How to Get Rid of Spider Mites
Getting rid of spider mites (often incorrectly spelled spidermites)
from your garden is priority number one if you’re recognized a
spider mite infestation because in the world of horticulture there
are mites and then there are spider mites, or what we can call the
two-spotted mite. Spider mite populations grow so quickly that often
times a farmer or gardener is caught off guard. Warm, dry temperatures
make the perfect climate for the spider mite’s reproductive cycle,
which leaves your plants susceptible not only to drought but also to
the spider mite’s tenacious appetite.
If you’ve noticed the signs of a mite infestation described on your left,
and you’re dealing primarily with flowers, it may be in your best
interest to turn to a miticide for the quickest and most effective control.
However, if you’re a farmer or a gardener tending vegetables and herbs,
you may want to consider an integrated pest management approach, which is
what we’ll explain below: how to get rid of spider mites and control
spider mite populations without insecticides or miticides, as the case may be.
The first step toward getting rid of spider mites is to isolate the plants,
but keep the infested plants clustered.Isolating your plants will reduce
the risk of spider mite migration. Spider mites are quite adept at riding air
currents to and from the plants they wish to feed on. Keeping your plants in
clusters will help retain moisture by reducing airflow between the plants.
Spider mites are not very keen on moist climates; they need the evaporative
properties of an arid climate to reproduce more efficiently.
Retaining humidity and moisture is a good way to get rid of spider mites.
This can be accomplished in several ways. If you’re tending potted plants,
keeping your pots over a platter of water will help keep immediate moisture
levels up. If you’re tending to garden plants, you may want to consider putting
in peat moss to fill the gaps between plants. Of course, the best way to
keep humidity and moisture levels high is to bring your plants indoors where
they can be misted with very cold water on a regular basis (2-3 times a day).
The same treatment can be done to outdoor plants with firm but careful sprayings
to help drown the mites and remove them from the plants.
Keeping plants out of the late afternoon sun and/or arid weather is
perhaps your best defense against spider mites.This may not be possible
for those of us who cannot remove plants via pots, but any way to provide
shade to damaged or weakened plants during the warmer hours of the day will help.
For indoor plants, drawing the shades or moving plants out of direct sunlight
should help dissuade spider mites from taking up permanent residency. You may
also want to consider setting a humidifier next to any affected plants.
It has been suggested that spraying plants with a 1:1 mixture of alcohol and
water will kill spider mites on contact. Rubbing alcohol, like any alcohol
for any creature, is poisonous in high dosages, and it evaporates quickly doing
little damage to the plant it’s been sprayed on. Some people suggest a 1:3
mixture of rubbing alcohol to water, but the strong the mixture,
the more certain you are to get as many mites as possible. Make sure to cover
the entire plant, focusing on the bottoms of the leaves where spider
mites tend to hang out.
If all else fails, miticides are, of course, one of the most effective forms
of spider mite treatments and the fastest way to get rid of spider mites—usually .
It all depends on the kind of miticide that you choose. Some of the most common
miticides are Avid, Kelthane, and just about anything that contains pyrethoids.
These chemicals should be applied once every five days until all signs of
spider mite infestation have gone. Again, people gardening vegetables and herbs
should try every other avenue before using miticides, including the biological
mite controls described below.
Biological Mite Control
Predatory mites are, in many new age gardener’s opinions, the best way to control spider mites. Predatory mites are mites that do not feed on plants but on other mites, like the two-spotted mite, for instance. Predatory mites can usually be mail-ordered from a horticultural warehouse or purchased online from any number of online gardening vendors. For the sake of brevity, we will cover just three of the most common predatory mites used to kill and control spider mites:
Phytoseiulus persimilis is referred to by the Cornell University Extension office as “ one of the mainstays of greenhouse integrated pest management.” The great thing about this species of mite is that it cleans up after itself once the spider mite population is gone—cannibalizing on each other, thus decimating their own populations.
Metaseiulus occidentalis is another common predatory mite used to kill spider mites. It is an effective biological control only if temperatures are on average between 44 degrees and 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
Phytoseiulus longpipes is essentially a variant of the Phytoseiulus persimilis mite brought in from Africa which can stand warmer ambient temperatures than its North American cousins. Longpipes is seeing a gain in popularity among gardeners who would rather deploy a biological spider mite control agent than a chemical or physical control.
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