What's wrong with this rollinia?

[CeeJey]

Hey all, a couple of my annonas have been struck by some kind of ailment/ deficiency and I was wondering if anyone has a clue what's going on. Symptoms include dieback and discoloration on the leaves plus some tip browning, and some of the newer leaves are the wrong shape. The worst affected is my rollinia which is a couple of months old; it was growing like a weed prior to this. Problems started right after a mealy bug infestation that it really reacted badly to.

It's in well-draining soil on a very mild fruit-tree fertilizer; in the pic it is under grow lights but I usually have it in filtered sun, waiting for the weather to warm back up. The discoloration reminds me of some issues my wax jambu were having that someone said was manganese deficiency but there's so much going on with the thing that I wanted to check in and see what people here thought. Might be a goner but it would be nice if I could save it.

[tru]

spidermites! I think you can see a bunch of them in the last picture in the veins (I think?)

I have a white sapote that I battled with spider mites for like a month and half, the only thing that worked for me was repeated-repeated-repeated-repeated washing. When they are heavy infested they'll make the classic webbing and lay their eggs in the web, but when they aren't established they live mainly on the veins of your plant and will lay eggs inside of the leaf tissue itself.

This is why spraying will not remove them all. The eggs are embedded in the tissue, you MUST wash repeatedly before they mature and are able to reproduce again. The other option that probably works best, but costs a little more, is buying predator mites and letting them go crazy.

[CeeJey]

spidermites! I think you can see a bunch of them in the last picture in the veins (I think?)

Crap, I think you're right. I must need glasses! Thanks Tru.

EDIT: Guess I'll get back to the washing, I think I know how they got in. I had a bad infestation on a mahoe and a couple of small pluerries recently.

This is why spraying will not remove them all. The eggs are embedded in the tissue, you MUST wash repeatedly before they mature and are able to reproduce again. The other option that probably works best, but costs a little more, is buying predator mites and letting them go crazy.

My fiance is not going to be thrilled about the prospect of releasing predatory mites in the grow room, but I'm intrigued.

[tru]

spidermites! I think you can see a bunch of them in the last picture in the veins (I think?)

Crap, I think you're right. I must need glasses! Thanks Tru.

ofcourse! Under optimal conditions I think the eggs can hatch in only 5 days, max 2 weeks.

One word of advice that I learned the very hard way. Imidacloprid will fight everything EXCEPT spider mites... It makes their population boom. http://extension.msstate.edu/newsletters/bug%E2%80%99s-eye-view/2021/twospotted-spider-mites-vol-7-no-12#:~:text=Imidacloprid%20is%20one%20example%20of,helps%20avoid%20spider%20mite%20outbreaks.

Took care of the gnats though lmfao

[tru]

https://www.naturesgoodguys.com/products/500-live-adult-predatory-mites-a-mix-of-predatory-mite-species-for-spider-mite-control its like magic in a bottle. They say to release 1 predatory mite for every 5 spider mites you can see on a plant, but they also have hanging egg incubation things where the predatory mites will hatch and find prey on their own. They're much bigger than normal mites and move a lot faster -- but I promise they are friendly

[CeeJey]

https://www.naturesgoodguys.com/products/500-live-adult-predatory-mites-a-mix-of-predatory-mite-species-for-spider-mite-control its like magic in a bottle. They say to release 1 predatory mite for every 5 spider mites you can see on a plant, but they also have hanging egg incubation things where the predatory mites will hatch and find prey on their own. They're much bigger than normal mites and move a lot faster -- but I promise they are friendly

Awesome, I have some on the way. Thanks again!

[Vegan Potato Man]

The other option that probably works best, but costs a little more, is buying predator mites and letting them go crazy.

Beauveria Bassiana works to control spider mites and many other pest insects. People even use it (off label) for controlling bed bugs.

It is somewhat pricey too but probably better than predatory mites.

Sold as botanigard

Anyway second pic looks like there might be some sort of pH issue.

[Ognin525]

That Beauveria Bassiana is crazy stuff! I use good ol lady bugs. After trying preditory mites in my indoor grow room i always found myself looking for them on me so im not dragging them around the house, just to me mites indoors are too much lol. Lady bugs have helped me for 3 years now they wont infest your soil either.