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.
Minute pirate bug is a wonderful bio control for spider-mites, aphids and thrips. Take a peek at a weedy patch near where you live, and you should be able to find a couple of the tiny adult insects among the smaller glowers (the adults also eats pollen grains). They can be quite pricey to buy online (your local garden center probably isn't carrying minute pirate bug), so looking for them outside for free is well worth it. The adult minute pirate bug can also sustain itself on flower pollen, so it won't leave your garden if it can't locate some prey immediately, unlike lacewings and ladybugs.
We tried using minute pirate bugs in our greenhouse to control thrips, and they all died in the first few days, often by just drowning themselves in any sort of standing water. A week after we released them, I could count the number of living bugs on one hand.
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
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!
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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!
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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. 💖🌱
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. 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
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!
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?
@@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
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!
Tip if you want to actually do insecticidal soap yourself on the cheaper side: According to the US EPA as well the EU regulations on what is ok on organic agriculture (and most likely also all other regulators of large agricultural export markets), all marketable insecticidal soaps for organic growers are actually just a solution of soap based on the potassium salts of fatty acids. Soaps made out of potassium salts are basicall justy the product of saponification with potassium hydroxide and a vegetable oil with longer chains of fatty acids (for example brassica seed oil). You can buy these soaps for cheap online or at places where they sell cleaning soaps and mix your own solution. You can read the EPA guidelines or also just look up the safety manuals of the commercial insecticidal soaps for an appropriate concentration. Usually 10-20% is already highly effective. Also, please be careful with potassium soaps, they are an irritant to the skin. Wear gloves. Also, they might be phytotoxic in the long run and with continious intense application on some plants.
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.
I have a massive philodendron that has a light infestation. These are the fuzzy white mites, not the two-spotted ones. I've used Neem oil 3-4 times but they keep coming back. I don't want to dispose of the plant. I'm using the rubbing alcohol in the spray bottle method.
I have problems with these tiny white cotton looking bugs that cling to undersides of plant leaves. I spray them with vinegar mix to kill them. They usually appear on my distressed plants. Kill them.
Please please please FUNGUS GNATS. They are the bane of my outdoor compost in spring (once it heats up the eggs die) but using it for my indoor grow is horrible for spring. They are so annoying
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.
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.
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. :(
@epicgardening firstly thank you for a really informative video. My indoor plants are suffering from Spider Mites & I suspect many of my outdoor plants are too. I live in Melbourne, Australia & would like to try the natural treatment to get rid of this bug but couldn’t find any ratios for the recipe mentioned using rubbing alcohol & dish soap & water (I think they were the ingredients). I’ve also looked at your article on Spider Mites hoping to find a recipe there but didn’t find one. The article was extremely informative as was your video & I have saved both for future reference. If possible could you please comment with a recipe that includes the ratio of each ingredient? I would really appreciate it. Your Holly Hocks are beautiful & the colour of its flowers are stunning! 😊
ARBORVITAE - Ever see a row of arborvitae that just goes brown? It's usually spider mites! The best way to check for spider mites (and you should frequently check for them on arborvitae) is to shake a branch over a sheet of plain white paper. Holding the paper flat, wipe your hand across the paper. If you see multiple little streaks, you likely have spider mites. Spray the trees fast! If you wait until you begin to notice that the arborvitae is starting to look a little stressed - it's too late. The plant is lost. I own about 75 arborvitaes - lost a few before learning how to identify and control spider mites. We hates 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.
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.
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 brought some annuals that I had on my deck into my house last fall to over winter. Thought I would try it to save some money and not have to replace them in the spring. I used grow lights and a humidifier to try and keep the right conditions for them. They did great until a month or so before spring. The webs started to appear, and the leaves became covered with tiny pale spots. I applied neem oil, but a lot of damage was already done. So, the plants lost most of their lower leaves, were not very attractive, and some died. Interestingly one of the surviving plants I put outside was soon visited by many ants and seemed to recover after that. Maybe the ants removed the spider mites. I ended up rooting some cuttings taken from the new healthy growth and throwing the rest of the plant away.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Fighting a 6-month battle against spider mites on my large money tree right now. Luckily it hasn’t spread to my other plants yet, but it seems like they’ll never go away. I have some horticultural oil so maybe I’ll give that a try.
Try a strong infusion of fresh rosemary. Spray the plant liberally -- the rosemary tea can't hurt it, but it knocked the spider mites out of my indoor citrus trees almost immediately.
