing them down, using ladybugs, and using Captain jack’s deadbug. I’ll try some horticultural oil next. Thanks for the tips!
Soaps and oils are very pollinator friendly and once applied and dried will not effect polinators at all. These work by smothering the insect and not letting them breathe. True insecticdes may effect pollinators if they are systemic in action as they will go into the pollen and nectar in the flowers. Even some contact and translaminar insecticides will not effect pollinators after they have dried. Those plants actually attract predatory insects as they are usualy readily infected by pest insects.
This was so timely for me- I searched for a video on spidermites just today! My biggest pests in the garden right now are leaf hoppers. They are killing me and there are hundreds of them! I hand-pick at least 20 a day (which takes me a good half an hour every morning), plus catch lots in sticky traps. I've tried diatomaceous earth and neem oil (which damaged the plants but did nothing to the leaf hoppers), but I finally broke down today and did some pyrethrin. I felt like I was going to throw up spraying something on my plants that could harm beneficial insects, but these leaf hoppers have spread disease to my watermelons, honeydew, cantaloupe, bananas, and probably figs. I'm at my wit's end with these little bastards!
You have to spray the neem oil when the sun isn't shining on your plants or else it will cause burns. Either in the evening, on an overcast day, or very early in the morning.
I used Neemoil, it didn’t work so I took it out and washed the plant, roots, pot and new potting soil. That didn’t work because it keeps getting worse! The spider mite are a terrible. Thanks for the info.🙏🏻
Thank you Chris! Very informative. I'm battling slugs at the moment. We've had more rain in the PNW this year and I swear the slug population has skyrocketed.
I once brought home a beautiful pot full of different flower plants in there and a lill mini tree 🌲 in da middle. 😌 After a few weeks my worst nightmare happened, and it was occupied by a huge army of tiny mini spiders. 😶 I have been discouraged to grow anything at home ever since. 😔 That happened.. and meanwhile all my beautiful sweet pea plants suddenly got sick and died for some unexplainable reason, one after another.. Now finally I have planted a lill "spider plant", the one with thin long green leaves. 😌 It was very happy for week weeks in the water, growing sparingly.. now I planted it in da soil and it looks a lill sad. I hope it will adapt in it's new home soon and that it will grow big and healthy. 💖🌱
My eggplants are getting attacked hard by spider mites and I've noticed the mites are moving to other plants. I have Captain Jack's insecticidal soap. I've been using it in the evenings and pinching off blossoms since the plants are struggling from the infestation. I'd rather they focus on getting better than producing fruit right now.
White fly is tops for me. Then in order, cucumber beetle, Japanese beetles (although if I grow morning glory vine, they LOVE that and mostly stay away from things I want). Lastly, when, and only when, I grow any type of squash - the dreaded vine borer moth and larvae. I have not grown squash for the last 5 years because it's too heartbreaking.
Great video! I've been battling mites for months, they are the absolute worst. The best solution I found was wettable sulphur. It's cheap and works incredibly well against broad mites and mites in general (broad mites are even smaller and they never create webs, so it's hard to diagnose correctly). The only downside is that you can't use any oil after applying the sulphur solution, but I still highly recommend it if you have to deal with mites. Oh, and it is also a nutrient for the plants :)
@@goodgreen4616 well, oil is great for other pests, and neem oil is actually fantastic because it's effective against so many pests, but less affordable where I live. So I generally use wettable sulphur one day, and soap water on the other. It's been working so far...
@@ChrisBcards i never tried to confirm this, but the package says you're not supposed to apply any oil solutions for a month after the sulphur suspension because it may burn the plant.
.. for spider mites I make use my 3Om garden hose to spray tap water on the UNDERSIDES of the infected plant's leaves once a week until the problem has diminished. It will come back again in a couple of months .. just repeat the water spraying.
I have a squirrel & rabbit problem but mostly squirrels! There are so many of them in my backyard, they eat anything & everything I leave out. I’ve had to cover all my plants with garden netting. If I leave without covering, I would come back with nothing left. I lost too many plants to count including a 6ft tall sunflower that was chopped at the base & all my lily’s that were about to bloom. They are ruthless we have definitely been at war for a few months. I bought a cage trap but there’s way too many that it makes no difference, I bought repellent, & nothing I tried worked so I bought a $50 bag of poison bc I was so frustrated. I wouldn’t buy it again I would hate to get any other animal sick plus there was no difference with this either. Guess Garden netting or fence would be the best option for squirrels 🤷🏻♀️ the aesthetic just isn’t there with everything covered up 😪
I had a spider mite infestation among my houseplants likely due to some contaminated potting mix. I had a ton of seedlings of various fruit trees (cherries, apricots, and plums) and they were just absolutely destroyed. They also went after my hibiscus plants that I had inside over the winter. Eventually I developed a 5-step cleaning methodology to at least knock the populations down a peg. 1. A VERY heavy covering of diatomaceous earth, letting it sit for about a week 2. Cleaning the leaves with warm/hot water 3. Applying insecticidal soap and then letting it sit for a few days so the eggs on the leaves would have time to hatch 4. Applying a chemical miticide 5. A repeat application of diatomaceous earth I know I couldn't kill everything, but the goal was to get the populations low enough that the plants would survive until the spring and I brought them back outside where the environment would keep the mites in check.
