Snapdragon blooming nicely now.
I want to make this post not all about the bad things. There isn't much time for me to write tons of things on spider mites. I have to go to class soon, so I have to get ready, make copies, and get gas then drive 20 minutes to school. My snapdragon is blooming wonderful. While looking at my snapdragon I noticed my lemon balm wasn't looking right. The lemon balm I don't normally pay attention to because it's done so well. Upon inspection I saw grey blotches and was hoping not to find anything. Sadly, I did find tons of spider mites. All underneath the lemon balm leaves were spidermites. I got my neem oil and sprayed but I couldn't get it to cover the underside of the leaves. So I came out the next day with some water and some soap and sprayed the undersides. Then shot it again the next day with some just plain water. I think I got most of them off but I need to go squirt them again with some water. I don't know what happened. It's so sad when I get plants with these bugs on them. My chocolate mint is forever infested with aphids and ants and I'll be throwing that out.
It got me thinking though if these sick plants are protecting the other plants from getting these aphids and spider mites. I know that probably not the case at all. I wish I could let nature take it's course but I don't seem to have any insects around that get rid of aphids of spider mites. I had a leaf footed bug that had been sitting in my lemon balm for months but it didn't stop any of the spider mites and I don't think it's a beneficial at all. Beneficial insects don't come to my balcony. I only ever see the occasional grass hopper, maybe a bee and a wasp a day, many ants, and that's all. The bees don't stay long either. They hover for a minute then go off. Anyone with ideas on weather to keep these sickies or just rid of them. I'm still trying on the lemon balm to see if it gets better. I need to research on spider mites. When I did look a little about them and lemon balm it seems they do like it. Maybe I'll just have to find another plant that doesn't attract these spider mites and other bad things.
A white candytuft flowering.
1 comment:
What kind of soap spray are you using. If you are adding a mild cleaning detergent solution it will do nothing but give your bugs a bath. Ordinary house cleaners are detergents and not soaps. You are trying to dry out the body of aphid with soap not clean it with detergent. Soap dries and detergent cleans to a bug. The soap will kill beetle bugs too by disolving it's exoskeleton. It does the same to aphids cause it dissolves the soft bodies.
Go to the health food store and ask them for a bar of natural soap with no perfumes,dyes, or other additives. Grate it to a tablespoon and add to an average spray bottle. Mix with warm water to dissolve. Wait till a cloudy day with mild temps and spray the bad bugs.
I hope this helps.
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