Citrus > Citrus General Discussion

Spider Mites

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justjoan:
Good Morning all,
I hgave been starting to think about the dredded time when I have to bring my citrus trees inside and was doing some research yesterday and am wondering has anyone tried essential oil spray?  The recommended ones are Rosemary and or Peppermint, some dish soap and water.  This problem gets me every year and the commercial products smell and make a real mess.  I live in Minnesota and so that time will be here before I know it.  Thoughts? :)

brian:
The usual recommendation is horticultural oil or soap spray.  I don't know about the scent additives but I can't imagine they would hurt.  I use Dr Bronners unscented baby soap which has no detergents.  It's kind of expensive so if anybody knows a cheaper solution let me know.

I have been fighting a cottony cushion scale infestation for *years* now.  Soap spray keeps them in check but they keep coming back.  Like you, I live in a temperate area where CCS isn't native and have not brought any new trees in for a while I know that I simply haven't eradicated them all from my trees.   I am going to switch to hort oil in the fall when it cools off a bit. 

My biggest issue has been that it takes forever to spray using a 3-gal pump sprayer.  It takes me an hour and a half to coat all my trees.  I tried two different hose-end sprayers and they were complete junk.  However, you can find horticultural oil bottles with built-in hose-end sprayers (Bonide brand I think, maybe Bayer).  I read somewhere these built in sprayers are far superior to the re-useable sprayers.  I am going to try this, and if it works well see if I can modify the single-use sprayer to be re-useable.

here's the link about the sprayers:  http://lawniac.com/battle-hose-end-sprayers-chapin-g362d-vs-ortho-dial-n-spray

justjoan:
Thanks Brian...I have about 12 trees and they looks so good now and want to keep them that way....will take a look at your link :)

Millet:
I use Ultra Pure Horticultural Oil, for spider mites, aphids, white fly and Mealy bugs.  The sprayer I use is a Solo sprayer.  Actually spider mites can be killed with just a strong water spray.  It might take 2 or 3 spays to accomplish the job. 

daytripper:
Spider Mites love indoor plants in the winter because they thrive in those dry conditions.  Running a humidifier in the room you overwinter your citrus goes a long way in controlling them.  That along with spraying with horticultural oil goes a long way in keeping them under control.  Your trees benefit from the higher humidity as well.

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