@@Jesus_is_All_we_need Let me know if it works as well for you as it did for me. What I'm jazzed about is that every plant upon which I've used this treatment hasn't had a recurrence.
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
.. 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 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.
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.
Thank you so much for that great advice. I have found that at first if you spray the plant with a fine mist of just water using a spray bottle and then hold it up to the ligh you are more likely to spot it if there is any webbing as it is saturated with water making it more visible. I do like the way you are explaining things so I've subscribe to your channel, thank you.
I have white powder on my fruit tree, herbs and veggie plants. I also had a little line of small hard brown bumps on the branch of my clementine tree. i have lots of insects in my garden. i do use neem oil. Help
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.🙏🏻
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 😍
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.
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 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.
Really appreciate the editing addition of red circling and extra pictures when describing the various symptoms and bugs
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
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.
Minute pirate bug is a wonderful bio control for spider-mites, aphids and thrips.
Take a peek at a weedy patch near where you live, and you should be able to find a couple of the tiny adult insects among the smaller glowers (the adults also eats pollen grains).
They can be quite pricey to buy online (your local garden center probably isn't carrying minute pirate bug), so looking for them outside for free is well worth it.
The adult minute pirate bug can also sustain itself on flower pollen, so it won't leave your garden if it can't locate some prey immediately, unlike lacewings and ladybugs.
We tried using minute pirate bugs in our greenhouse to control thrips, and they all died in the first few days, often by just drowning themselves in any sort of standing water. A week after we released them, I could count the number of living bugs on one hand.
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
THANK YOU!!!!! I have tried and was about to give up this year... now there is hope.
Chris your green thumb intellect is simply mesmerizing! Great channel and quickly becoming my most watched. Keep up the great flow of content.
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!
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
This is great info. This is the most annoying thing, especially when we bring plants inside for winter.
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!
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
Oh this is very helpful! Been dealing with those mites for years and sometimes I don't know what to do
This video was awesome! Her knowledge and the way she laid it all out was super informative and easy to follow.. Thank you!👍🏻👍🏻
Plenty of good and practical information! Great video.
We get all this educational content from Chris. When will we get a simple garden tour?
When its bussin
I’ve been WAITING for you to do a video on this! You’re the expert!!
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!
This is sooo good, so informative and actually easy to understand. Thanks guys 👏👏👏
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.
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.
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!
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 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.
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. 💘
Lost coast plant therapy is basically a miracle when it comes to spider mites. And it’s safe for pollinators ❤️❤️
Chris has the most perfect news anchor voice!
I have donated far too many plants to spider mites so this is a must study video
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
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.
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 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. 💖🌱
Love this video. Hoping you do more pest videos 🤞🏻
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. 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
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!
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?
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
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!
Tip if you want to actually do insecticidal soap yourself on the cheaper side: According to the US EPA as well the EU regulations on what is ok on organic agriculture (and most likely also all other regulators of large agricultural export markets), all marketable insecticidal soaps for organic growers are actually just a solution of soap based on the potassium salts of fatty acids. Soaps made out of potassium salts are basicall justy the product of saponification with potassium hydroxide and a vegetable oil with longer chains of fatty acids (for example brassica seed oil).
You can buy these soaps for cheap online or at places where they sell cleaning soaps and mix your own solution. You can read the EPA guidelines or also just look up the safety manuals of the commercial insecticidal soaps for an appropriate concentration. Usually 10-20% is already highly effective.
Also, please be careful with potassium soaps, they are an irritant to the skin. Wear gloves. Also, they might be phytotoxic in the long run and with continious intense application on some plants.
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.
I have a massive philodendron that has a light infestation. These are the fuzzy white mites, not the two-spotted ones. I've used Neem oil 3-4 times but they keep coming back. I don't want to dispose of the plant. I'm using the rubbing alcohol in the spray bottle method.
Spider mites, I have inside and outside, so I’ll try those methods, thanks for sharing!!!
I have problems with these tiny white cotton looking bugs that cling to undersides of plant leaves. I spray them with vinegar mix to kill them. They usually appear on my distressed plants.
Kill them.
Please please please FUNGUS GNATS. They are the bane of my outdoor compost in spring (once it heats up the eggs die) but using it for my indoor grow is horrible for spring. They are so annoying
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. 😢
THANK YOU!!! One i’m having an issue with here in the PNW is Clover Mites… 😬 blech!