I have a baby peach tree that got infested with spider mite and I ended up bleaching it with Clorox, rinsing thoroughly with warm almost hot water and removing the leaves. They didn't come back but my trees leaves did! My tree is indoors and is only 8 inches tall and survived.
Slugs. Slugs have just been destroying my crops this year, veggies and herbs alike. I’ve been stalking the garden around 8 each night to manually pull them off plants
Fungus gnats and these tiny red (what look like spiders?) that come in droves are all over my outdoor garden beds since it recently rained a lot here in the PNW! It’s the bane of my existence right now!
I’m noticing a lot of leaf miner damage lately. Luckily it’s on expendable plants but I don’t want it to be an issue. Always have problems with cabbage worms on my kale. I inspect them daily.
It's not quite what you are asking. But a series on attracting beneficial bugs using host plants and attractant plants is helpful -- similar to how this video mentioned certain flowers for lacewings (sadly I don't currently have any of those but I plan on fixing that!) That way, we might be able to better plan out our gardens to include plants for the beneficials!
Instead of a cloth, I have started using sellotape - I double side it, wrap.it round my fingers, and dab away. This has been mega effective for any bugs. And cheap.
a method that has worked for me: drench the plant for example under the shower to emulate rain, put the plant into a clear plastic bag / put a clear plastic bag over the plant incl. pot, tie off the bag, put in quaratine (isolated window sill), and let the little suckers be smothered in humidity :) some plants react negatively to soaps and/or thus oils adding to stress and damage
I don't see as many insects attacking my plants lately since I've started incorporating IPM. The gophers, however, are starting to move in to the beds I didn't gopher-proof. I've seen my cats catch a few gophers and rodents, but the new gophers moving in are starting to do too much damage. I just picked up 2 twin packs of Victor easy set traps and I will be testing those out this week.
Ugh, my indoor plants were definitely infested this winter/spring. I tried humidity to no avail, sprays which damaged plant more than mites, eventually, just put plants outside to fend for themselves. Peppers will make it, but the Gardenia did not...
Roly-Polies! Ugh… they have infested some parts of my garden. I almost lost my watermelon plants to these miniature armadillo crab monsters. They are eating through the stems at the base of my plants. I’ve found them nibbling on my spaghetti squash vines too. I have set out beer traps and got about 300 in one night. I have set out watermelon and cantaloupe rinds and gotten 300-400 night before last. Last night I got another 200 or so. THEY. JUST. KEEP. COMING. I can see them squirming away back under my mulch as I collect the rinds. My garden beds have never been so clean as I pick up every fallen leaf. Where did they come from??? I’ve had roly-polies before, but never like this.
Pincher bugs have literally murdered so many of my plants I found sluggo plus helps but if anyone has other suggestions let me know. I also have used the soy sauce and oil traps they work pretty well.
I seem to breed spider mites on my sage 😳😩which, other than looking constantly infestated, appears to thrive on them! Lacewings avoid the sage but ladybugs love it. I’ve decided to add spied mites to my diet. Cooked, of course. Not raw. 😁
Spider mites have been my nemesis and stink bugs. I'm on an ongoing battle with these two. And just recently rolled pollies they've been eating all my seedlings.
Very helpful Chris and Kevin, thank you, I think I need a loupe! I’ve been struggling with grasshoppers in my garden (10b, Redondo Beach) this spring. You know those BIG ones? Their little babies are everywhere in my garden and they are super hard to catch to handpick. I’ve been spraying neem directly on them when I see them but I’m not sure if this is the best mode of attack. 🤷🏻♀️
@@m.maclellan7147 the birds aren’t affected by neem oil thankfully. But you bring up something that I haven’t thought of, that those black Phoebes I always see in my garden are probably hunting grasshoppers 😍
These things run rampant in Texas. They are everywhere. I have used all of these methods to no success. Outside of getting rid of all plants, trees, and bushes, it is a losing battle. There is no way in a large garden with hundreds, if not thousands of trees, bushes, and plants, that anyone would have the time to wipe the leaves on a constant basis. All of the insecticidal soaps and oils work as long as you are spraying every day out here. The second you stop, they are right back. I will add that anything with oil is bound to burn your plant in the heat and sun in Texas. This is true even when you spray in the evening because that oil residue is still on the plants the next day.
