spidermites

sadly I hav got a mild case of spidermites, at the moment. plants are about 1 month since clones rooted. doing nicely apart from that, I was thinking of spraying with soapy water but am afraid this wont get rid of eggs. any suggestions

they're outdoors, right? in the ground too...? if so, spraying daily with plain water will drive them off of the plants and over a couple weeks should solve your problem. they usually don't thrive in the outdoors as they have plenty of predators outside that keep down their populations. they're not usually a problem for outdoor gardeners...
i'd use soapy water 2nd, AFTER trying a couple weeks of straight water and a soft setting on your spray nozzle. move any smaller spiders you find around the house/yard too (but not on the plants you'll be spraying of course)...make your garden welcome to the right bugs and hell on the pests...naturally.

Great post!

Ga Grown

thanks, will do that. im generally an indoor grower and theyre a big problem inside.

Just my oppinion but i would not spray the plants for 2 weeks if the plant is in direct sunlight, it will burn the plant to death.
SpiderMites absolutly hate humidity. Thats why in my greenhouse i like to keep it nice and humid and thus so far ive had no spidermite attacks. If i were you mate i would just spray the plant with VERY MILD soapy water and carefully rub each leaf/infested area with a SOFT cloth. i would not think it would be a very good idea spray the plant for 2 weeks if the plant is in direct sunlight. Just make sure to use MILD soapy water, and rub it away until the pests have all died/slided off. Visit the plants the following day and if they have returned just repeat the process.

I guess you could spray soapy water on them but as far as I know Spidermites cant survive outside.

Spidermites do survive outside quite well unfortunately. It can be a big problem for herb gardening. (I have a large medicinal herb garden out back, no weed growing yet though).

Spraying with water can help but like one poster said, the water can burn them. You can try spraying in the early morning hours so there's time for it to evaporate before it gets hot. I wouldn't do it at night though as you can run into mold issues.

You can also try buying some live ladybugs. They're sold over the internet. If you release them into your patch they can and will devour those mites along with the eggs. Beneficial nematodes are great for soil bugs. But the spider mites are preyed upon by ladybugs. And hopefully, if you're lucky the ladybugs will stick around and lay eggs for you. The ladybug larvae are the ones that eat the most. They look like tiny little alligators, so dont kill them if you see them, those are good :)

Good luck!

Sabrina

Another good way is to plant some marigolds around your plants. they attract daddylong legs spiders, and other pest eaters.

Im not sure about herbs but i know for a fact that spidermites dont live on pot plants outside.

Did you know that the Grandaddy long leg spider,is the most poisonous spider in the arachnid family! Don't be alarmed,though! The only thing is it has no fangs! Can't bite you! If it could the poison is so toxic it would kill you in a matter of hours! Bout like the Black Mamba snake! It will KILL you! Be careful in Aussie land!

Ga Grown

Must be a spider mite jinx going around right now. I was looking closely at my Russian Comfrey I have growing in a corner of my garden and it's been looking a bit straggly the last couple of days. I bent over to look more closely and noticed quite a few ants around it, but usually ants are ok and leave stuff alone. I looked closer at the leaves and underneath them. Sure enough a few of the leaves had that tell-tale mustard colored spider mite infestation.

I was thinking it might be aphids because of all the ants in the area (since the ants will protect the aphids due to the nectar-like goo they secrete) but i'm pretty sure it's spider mites. I used a store bought organic soap on the comfrey and then rinsed the plant of it about 15 min later. It seems to have gotten most of them off, and killed the rest that were on them.

Living in a dry hot area I know I should expect spider mites, but along with the caterpillars that seem to be around quite a bit I'm getting quite frustrated. I think it's time for a nematode spray again. And maybe more ladybugs. Good news is that the praying mantis eggs I bought hatched today. Not sure if they'll do much good but praying mantis' are pretty cool to look at and I'll have fun watching them in the garden when they've gone into adulthood. :)

I think your pest problem might be aphids. I have talked to a few people that have been growing outdoors for years and they all have said that spider mites cant live on pot plants outside. Who knows they might be wrong but they all grow huge outdoor crops every year and have been for at least 10 years.