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.
Why not tell us how to make a mixture of soap and alcohol/water. What are the quantities and ratios. ??
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. :(
@epicgardening firstly thank you for a really informative video. My indoor plants are suffering from Spider Mites & I suspect many of my outdoor plants are too. I live in Melbourne, Australia & would like to try the natural treatment to get rid of this bug but couldn’t find any ratios for the recipe mentioned using rubbing alcohol & dish soap & water (I think they were the ingredients). I’ve also looked at your article on Spider Mites hoping to find a recipe there but didn’t find one. The article was extremely informative as was your video & I have saved both for future reference. If possible could you please comment with a recipe that includes the ratio of each ingredient? I would really appreciate it. Your Holly Hocks are beautiful & the colour of its flowers are stunning! 😊
Grubs and cut worms. How would you control or prevent them??
ARBORVITAE - Ever see a row of arborvitae that just goes brown? It's usually spider mites! The best way to check for spider mites (and you should frequently check for them on arborvitae) is to shake a branch over a sheet of plain white paper. Holding the paper flat, wipe your hand across the paper. If you see multiple little streaks, you likely have spider mites.
Spray the trees fast! If you wait until you begin to notice that the arborvitae is starting to look a little stressed - it's too late. The plant is lost.
I own about 75 arborvitaes - lost a few before learning how to identify and control spider mites.
We hates 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.
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
Perfect timing!
Its the Greenhouse they'll really get ya too, In the open air you're more likely to have predators drop by and make a new home til the problems gone
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.
Chris, you are so great at this. Love, love, love your videos!!!!!
I brought some annuals that I had on my deck into my house last fall to over winter. Thought I would try it to save some money and not have to replace them in the spring. I used grow lights and a humidifier to try and keep the right conditions for them. They did great until a month or so before spring. The webs started to appear, and the leaves became covered with tiny pale spots. I applied neem oil, but a lot of damage was already done. So, the plants lost most of their lower leaves, were not very attractive, and some died. Interestingly one of the surviving plants I put outside was soon visited by many ants and seemed to recover after that. Maybe the ants removed the spider mites. I ended up rooting some cuttings taken from the new healthy growth and throwing the rest of the plant away.
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.
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! 🤞
I have them in my indoor aquaponic grows. Such a pain!
San Diego has some insanely strong species of them
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.
Would you like to share whàt you used for your natural IPM?
@janeannejurkiewicz1685 Petra tools crop defender
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.
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.
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.
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
That was top notch! I get aphids, mites, stink bugs (hardest to control), leaf miners and what I hate the most.... mealy bugs.
This was so good. Thank you, especially for the non chemical solutions.
Fighting a 6-month battle against spider mites on my large money tree right now. Luckily it hasn’t spread to my other plants yet, but it seems like they’ll never go away. I have some horticultural oil so maybe I’ll give that a try.
@@greatestevar Pppp
Try a strong infusion of fresh rosemary. Spray the plant liberally -- the rosemary tea can't hurt it, but it knocked the spider mites out of my indoor citrus trees almost immediately.
@@pricklypear7516 , that sounds great!
@@Jesus_is_All_we_need Let me know if it works as well for you as it did for me. What I'm jazzed about is that every plant upon which I've used this treatment hasn't had a recurrence.
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
spider mites are not bothering me THIS year for a change, instead i've had some issues with thrips
.. 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 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.
hey love your content bro, do russet and broad mites next!
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
Discovered scale and spider mites on my potted lemon thanks to you guys!
Thank you so much for that great advice.
I have found that at first if you spray the plant with a fine mist of just water using a spray bottle and then hold it up to the ligh you are more likely to spot it if there is any webbing as it is saturated with water making it more visible.
I do like the way you are explaining things so I've subscribe to your channel, thank you.
I have white powder on my fruit tree, herbs and veggie plants. I also had a little line of small hard brown bumps on the branch of my clementine tree. i have lots of insects in my garden. i do use neem oil. Help
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.🙏🏻
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?
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.
This was so helpful and informative! Thank you!!
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.
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.
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 :)
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 😍
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.
How do you control mosquitoes with all the irrigation and the pond???! 😫😫😫😫
I’m in Phoenix and they are just terrible 😞
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!
Weevil! I found one on my espalier pear tree, just sitting there. I didn’t want to kill it till I know
It’s a BAD bug. What should I do?
Thanks!
No problem!