I live in Central Texas and agree wholeheartedly with what you said. They are everywhere. I have a 30’ tall tree overhanging my garden area and at night with a headlamp, I can see tiny tiny white spiders moving and dropping even from this tree. The only reason they can be seen with the naked eye is because they’re moving. Otherwise, I might have thought they were dust. They release webbing and “fly” to other plants. I try to slap them between my two hands when I see them making a getaway but more often than not, I see a white “dot” blow past me in the wind. Everything I’m trying to grow whether for food or flowers are under attack. I saw the webbing last year but mistakenly thought it was from common garden spiders. By not recognizing evidence last year, I fear I may have allowed this problem to propagate if they’re eggs overwinter. Last year, I learned about aphids the hard way. This year, it’s spider mites. Don’t know if I should continue to try to grow food. I noticed the mountains behind the girl Chris in the video and her polycarbonate green house. She lives in a much colder climate so I wonder how much problem she really has with bugs. She should come to Texas- seems to be bug central!
As to your point about how long it would take to wipe every leaf of the thousands of plants, it takes me about 5 hours to spray every leaf of everything I’m trying to grow, both sides. That’s not counting all the natural trees & plants which without treatment, which just spread back to my food plants. So it seems to be a losing, very expensive, and very back-breaking job.
@annalisa6135 I could not agree more. I collect Japanese maples, and it is as frustrating as it can get. I have over 200 different cultivars, and some of them are extremely rare. They are always under attack no matter what I do.
I just recently had a small spider mite problem on one of my plants and tried removing them by spraying the whole plant with cold water, which came recommended in some video. I added ice cubes to the water to make sure it was as cold as possible. It worked wonderfully and the mites didn't return .I removed everything visible (nets, mites) using a paper towel.
Thanks for sharing your tip dear
So just really cold water?
@@jtee9986 exactly
Does it affect plants like strawberry?
@@gameroli2022They literally attack everything comes in there way expect plants which are repellent towards such inspects....so I used many plants placed in between my hibiscus plants which works as insects repellent......n homemade insecticide will work on them ..take 5 ml of neem oil n 5 ml of liquid detergent add too 1 litre ice water n spray in 2 days gap it will be very helpful
Wow! Chris is such a stellar addition to the team! Keep making these guides!
Agreed! She's a wonderful teacher!
Leaf miners are the bane of our garden. Would be nice to have an in depth review of options to control/eliminate them!
Love Chris's style of sharing information. Down to earth and super practical. Thanks!
I transplanted my peppers outdoors two weeks ago and already half the leaves have leaf miner damage. Makes me want to tear my hair out.
Agreed! Leaf miner on my greens.
hey Clarence. Try getting predators in your garden or try Beauvaria Bassiana, do some reading on this too! Hope you get them under control.
Diatomaceous Earth - food grade?
It's been an ongoing war with spider mites. This is so helpful
The worst case of spider mites I've had was on a tomato plant that overwintered here in Southern California. I learned to rip out the old tomatoes before spring arrived. During the heat of summer I try to regularly spray down my plants with water in the morning, and I've planted Dara carrot, dill, fennel, and yarrow to encourage lacewings which I'm starting to see around the garden more. I also let parsley and cilantro go to seed for the same reason. The hover flies like these plants, too.
Another infirmative video...Thank you!!
How about talking about leafminers...i am in FL and they are my biggest pest problem on all garden. Love to learn how to prevent, treat and prevent...thank you for sharing so much for so many.
Chris needs her own channel. We need more content for us who live in similar zones.
Zone 6a on the Great Lakes, I agree
@@LillibitOfHere If you know of any resources on this area, let me know. I've got a bunch of space in King City, Ontario I am planning/laying out.
I'm not sure it's a channel she needs, but at least a playlist with more content for growers in colder and/or wetter climates.
@@anahidkassabian4471 Yes--zones 2 to 4 would be WODNERFUL!
100
4-lined plant bugs were wreaking havoc on my peppers this past month.
Another great video! Chris was a fantastic addition to the team. The wealth of knowledge from both of you is awesome.
Really appreciate the editing addition of red circling and extra pictures when describing the various symptoms and bugs
This is great info. This is the most annoying thing, especially when we bring plants inside for winter.
Thanks Kevin and Chris! This info is so beneficial! I am noticing several plants suffering from spider mites in my garden, particularly boxwood. Another pest I have are leaf hoppers.
Ok the timing of this video is freaky, literally just found spider mites on my ficus umbellata about an hour ago and treated it and lost a calathea freddie to these darn mites a few days ago.
My buddy just got them like a week or two ago on some broccoli plants. I gave him some of my diatomaceous earth and he no longer has a mite problem. Give that a try too if nothing else is working.
Bad Airflow, high heat, low humidity and too much nitrogen are the 4 main reasons anyone gets spiders. I used to have them almost constantly. Once I'd dialed in the environmental parameters, it's been almost a year since I've seen one.
Just that time of year
Yup exactly. You can't do anything about high heat and low humidity in Colorado, thats just life.
