Indoor Spider Mite Infestation
Shannon7
Posts: 2
Hello! We have a large collection of citrus and tropical plants in our home that we've grown from seed. A couple got really bad spider mite infestations and we recently had to bring more inside from our greenhouse for the winter as it gets too cold overnight now (we actually live in Washington in the US but love Gardener's World!). Now everything is infested! We have tried dousing with water multiple times a day, homemade soap sprays, oil sprays, and some chemicals but as they are indoor plants we have to be careful with what we use in our home. Some products also have conflicting information on hazards/use indoors so we are getting desperate! As we've raised them from seed we are heartbroken that they are suffering so badly and are worried we cant get rid of the mites. Any suggestions would be wonderful!
(Our Pacific Northwest weather is very similar to the UK so I was hoping to find some help here)
Thank you!
Posts
I've had great success on removing indoor spider mite infestations on edible crops (peppers and chillies in my case) by using a combination of SB plant invigorator and predatory mites. The SB is non-toxic and works by sort of glueing the mites in place until they die. You use this first to reduce the numbers, after which you introduce the predators (Phytoseiulus.) Google 'SB plant invigorator' and 'spider mite predators' to find suppliers in your country.
Thank you for the tips BobTheGardener! We shall give it a try!