Today we will talk about how to get rid of spider mites during flowering? These plant mites are very demanding plant pests and mostly occur on plants during their flowering period.
There is something very attractive about flowers, the smell of flowers, nectar, and spring greens that spider mites cannot resist.
Your plant does not have to show any “sick” signs for these pests to take up residence. They just appear one day and the very next day spider web forms on your plant.
Most spider mites are very small, even the adult species, so you should not blame yourself if you do not spot them right away. And when you do spot them, react immediately.
Today we will talk about how to get rid of them, so, let’s read more.
What Are Spider Mites? And How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
The spider mite is one of the most severe forms of plant pests. It is definitely a pest you never want to see on your plant as it is very aggressive and spreads quickly.
In one moment you will see two spider mites, in another, you will already see a colony of them if you do not react immediately. The spider mite population is spreading super fast!
Although they look dangerous, these pests are tiny, with a diameter of about 0.39 inches. You will recognize them by their spider web, which is very visible.
It has a white-silver appearance and as soon as it forms on your plant, in two days you will see a network and know that it is just the beginning. Infected plants need help from these predatory mites as soon as possible.
Spider Mite Control-Spider Mite Infestation
Predatory mites feed with insects on your indoor plants. Spider mites attack many plants, even the ones you would expect the least.
Spider mite attack cannabis plants, fruit plants, and many other home plants during their flowering stage especially.
Adult spider mites spread faster, especially on marijuana plants. There is something about its smell they really enjoy. To stop your plants from becoming destroyed plants, a single product is capable to kill spider mites.
How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering? 9 Ways To Prevent Spider Mites
Spider mites naturally won’t go away on their own. That is simply not a thing with insects, plant diseases, or plants pests. You’ll have to work hard or less, depends on when you react to get rid of them.
These predatory insects will lay eggs all around your plant, then you’ll notice spider mites thrive all over your plant, spider mites bites on your leaves, and much more.
Let’s learn how to control spider mites and get rid of them once and for all!
1. Essential Oils To The Rescue Of Spider Mites
There are 4 types of essential oils that will do miracles with spider mites issues. Those essential oils are coriander, rosemary, chamomile, and spearmint.
Once you use these oils on your plant, you’ll notice the difference and fewer number of these horrible pests in a few hours if you put more of it. If you put less, it might take them a day to die.
Most people add only a few drops, but if you want it really badly to work, I would add more than a few drops on my plant.
Essential oils aren’t bad for your plant so you don’t have to worry about that plus damage. Spider mites simply find essential oils irritating so they’ll be “on their way” once you use them on your home plant.
2. Neem Oil Saves The Day With Spider Mite Colonies
One thing you need to remember about neem oil is that it can also damage your plant. Sometimes, to be honest, it can do more harm than good. That is why you have to use neem oil really carefully and dose it perfectly for its good effect.
Neem oil is a great pest repellent because of its specific smell that comes from the fruit nectar. This oil is also called margosa oil.
Neem oil won’t only kill spider mites, it can cure many other issues on your plants such as powdery mildew, mealybugs, black mold, fungus gnats, and many others. It’s toxic, but its toxicity is very low so it won’t harm your paw friends or you.
If you want to learn more about gnats and how to get rid of gnats in plants naturally, read our other articles on this topic.
3. Insectidicial Soap And Warm Water Will Take Care Of Predator Insects
Insecticidal soaps are great pests destroyers. They are made of potassium salts and acids, but those acids are not as strong as it sounds and they won’t kill your plant more.
You can put it directly on your plant or you can mix it with a bit of water and use a spray bottle.
That way, you might cover a bigger surface. Spray bottle insecticidal soap will cover its stems, soil, and leaves and you won’t have to think about it anymore!
But guess what, this isn’t the end of it. You can make your own insecticidal soap at home (if you have the needed ingredients of course).
To make a homemade insecticidal soap mixture use these ingredients:
- two spoons of vegetable oil;
- two spoons of pure liquid wash soap;
- 1 gallon of water (it’s better to use distilled water than tap water).
Getting rid of spider mites was never easier right?
4. Vacuum Cleaner Will Kill Mites Too – How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
I bet you didn’t expect this, but if you see spider mites on your plant’s leaves, why shouldn’t you vacuum to clean them?
This can’t or shouldn’t be an option with the soil. YOu don’t want a full filter of your vacuum cleaner of peat moss or sad right?
This is used on leaves only and it’s an easy option. Of course, it’s not durable. Two-spotted spider mites might be gone, but it doesn’t guarantee that the spider mites won’t come back.
If you use oils or soap, they won’t come back for sure. One note as well: your vacuum tube shouldn’t have big pressure. Use low powered vacuum tube.
5. Get Rid Of These Annoying Pests With Alcohol Solution Wash
Once you find predator bugs on your plant, especially those bigger adult females, you’ll do anything to get rid of them.
Sometimes, you won’t think much about it before you use it, and you might use some harmful chemicals. Spider mite bites its leaves and your first reaction will be, to get rid of them as soon as possible.