You are freak
Great presentation. Think that I have Spider mites based on the webding she talked about. Got plants from a new dealer this year supposed to be organic. I had an infestation of oleander aphids which I’ve never seen before and now it appears I’ve got a new one from a new pest. My defense is not to buy plants from that dealer again. Love your podcast and listen to it as I’m driving in the car. Thanks for all the great information!
Chris your green thumb intellect is simply mesmerizing! Great channel and quickly becoming my most watched. Keep up the great flow of content.
THANK YOU!!!!! I have tried and was about to give up this year... now there is hope.
This is sooo good, so informative and actually easy to understand. Thanks guys 👏👏👏
This video was awesome! Her knowledge and the way she laid it all out was super informative and easy to follow.. Thank you!👍🏻👍🏻
Spidermites killed my from-seed tomatillos this spring, but just today I picked up a couple at a greenhouse so I’m happy that I’ll be able to grow some still! I’ll be saving this video in case of future issues though!
Oh this is very helpful! Been dealing with those mites for years and sometimes I don't know what to do
Wow! Thank you! We moved into a new house and strawberry and raspberry plants started sprouting a few months ago, but I noticed spider webbing around the stems. This was so helpful
Spider mites love my sunflowers, beans, snap peas, basil, peppers, marigold and tomatoes🥲 There used to be some on my alocasia, but ever since moving it to a more shady spot, they somehow disappeared after many neem oil treatments. Thank you Chris!
Sunflowers and marigolds act as distraction crops. 💛
@@SpiceyKy I thought marigolds deter pests?
@@nunyabiznes33 No. Not all pests. Snails, slugs, rabbits, squirrels possums all love it. But it distracts them from your vegetables and fruits.
@@SpiceyKy well, at least there are no possums, squirrels and rabbits around here 😅. Might grow them in pots and put that besides the other potted plants.
@@nunyabiznes33 Just remember they are annuals. I drop a couple seeds every couple weeks instead of all at once. Then you have them all season long. 💘
I’ve been WAITING for you to do a video on this! You’re the expert!!
Plenty of good and practical information! Great video.
I never once won a battle against the spider mites. My calatheas.. my chili and tomato plants... I stay the bleep away from ivies too now. Spider mites are my arch nemesis. My hatred for them has no words.
I have only EVER gotten spider mites with English Ivy. 😢
So much great detailed info in such a short video! I’m gonna need to watch this one again with a note pad. Great video!
Snails. They have seem to have taken over my yard this spring and I almost lost a baby artichoke! There were 10 or so on the two main leaves! I love having Chris on your channel. Thanks for adding her to your all star line up! 🤩🤩🤩
I have found a beer party in the garden does wonders. I use mini aluminum bread pans, small jars like empty jam/jelly jars or solo cups. In your infected areas or beds bury the containers so the lip is just a little above the ground and fill with cheep beer. Do this at night and the next morning you will find dead slugs/snails in the containers.
Another possible option is to see if there is a farm or sanctuary with domestic ducks near you that you might borrow or rent some ducks for a couple of days. They will clean out your snails very quickly.
You can also take a hobby route with snails. Dwarf puffer fish will happily eat garden snails
Thanks for this info! Super helpful. I'm struggling with leaf miners and really adorable yet destructive rabbits. 🙃
Leaf miners 😡😡😡😡😡😡 I’m struggling with those too and spider mites😌
Rabbits generally don't like the smell of lavender. You can try growing some of it to keep them away. If that doesn't work, I've generally had good luck with chicken wire.
@@Meirstein Thanks! 🤞
My golden raspberry was struggling with spider mites that I had no idea about.... and only thing I did was just wash the leaves off as much as I can for Multiple days. Now it's growing new leaves and new flowers.
I use wettable sulphur 2 TBSP per gallon it works better than neem oil or soap - someone from the extension service recommended sulphur
Is that good for all growing zones/climates?
Forgot to ask, is that as a foliage spray or as a soil drench?
@@annalisa6135spray on leaves in the evening
@@annalisa6135all zones
@@annalisa6135 foliage spray spray in the evening to prevent burning and dont spray within 2 weeks of spraying neem oil as it will clog the pours on the leaves
Had some issues with spider mites at the beginning of the season but got them under control, the high humidity we have helps a lot. Flea Beatles are my biggest issue atm
Started balcony gardening this year. Had 2 pests so far; leaf miners in my spinach, and some caterpilars on my red cabbage. Caterpillars were plucked off and tossed away for the birds to find, but the leaf miners are more tricky. I'm treating with a neem oil solution to see if that works.
I live in San Diego County where it is dry and hot most of the time and so many of my mature trees have spider mites! I don't know what do do about them at that scale but I don't want to lose our trees!
So I purchased a fogger and an all natural IPM solution. It has been so effective at killing aphids. I suspect it would work really well on spider mites too.
I have them every year on my Angel Trumpet. I spray it multiple times with soapy water, I will add alcohol now. I did start watering it with very soapy water to make it taste bad to them. Hope that works too. Thanks!
