I got this idea from an older post where a gal just turned her indoor plant pot upside-down in a bucket for several hours.
It WORKED. My lovely sunflowers, borage, lavender, thyme, and basil have been thriving. My cucumbers succumbered to the little beasts before I figured this out and can’t help but wonder if this would have worked on them…
All I did was take a “triple volume” squirt bottle (basically a squirt bottle that produces a squirt with velocity, fill it with water, enough isopropyl alcohol to still gag when full, and a squeeze of dawn dish soap. I then would remove the plant (yes a hydroponic, but if you can invert a potted plant safely, this can still work), spray outside all of the leaves and stalks violently, then place inverted in a bucket full of water for an hour. I then remove, drip dry, do NOT remove any soap or excess water and let dry. This is in a full sun and light setup, so they tend to dry quickly anyway for me.
This has removed my mite infestations. I did this every 3 days for 2 weeks and they have yet to re-infest.
Just thought I’d share to those of you who find spider mites/webbing/infestations that you think are world-ending—you can beat them!
by someroughcowgirl
4 Comments
Yes this is the way! So much more effective and thorough than individually wiping leaves, though I still do that from time to time. I avoid putting the plant in full sun until the leaves are dry to prevent sunburn but that depends on your climate.
For plants in soil, you can Saran Wrap the pot (wrapping around the stem tightly) to keep the soil in place. Then you can safely invert without a mess, and everything else should work the same.
https://preview.redd.it/6c0ff4othssd1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87a63f82e565525ef743c41c2852780699178374
The spray bottle used to rocket spider mites off the plants
Anyone got a swimming pool I can borrow for my 5 foot tall majesty palm?
Works for thrips too. I’ve been doing this for a while now. You do lose a bit of foliage here and there but the plants will bounce back