Spider mites have never been a huge problem for me. I usually spray them with a little water and move on. Never again will I ignore these nearly invisible, but highly destructive pests.
I think the problem first began in the greenhouse back in March. I noticed a serious spider mite infestation only after the problem was well-advanced. The weather was warming up quickly and the greenhouse was hot and dry, which created perfect conditions for the spider mites to breed.
As I moved the plants out of the greenhouse, I forcefully sprayed the infected plants with water and relocated them to an isolated spot. The regular water sprays seemed to help, so I kept up the sprays and even bought a special misting device called a Bug Blaster. I honestly thought that would be the end of it.
When the spider mites made their appearance on my green beans, I wasn't terribly concerned. I had several excellent green bean harvests and the plants were pretty well played out. I stopped watering the beans and let the plants die thinking that would put an end to those rascally mites.
The mite infestation on the tomato plants took me completely by surprise. I've never had spider mites attack my tomato plants, so I wasn't looking for the signs. That was a mistake. When I finally noticed the speckled, washed out and dusted appearance of the leaves, the mites had already grown to fantastic numbers.
I knew my plants were in trouble when I noticed visible webbing. This was a serious infestation. I was completely amazed and just a little creeped out looking at these pests through my garden magnifying glass. I wasn't sure what to do next. I had 12 tomato plants and they were all covered in mites.
I spent the week trying to decide what to do. I considered spraying various products such a insecticidal soap, neem oil, or pyrethrum, but the amount of foliage made this seem an impossible task. Spider mites live under the leaves. If I sprayed anything on the plants, I would need to get under every leaf surface. With this much foliage, anything short of a power washer was just not going to be effective.
What I really needed was a flame thrower! Did I mention spider mites induce insanity? Not to worry, after some careful consideration, I came to my senses. In reality, I'd probably end up hurting myself or burning down something important, so I knew a flame thrower wasn't a good idea. Besides, I'm partial to my eyebrows.
So, what did I do? Well, I was definitely on to something with the fire idea, but I needed to approach the problem safely. I painstakingly cut the plants into small pieces being as careful as I could not to disturb the mites. I loaded them into the wheelbarrow and dumped them into a small backyard bonfire.
Bye bye mites. I'll be watching for you.