Haven't had spider mites in a while but thrips seem to never go away no matter what you do.
Alcohol, peroxide, and tea tree oil soap. Works great. Aphids are also attracted to yellow. Yellow cup with Vaseline next to your plant attracts them.
Yep, had thrips all summer, between neem oil I'd been buying the predators some swartzski or some name bug, now back to spider mites. One keep the others down.. Have to grow in my basement so it's a constant battle. Always bleaching the environment tents ect. Spray neem oil or insecticide soaps every 4 days. Between use predatory mites. Also, pink and yellow sticky traps against the stems, then cold water sprays. Keeps the numbers low.
Thanks, Chris and Kevin! That was very helpful. Gorgeous hollyhocks, btw. White flies really gave me a time towards the end of winter before letting plants outside.. Any advice for the future would be welcomed!.Thanks!
Can someone give the recipe for soapy water and alcohol mixture to use on the infestation? Thanks
Excellent video, thank you! Are these really all options? I wonder how spider mites are controlled by farmers? I doubt they walk around huge tomato fields with soap or oil hand sprayers.. And I noticed a gallon of Neem Oil spray costs about $30 on Amazon, so if I use it throughout the season on my 60 tomato plants my home grown tomatoes are going to cost likely more than if I just buy them at a farmers market.
Thanks. In response to the question at the end about the pest giving the most trouble: it's slugs for me. They're coming out in force and devouring my baby corn plants, pumpkin and squashes, radish tops, and of course lettuces. I've been setting beer traps, laying out thorny branches, coffee grounds, and just going out every night to try to find and kill any I see but they are relentless.
Don't do beer traps - you may be calling all the slugs in your neighborhood to your yard. I've had better success with sluggo and copper tape around the beds
Lost coast plant therapy is basically a miracle when it comes to spider mites. And it’s safe for pollinators ❤️❤️
THANK YOU!!! One i’m having an issue with here in the PNW is Clover Mites… 😬 blech!
By far the plum curculio or stink bugs on my stone fruit spray dormant and horticultural oil in fall and before buds broke but still and I sprayed neem oil every 7 to 10 days
Love this video. Hoping you do more pest videos 🤞🏻
Terrific and informative. My patio is dry and hot, perfect breeding ground for spider mites, it turns out. This content gives clear measures I can try.
Having major problems with white fly and slugs, especially white fly. As far as spider mites, I have tried all of the suggested remedies on my snail vines, 20 feet long so not practical to do anything leaf by leaf, but here in Phoenix as soon as it gets hot they get bad. I tried a neem oil soil drench this year and so far doing well, repeating it every week.
Great video! A pest I would love to see featured on your channel is root aphids. There is not a lot of information on how to deal with them in a vegetable garden. Most information comes from cannabis growers.
Perfect timing!
Spider mites, I have inside and outside, so I’ll try those methods, thanks for sharing!!!
Chilli Thrips are my nemesis this year. I’m a rose specialist here in San Diego, and most of my clients have them, as well as the Balboa Park Rose Garden I help take care of. I’m alternating with Hachi Hachi and Conserve (spinosad) and it’s keeping them at bay, but not eradicating them.
spider mites are not bothering me THIS year for a change, instead i've had some issues with thrips
I get spider mites on my beans and other soft plants. Along with mealy bugs on my jaide tree, but thanks to your advice I got rid of mealy bugs. Now to try spider mite solutions.
I only have indoor plants, mostly orchids, and thrips randomly pop up like once a year.... I've never seen adults just the younger orange stage. It's so frustrating, but spraying them with the insecticidal soap seems to help a lot.
Discovered scale and spider mites on my potted lemon thanks to you guys!
For the past 4 or 5 years, my garden nemesis has been the spider mites. I too live in California, but in the central valley west of Sacramento. Perfect environment for them.
Same here inland SoCal. I am trying to mist the plants in the mornings when it gets hot, but it evaporates so fast
Thank you Chris again, couldn’t have come at a better time as I just found Spider mites a couple of days ago on my tiny tiny raspberry seedling pods from an outside source. I have them growing in my seedling room by themselves so they quarantined if I can get them now.
BTW Kevin- I just got my Epic seed starting 6 cell & 4 cell pods… I’ll never have to replace them again these
bad boys or phenomenal! I hope your making plans for larger sizes too?
You can also tell if you have spider mite by finding small clusters of yellow spots in any area of the leaf. Thats the early indication you have spider mite.
:-(
Before the yellow, small white spots on the leaf. Looks like thrip damage
Great segment! I have issues with aphids, squash vine borers, powdery mildew, and blight. Would love to see a segment on each of those. Thanks!
Look into companion plants for the aphids and squash borers.
Powdery mildew and blight will need other help. I forget what it is as it has been about 40 years since I dealt with them.
