On one, and only one plant, I found a few tiny little holes in a leaf that looks like something found it yummy. Do spider mites do this? I actually have quite an infestation of lady bugs in my house. I only see them once in awhile in winter, but in the summer there's a window in the bathroom where I swear I've seen dozens at a time(inside). I hear these eat mites. Do they chomp on plants at all? Those and common flys are all I ever see here.
bugs?
- Thread starter bleorg
- Start date
mogie
Well-Known Member
Lady bugs will eat spider mites and not your plants. Organic pesticides like neem-oil and pyrethrum are very effective but possibly mutagenic, so are best used as a last resort. Get a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, IOW when twenty gallons of water have gone through the hose, the sprayer-cup will be empty. Into the cup put:
1/4 cup lemon dish soap, but not a strong one like dawn
1 cup lemon ammonia, bugs don't like the lemon, and the NH4 is a foliar feed
3 T hot sauce (mmm...habenero)
1/2 cup tobacco juice
Go easy at first, its strong stuff. Wear gloves so you don't OD on nicotine. Oh, and don't use it right before harvest. If you have too many slugs for the old beer-can trick, sprinkle a mixture of pelletized lime and AlSO4 around where they go.
Spider mites can be controlled but not eliminated by spraying with corn starch and water. T he starch dries and suffocates them. Diatomaceous earth also kills invertebrates.
1/4 cup lemon dish soap, but not a strong one like dawn
1 cup lemon ammonia, bugs don't like the lemon, and the NH4 is a foliar feed
3 T hot sauce (mmm...habenero)
1/2 cup tobacco juice
Go easy at first, its strong stuff. Wear gloves so you don't OD on nicotine. Oh, and don't use it right before harvest. If you have too many slugs for the old beer-can trick, sprinkle a mixture of pelletized lime and AlSO4 around where they go.
Spider mites can be controlled but not eliminated by spraying with corn starch and water. T he starch dries and suffocates them. Diatomaceous earth also kills invertebrates.