Tidewater Gardening
ter spray from the garden hose. This will wash the mites off the plant. Be sure to direct the spray to the undersides of the leaves or needles where the mites are located. Avoid the use of Sevin insecticide when you can, as this will kill off the beneficial insects that feed on mites and make the problem worse. Other sucking insects show up in July, including aphids, spittlebugs, scales, whitef ly, leafhoppers and mealybugs. A telltale sign of aphids is the presence of honeydew secretions all over everything, especially the car parked in the driveway. In the garden, you can scout for aphids by turning over leaves and looking for them. Aphids come in all sorts of colors but do the same type of damage ~ sucking plant juices from the leaves and stems.
is crawling around on the paper. Sometimes you will also see larger, predatory mites (who eat other mites) on the paper. Don’t be too anxious to spray the plants. Applying insecticide can make the problem worse.
The most natural control for spider mites is a robust and direct wa-
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A safe spray control is to use either soap sprays or summer oils. These materials do not harm the beneficial insects like lady beetles and lacewings that feed on aphids. In fact, if you notice a couple of lady beetles located on the plants where aphids are feeding, don’t spray. They will clean up an aphid population in no time.
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