Spider Mites?

[Scott]

Hi, after reading through the share a site area, there was one in which spider mites were mentioned near the spear of crown. That got me to thinking about my Bizzie which has some webby stuff in there here's the best pic I could get

I thought spider ate other pests - so that they were good. But is this something to take preventative action with?

Overall the palm's leaves are a little ragged after frost and high winds - so I couldn't specualte if that's because of mites.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[wendisplantation]

Hi Scott-

I had a spidermite infestation last year, but it was on 2 very small seedlings of bismarckia (single first leaf). I always thought they were an inside pest, and these 2 were inside for the first 2 months of life, as they germed in February. I think that is what killed them eventually. I had a lady tell me to stick them in the sun and they would go away, but didn't happen. I finally went and got some natural pesticide to treat tiny seedlings, and that works good and is fairly mild. I have never had them on anything larger, but mine did not have that many webs. I gently wash anything that i see them on to try to rinse them off as much as possible, then I spray the plant and soil with the natural pesticide. That seems to work for me. Good luck!

[osideterry]

I'm noticing small webs on a few of my palms this spring, and all are outdoors in full sun. A royal, a bizzy, and a fishtail. I was going to try malathion this weekend. I'm not seeing damage or mites.

I had a bad spidermite infestation on a Chamaedorea tepijilote 2 years back. They were chewing where the leaflets attach to the rachis until the leaflets hung straight down. They were also curling the leaves and leaving a smutty film of crap on the leaves. Malathion and other sprays did nothing. Several rounds of Neem Oil finally finished them off. The palm was in full shade, which might have added to the infestation.

[MattyB]

Mites suck!  Scott, I can't tell if you actually have mites or probably just a small spider web.  It's not bad and should not be sprayed w/ poison unless you're sure you've got mites.....then use dinamite or a hand grenade.  In the meantime just spray a jet of water in there and clean out the debris as they like places to hide, especially the undersides of the leaflets.  I've had mites resist Malathion and Diazanon so I make sure and mix it w/ an oil and that seems to control them for a while.  In my experience, mites are most dangerous to tiny seedlings of species w/ tender leaves like Clinostigma, Carpoxylon, Geonoma etc...  I'd love you hear from some of the other members w/ greenhouses to learn what they do to control mites.  And how do you deal w/ spraying oil and the warmth in the greenhouse?  Does it burn the plants?  Or only if you spray during the heat?  Spraying at night ok?  I hate mites, they make me wear my glasses and inspect every little leaflet  

[Jeff Searle]

(Scott @ Apr. 13 2007,14:51)

QUOTE

Hi, after reading through the share a site area, there was one in which spider mites were mentioned near the spear of crown. That got me to thinking about my Bizzie which has some webby stuff in there here's the best pic I could get

I thought spider ate other pests - so that they were good. But is this something to take preventative action with?

Overall the palm's leaves are a little ragged after frost and high winds - so I couldn't specualte if that's because of mites.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Scott,

    Based on your piture of a Bismarckia, your not going to get spider mites down in the base of a leaf sheath. This not where they feed. Spider mites are almost always found on the UNDERSIDE of leaves. Rarely will you see them on the top of a leaf. Spidermites are a sucking insect, and pull juice out of the leaf.  To my knowledge, they DO NOT eat other insects. I believe there are 4 stages of their life cycle. They tend to build up inmunities to insecticides/miticides. So, it is highly reccomended to alternate with different miticides. Certain labels of a miticide are only going to kill maybe the adult stages, and not the eggs when they are just hatched. Good rains in the summer here, will almost always keep them off the leaves, they hate the rain, therefore thats why they hide on the undersides.And, their not going to cause damage to the petioles/stems. To the growers/nurseryman, they are one of the toughest insects to control. They definitely like closed up greenhouses where there is very little air movement and it's hot and humid.

    And......they definitely prefer certain palms over others. Some species just taste better than others. I have seen many times over, where they will be on a Chamaedorea species, and their leaves are touching or overlapping another palm. But the other palm will not have one single mite on them. In other words, they can be a real pain in the ass.

Jeff