A tale of 2 mango trees- 1 with spiders, one without

[Juno]

Hi all, I am a little bit new to mango rearing. This is my third season with a couple of young trees. I have a CAC and a Julie mango. They are both about 7 feet high and are setting good fruit this year. I decided to go out the other day and begin applying the micro nutrient spray to the leaves. The Julie is doing great. She looks nice and healthy. The CAC on the other hand is covered in tiny spiders and a lot of webs. They are only about 20 feet apart, and the CAC is planted the furthest away from all of my other tropicals like bananas and citrus, so it’s very strange to me that the spiders would choose this one. There is also some browning of the bottom leaves and some of the stems. I’ll attach a few pictures. The third pic shows the little webs I am seeing. I have removed many of them by hand but they set back up overnight, as you know. A few spiders wouldn’t bother me and I’d even welcome them, but I know their presence in numbers signals a deeper problem. They have only appeared in the last 10 days or so. If anyone can help me decipher what is going on, I would really appreciate it! TIA!

[FloridaManDan]

My garden is not dealing with many pests at the moment, but I still have plenty of small spiders, even in my small apartment yard. You probably have an abundance of gnats, small flies, and/or mosquitos. The spiders that small generally won't affect any larger insects or pollinators, I've seen houseflies rip right through them. I think you may be overfocused on the spiders, they probably just found the best set-up to catch prey.

Aside from that, browning on mangos as pictured can be indicative of nutrient deficiency, salt burn, too much sun exposure, pests, etc. The leaves look healthy but the blooms are dying, which can indicate nutrient deficiency or fungal/bacterial infection, unless Boca has just been experiencing crazy weather recently.

You can consider treating with fungicide and maybe amending soil if browning persists. You can also check the quality of your water source, as salt build-up can certainly take its toll after a few years if not addressed. If you inspect leaves and see a ton of pests, especially scale or aphids, my suggestion would be to get like 3k ladybugs and let them loose at night. I always have better results than with sprays.

Im sure people will have more to add, but thats where I would start. Good luck

[Greater Good]

Spiders hate sulfur spray 🕸🕷

[fruitnut1944]

The spiders may be spider mites. It's hard to tell from the picture. If they are two spotted spider mites a good hand lens can allow you to see the two spots for an ID. They can be controlled with horticultural oil. But don't apply within 3 weeks of a sulfur application. Usually they aren't an issue outdoors. A high pressure water spray can help with control.

[Juno]

After looking at some of your possible suggestions, I agree it is probably spider mites. Do you think that ladybugs are the way to go? If so, where do you guys order from? I think this tree was probably stressed out for a while now. There were a few leaves affected last year, and now that it is fruiting season, it is showing up again. Thanks so much for the help. You guys are the best!

[FloridaManDan]

I didn't think it was spider mites from that one picture, the webbing doesn't appear all wispy. They're definitely distinguishable from harmless garden spiders and can be recognized easily, so do some picture comparison before you start spraying.

I dont deal with mites often, but I use an insecticidal soap (works better than oils for mites imo) and defoliate a majority of the affected/sick foliage. Ladybugs won't eat them. If the plant isn't too shocked, which it normally isn't, I add some light fertilizer to promote quick, new foliage growth.

If it doesn't end up being spider mites, I would definitely consider applying some general fungicides. A lot of varieties are prone to fungal infections like anthracnose and can be susceptible when blooming if conditions are poor. At least in our area, this 'dry season' for south FL has been super rainy and humid.

[Honest Abe]

Juno
I recently asked mango -master Alex Salazar a similar question(blooms looked the same brown and dying or dead…) he said it was a combination of thrips and powdery mildew.

Not sure If that’s the same thing but I’ve seen that a lot this year in a few cultivars that I grow in Miami and that my buddy grows in Deerfield.

Diseases are getting more widespread here from what I’ve seen.

My Pickering, M4 and sugarloaf are clean, SO FAR. But everything else is infected with something.