This video is PERFECT for what I needed right now! I got some spider mites that are absolutely DECIMATING my chocolate mint and my oregano. I managed to propagate the mint with the one sprig that hadn't gotten infested yet, but the main plant's leaves have nearly all died. I pruned most of the dead ones off, though, (can't afford to prune them *all* off,) so hopefully what's left can grow back. The oregano isn't being hit as hard yet, but leaves are definitely dying off. I'm gonna go find a better spot for the choc mint clone so I don't lose it, too.
*Love* dealing with these tiny jerks with my first ever garden (kept completely indoors) within just a few months of starting it >:(
Don't worry, the mint will eventually recover. Nothing can kill the damn stuff hahaha. Mint is more of an invincible pest than spider mites in some people's gardens.
Herbs dont like living indoors full time. A dry home will bring them on. They need full sun and fresh air.
I had spidermites target my outdoor plants for the first time last year because we had an extra dry and dusty summer. Fortunately I was able to get them under control. My most obnoxious and difficult to control pest is FLEA BEETLES! I have completely given up on growing any brassicas during the summer because they are so hard to keep in check. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I grow brassicas as a winter crop, here the main problem is white cabbage moths, and growing them through summer would be a constant battle. No doubt depends on your climate, I'm in a cold temperate climate with some heavy frosts in winter and they love it. I protect them with a hoop tunnel covered in white 50% shadecloth to get the plants started in early autumn then they grow like mad through winter :)
I just got my first pest on my little raised garden: flea beetles all over my broccoli! I got a spray from a local nursery, but they seem to be coming back. Feels like all I can do is pick off and squish the ones I find, so twice a day I'm like a little monkey over my plants. :(
I am growing Dalias and wanted to plant taller plants behind them so I purchased Hollyhocks. My Hollyhocks weren't growing so I moved the mulch and dug down a bit and the bulbs were soft and fell apart. what did I do wrong with them? 😢
Earwigs bugs for days here. Right now just making sure i don't keep large still amounts of water. I have also cut way down on broadcast watering.
I also live by a creek so i have blood sucking vampires for days I have not noticed them effecting my plats but they sure make it annoying for me to go out and take care of my plats.
Chris, you are so great at this. Love, love, love your videos!!!!!
Excellent instructive video. Interesting to know about humidity. Does whitefly also dislike humidity as the greenhouse I use is susceptible to both. The gardener addresses this by keeping all vents open.
That was top notch! I get aphids, mites, stink bugs (hardest to control), leaf miners and what I hate the most.... mealy bugs.
I’ve been fighting spider mites on my two raspberry plants for over a year now. Tried cutting them back, hosing them down, using ladybugs, and using Captain jack’s deadbug. I’ll try some horticultural oil next. Thanks for the tips!
@@breeda9196 DE the regular kind or food grade?
This was so good. Thank you, especially for the non chemical solutions.
Does the soap and alcohol solution work on grain mites? Not in the garden but my animal feed and the building it was stored within.
Soaps and oils are very pollinator friendly and once applied and dried will not effect polinators at all. These work by smothering the insect and not letting them breathe. True insecticdes may effect pollinators if they are systemic in action as they will go into the pollen and nectar in the flowers. Even some contact and translaminar insecticides will not effect pollinators after they have dried. Those plants actually attract predatory insects as they are usualy readily infected by pest insects.
This was so timely for me- I searched for a video on spidermites just today! My biggest pests in the garden right now are leaf hoppers. They are killing me and there are hundreds of them! I hand-pick at least 20 a day (which takes me a good half an hour every morning), plus catch lots in sticky traps. I've tried diatomaceous earth and neem oil (which damaged the plants but did nothing to the leaf hoppers), but I finally broke down today and did some pyrethrin. I felt like I was going to throw up spraying something on my plants that could harm beneficial insects, but these leaf hoppers have spread disease to my watermelons, honeydew, cantaloupe, bananas, and probably figs. I'm at my wit's end with these little bastards!
Did that nuclear option do the trick?
Search John Kempf spider mites
You have to spray the neem oil when the sun isn't shining on your plants or else it will cause burns. Either in the evening, on an overcast day, or very early in the morning.
I have them in my indoor aquaponic grows. Such a pain!
San Diego has some insanely strong species of them
Having trouble with fungus gnats indoors. What is the best way to get rid of them?
I used Neemoil, it didn’t work so I took it out and washed the plant, roots, pot and new potting soil.
That didn’t work because it keeps getting worse! The spider mite are a terrible.
Thanks for the info.🙏🏻
Thank you Chris! Very informative. I'm battling slugs at the moment. We've had more rain in the PNW this year and I swear the slug population has skyrocketed.
I once brought home a beautiful pot full of different flower plants in there and a lill mini tree 🌲 in da middle. 😌
After a few weeks my worst nightmare happened, and it was occupied by a huge army of tiny mini spiders. 😶
I have been discouraged to grow anything at home ever since. 😔
That happened.. and meanwhile all my beautiful sweet pea plants suddenly got sick and died for some unexplainable reason, one after another..
