Organic spider mite control can be easy when you use beneficial insects in your garden. It is a difficult pest to eradicate with chemicals and insecticides because it lives under a protective layer of webbing very close to the plants cell wall. Get started on learning how to keep your high performance garden bug free and in harmony with nature in our latest high performance garden training video below!

Are you ready to get this pest out of your garden? Learn more about how these spider mites work and then how to work with the spider mite predator to your best advantage.

Spider Mite Control

The Spider Mite, Tetranychus Urticae, “Two-Spotted” or “Red Spider Mite” is a major pest in vegetable, tropical, and other ornamental plants. It’s tiny size makes it difficult to see. They prefer to feed from the bottom side of leaves located in the tops of plants where it is warm and dry, although as they travel along the plant, feeding marks can be found along the main vein of leaves. As populations increase, plant damage spreads across the leaves.

Spider mites feed on plant cells and produce characteristic small, yellowish, speckled feeding marks. The feeding marks are usually the first sign of a mite infestation and are often confused with some fertilizer deficiencies. Fine, silken webs can be detected on heavily infested leaves and flowers with these plant parts will quickly wither and turn brown.

Many insecticides have little or no affect in controlling spider mites. Their small size, their ability to exist close to the veins of the plants and because they are a different species of pest than other insects, controlling by spraying is extremely difficult.

Spider mites are sensitive to day length and are capable of hibernating within cracks and crevices of your structures. If you had spider mites last year, chances are excellent they will continue to be a problem this year.

Spider mite populations can explode under conditions of high temperature (above 85° F.) and low relative humidity (below 60% RH).

Spider Mite Predator

The Phytoseiulus Persimilis or the spider mite predator is a predatory mite.  It is the most frequently used mite predator to control two-spotted spider mites in greenhouses and outdoor crops. Adult females are approximately 0.5 mm long, reddish in color, pear shaped and active at room temperature. About 80% are females. The best temperatures for these to develop is  from 70 – 85^oF.  If the temperatures are favorable the development from an egg to an adult is 7 days and they live for up to a month. One spider mite predator will consume up to 20 adult spider mites. I like to release these in stages of 2 weeks so I have multiple generations going at separate times. The recommended inoculation rate is 5-10 per plant.  I order my spider mites from hydrogarden.com

Many times working in harmony with nature by using Beneficial Insects in the garden is the best way to use pest control. Not only is it organic it can be the most effective way of control, and the spider mite control method is just one of the times it works best! Tell me how your spider mite predator release went in the comments below. I would love to hear from you!

With the creation of our newest High Performance Garden Course the Leafy Greens Container Garden I cannot get enough of exotic greens. These delicious greens are next to impossible to find in the store and so great for you! Recently I wrote a blog on growing Komatsuna Summerfest. It’s a simple to grow hearty green that you just might want to try. This is a great taste test of what you can find in our newest course for free! Read the article Eat Your Leafy Greens: Summerfest, and begin growing exotic greens today.

Until next time, may your garden be easy, fun, productive and always organic!

Lynn

Email Lynn any questions you have about spider mite control or whatever pests are bothering your garden. It would be great to work with you to rid your garden of these pests.