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Post by grandmaster on Sept 23, 2008 11:21:46 GMT
I think I know why you got banned from Pitcher plants.
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Post by pinglover on Sept 23, 2008 14:29:20 GMT
A spider mite is an arachnid not an insect as Aidan stated. I don't know an insecticide that will do them in. I think Not A Number hit it on the head when s/he referenced the killing off of natural enemies (beneficials). Kill off the beneficials by using an inappropriate product and your mites will be even happier campers than they were before. If one doesn't want to try a Neem oil product, Ortho's Orthenex and Bug-B-Gon products are readily available and they would be kill-all type pesticides to include mites. These two products may be the way to go particularly since you don't know which mite you have. Me personally, I take photos of the undersides and crotches of my plants and white paper towels that I've placed under tapped leaves using my macro setting when there appears to be a problem. I can enlarge the photo and am frequently able to see what's going on much better this way. I try to get a positive ID on what I've got before I select a pesticide. Granted, there are thousands of different species of mites out there but usually our plants are plagued by the most common. So far I've always been able to determine if I've got a mite infestation or not- mites have eight legs. Legs are easy enough to count regardless of the quality of the image. If I am able to get a positive ID, I poke around to see if there are any target specific products that will work before resorting to what I refer to as kill-all cides. Poked around on the internet and found this- www.gpnmag.com/Mite-B-Gone-Understanding-Miticides-article8528
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