Now finally I have planted a lill "spider plant", the one with thin long green leaves. 😌
It was very happy for week weeks in the water, growing sparingly.. now I planted it in da soil and it looks a lill sad.
I hope it will adapt in it's new home soon and that it will grow big and healthy. 💖🌱
My eggplants are getting attacked hard by spider mites and I've noticed the mites are moving to other plants. I have Captain Jack's insecticidal soap. I've been using it in the evenings and pinching off blossoms since the plants are struggling from the infestation. I'd rather they focus on getting better than producing fruit right now.
Did the captain jacks work I just started it
White fly is tops for me. Then in order, cucumber beetle, Japanese beetles (although if I grow morning glory vine, they LOVE that and mostly stay away from things I want). Lastly, when, and only when, I grow any type of squash - the dreaded vine borer moth and larvae. I have not grown squash for the last 5 years because it's too heartbreaking.
Great video! I've been battling mites for months, they are the absolute worst. The best solution I found was wettable sulphur. It's cheap and works incredibly well against broad mites and mites in general (broad mites are even smaller and they never create webs, so it's hard to diagnose correctly).
The only downside is that you can't use any oil after applying the sulphur solution, but I still highly recommend it if you have to deal with mites. Oh, and it is also a nutrient for the plants :)
The oils are worthless. Sulphur is only thing I see that actually works.
@@goodgreen4616 well, oil is great for other pests, and neem oil is actually fantastic because it's effective against so many pests, but less affordable where I live. So I generally use wettable sulphur one day, and soap water on the other. It's been working so far...
If you use oil after Sulphur solution does it burn the plant?
@@ChrisBcards i never tried to confirm this, but the package says you're not supposed to apply any oil solutions for a month after the sulphur suspension because it may burn the plant.
.. for spider mites I make use my 3Om garden hose to spray tap water on the UNDERSIDES of the infected plant's leaves once a week until the problem has diminished. It will come back again in a couple of months .. just repeat the water spraying.
I have a squirrel & rabbit problem but mostly squirrels! There are so many of them in my backyard, they eat anything & everything I leave out. I’ve had to cover all my plants with garden netting. If I leave without covering, I would come back with nothing left. I lost too many plants to count including a 6ft tall sunflower that was chopped at the base & all my lily’s that were about to bloom. They are ruthless we have definitely been at war for a few months. I bought a cage trap but there’s way too many that it makes no difference, I bought repellent, & nothing I tried worked so I bought a $50 bag of poison bc I was so frustrated. I wouldn’t buy it again I would hate to get any other animal sick plus there was no difference with this either. Guess Garden netting or fence would be the best option for squirrels 🤷🏻♀️ the aesthetic just isn’t there with everything covered up 😪
Would a weak solution of neem oil, and tea tree oil, in a Castile soap & water base suffice ?
I had a spider mite infestation among my houseplants likely due to some contaminated potting mix. I had a ton of seedlings of various fruit trees (cherries, apricots, and plums) and they were just absolutely destroyed. They also went after my hibiscus plants that I had inside over the winter.
Eventually I developed a 5-step cleaning methodology to at least knock the populations down a peg.
1. A VERY heavy covering of diatomaceous earth, letting it sit for about a week
2. Cleaning the leaves with warm/hot water
3. Applying insecticidal soap and then letting it sit for a few days so the eggs on the leaves would have time to hatch
4. Applying a chemical miticide
5. A repeat application of diatomaceous earth
I know I couldn't kill everything, but the goal was to get the populations low enough that the plants would survive until the spring and I brought them back outside where the environment would keep the mites in check.
I have a baby peach tree that got infested with spider mite and I ended up bleaching it with Clorox, rinsing thoroughly with warm almost hot water and removing the leaves. They didn't come back but my trees leaves did! My tree is indoors and is only 8 inches tall and survived.
Twenty years ago a spider mite infestation killed a peach tree that I had. I was away on holiday and when I came back the tree was dead.
I just found spider mites on my 7 month old nectarine trees and Japanese Beetles too
Slugs. Slugs have just been destroying my crops this year, veggies and herbs alike. I’ve been stalking the garden around 8 each night to manually pull them off plants
Fungus gnats and these tiny red (what look like spiders?) that come in droves are all over my outdoor garden beds since it recently rained a lot here in the PNW! It’s the bane of my existence right now!
What?! How did you know I have them right now! Thank you for the video!
I’m noticing a lot of leaf miner damage lately. Luckily it’s on expendable plants but I don’t want it to be an issue. Always have problems with cabbage worms on my kale. I inspect them daily.
It's not quite what you are asking. But a series on attracting beneficial bugs using host plants and attractant plants is helpful -- similar to how this video mentioned certain flowers for lacewings (sadly I don't currently have any of those but I plan on fixing that!)
That way, we might be able to better plan out our gardens to include plants for the beneficials!
Instead of a cloth, I have started using sellotape - I double side it, wrap.it round my fingers, and dab away.
This has been mega effective for any bugs. And cheap.
Is sellotape the same as scotch tape
@@ChrisBcards yep :)
I have something on my citrus but I’ve treated with a copper sulfate hope it works
hey love your content bro, do russet and broad mites next!
a method that has worked for me: drench the plant for example under the shower to emulate rain, put the plant into a clear plastic bag / put a clear plastic bag over the plant incl. pot, tie off the bag, put in quaratine (isolated window sill), and let the little suckers be smothered in humidity :) some plants react negatively to soaps and/or thus oils adding to stress and damage
I don't see as many insects attacking my plants lately since I've started incorporating IPM. The gophers, however, are starting to move in to the beds I didn't gopher-proof. I've seen my cats catch a few gophers and rodents, but the new gophers moving in are starting to do too much damage. I just picked up 2 twin packs of Victor easy set traps and I will be testing those out this week.
Ugh, my indoor plants were definitely infested this winter/spring. I tried humidity to no avail, sprays which damaged plant more than mites, eventually, just put plants outside to fend for themselves. Peppers will make it, but the Gardenia did not...
Roly-Polies! Ugh… they have infested some parts of my garden. I almost lost my watermelon plants to these miniature armadillo crab monsters. They are eating through the stems at the base of my plants. I’ve found them nibbling on my spaghetti squash vines too. I have set out beer traps and got about 300 in one night. I have set out watermelon and cantaloupe rinds and gotten 300-400 night before last. Last night I got another 200 or so. THEY. JUST. KEEP. COMING. I can see them squirming away back under my mulch as I collect the rinds. My garden beds have never been so clean as I pick up every fallen leaf. Where did they come from??? I’ve had roly-polies before, but never like this.
Pincher bugs have literally murdered so many of my plants I found sluggo plus helps but if anyone has other suggestions let me know. I also have used the soy sauce and oil traps they work pretty well.
I seem to breed spider mites on my sage 😳😩which, other than looking constantly infestated, appears to thrive on them! Lacewings avoid the sage but ladybugs love it.
I’ve decided to add spied mites to my diet. Cooked, of course. Not raw. 😁
Spider mites have been my nemesis and stink bugs. I'm on an ongoing battle with these two. And just recently rolled pollies they've been eating all my seedlings.
Very helpful Chris and Kevin, thank you, I think I need a loupe! I’ve been struggling with grasshoppers in my garden (10b, Redondo Beach) this spring. You know those BIG ones? Their little babies are everywhere in my garden and they are super hard to catch to handpick. I’ve been spraying neem directly on them when I see them but I’m not sure if this is the best mode of attack. 🤷🏻♀️
I would be worried about birds eating the treated bugs !
@@m.maclellan7147 the birds aren’t affected by neem oil thankfully. But you bring up something that I haven’t thought of, that those black Phoebes I always see in my garden are probably hunting grasshoppers 😍
These things run rampant in Texas. They are everywhere. I have used all of these methods to no success. Outside of getting rid of all plants, trees, and bushes, it is a losing battle. There is no way in a large garden with hundreds, if not thousands of trees, bushes, and plants, that anyone would have the time to wipe the leaves on a constant basis. All of the insecticidal soaps and oils work as long as you are spraying every day out here. The second you stop, they are right back. I will add that anything with oil is bound to burn your plant in the heat and sun in Texas. This is true even when you spray in the evening because that oil residue is still on the plants the next day.
I live in Central Texas and agree wholeheartedly with what you said. They are everywhere. I have a 30’ tall tree overhanging my garden area and at night with a headlamp, I can see tiny tiny white spiders moving and dropping even from this tree. The only reason they can be seen with the naked eye is because they’re moving. Otherwise, I might have thought they were dust. They release webbing and “fly” to other plants. I try to slap them between my two hands when I see them making a getaway but more often than not, I see a white “dot” blow past me in the wind. Everything I’m trying to grow whether for food or flowers are under attack. I saw the webbing last year but mistakenly thought it was from common garden spiders. By not recognizing evidence last year, I fear I may have allowed this problem to propagate if they’re eggs overwinter. Last year, I learned about aphids the hard way. This year, it’s spider mites. Don’t know if I should continue to try to grow food. I noticed the mountains behind the girl Chris in the video and her polycarbonate green house. She lives in a much colder climate so I wonder how much problem she really has with bugs. She should come to Texas- seems to be bug central!
As to your point about how long it would take to wipe every leaf of the thousands of plants, it takes me about 5 hours to spray every leaf of everything I’m trying to grow, both sides. That’s not counting all the natural trees & plants which without treatment, which just spread back to my food plants. So it seems to be a losing, very expensive, and very back-breaking job.
@annalisa6135 I could not agree more. I collect Japanese maples, and it is as frustrating as it can get. I have over 200 different cultivars, and some of them are extremely rare. They are always under attack no matter what I do.