Luckily for you, alcohol solution wash isn’t so harmful if you “dose its dose” well. Silk webs will disappear even with a little percentage of alcohol solution. You can always put it in a garden sprayer and apply it to a plant like that.
That is the quickest and easiest way to apply alcohol. Since it’s stronger, if you’re not using any gloves, it’s definitely much better for your hands to use it from a bottle.
This is surely another amazing way to save your flowering plants from these harmful insects. Alcohol solution wash kills spider mites quickly!
6. How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering – Horticultural Oils Will Control Pests
If you are an environmentally conscious person, this solution to kill pesky insects on the plant will be your favorite.
This oil is an environmentally friendly oil. It is actually a kind of mineral oil that will help your plant fight insects and spider mites as soon as possible.
At first, it was used only on fruits and vegetables because of its “healthier application” and composition, and later it was adopted by houseplant lovers. Of all the pesticide-killing oils you can buy, this is still the safest in your home if you have babies or pets.
Believe it or not, this oil even though it has a chemical-free plant base, has the power to kill the ability of insects to lay their eggs after use/application.
After that, it will starve your insects by destroying their ability to feed. It sounds harsh, but you have a choice, the spider mites kill your plant, or you kill them.
7. Diatomaceous Earth Solves These Harmful Pests Problem
Diatomaceous soil is also good for controlling flies, ants, aphids, and other plant pests in addition to spider mites. This earth, i.e. white powder, is a powder created from silicate sedimentary rock.
Unlike other types of soil, this soil has a greater absorption power for your plants. This soil will eliminate all pests on your plant very quickly. Their action is very simple.
This powder will cover the body of the insect and will damage its surface layer and even the protective one. After a while, the insects will become dehydrated, unable to feed, and eventually die. One zero for you again.
8. Regular Spray Bottle Water To Get Rid Of Tiny Bugs
Sometimes, all you need is regular tap water and a soft sponge. The spider mite problem can be solved with only water, but that really should be early intervention. Once the eggs hatch, water won’t help. If you see two or three, it means the real spider miter infestation didn’t begin and you can rest.
In that case, tap your leaves with a bit of warm water that your soft sponge soaked in. Since they attack the soil as well, you’ll have to find a different solution for the plant’s soil then. You can also search what female spider mite looks like, if you spot them, eggs are definitely around.
These natural predators are usually planning to stay until they fully destroy your plant. Infected plant.
Your plant can completely die in a month. Females can produce about 80 new aphids really soon, have that in mind. Spider mite damage is seeable for a while even when they’re gone.
9. Preventing Spider Mites With Harsh Chemicals
Once you find spider mites you want to stop spider mites once and for all. However, think about products, before you use any.
Harsh chemical pesticides will kill any pests, but along with pests, they’ll kill your plant as well if you overdo it.
When it comes to harsh chemicals, you can try and use:
- Endrin
- Atrazine
- DDT, DDE
- Aldrin
Chlordane and many more. Always mix them with a bit of water and read their manual before you use them.
Contra Effect For Your Plants In Killing Spider Mites Process – How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
We all want to get rid of pests as soon as we notice them, but if we are not sure about something, we should not react immediately.
My advice is to seek professional help, to ask the nearest florist or a friend who has had similar problems with plants about this problem. People from experience often speak best, especially those who are professionals in that business.
If you are amateurs with plants and have never had a problem before, sometimes you can simply create a counter effect. Your plant can be worse if you use too many chemicals or some other product that you are not sure about.
Let’s find out more about it.
Chemical Pesticides Will Harm Your Plants And Your Health Too
Chemical pesticides will 100% kill pests, but they will do harm to your plant much bigger than the pests or some disease would. According to the WHO, they’re not so good for your health either.
If you’re spending time in a room in which you used chemical pesticides on your plant, it can damage your respiratory organs, it can be toxic for you and your pets especially.
In case your pets come near and inhale it as they sniff around, that can be very harmful to them. An emergency visit to your veteran is definitely guaranteed.
Sometimes, you won’t notice the harm right away, it can be months after you used them in your home. These chemicals are linked to cancer, ADHD, and even birth defects! Be careful!
Carbon Dioxide Gas Is Tricky As Well – How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
This is a simple way to kill mites in the killing mites process since oxygen deprivation kills the pests. You just have to apply it (open it) in that area and wait. However, if one of your family members has asthma, for example, you shouldn’t use it then.
It can be harmful in such conditions. Even if you have pets or babies, it is still not so recommendable for your home. It will kill spider mites in a week or two tops but the air you breathe won’t be so pure anymore.
Avoid Glyphosate In A Big Circle – How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
This is another name for a dangerous pesticide. It’s been in the use in the USA since 1974. and many people have been avoiding it for a while now. It’s a strong chemical pesticide that you shouldn’t use in your home area.
If you’re planning to kill some pests on your outdoor plants, go for it, but for indoor plants, rather not. Some people will give you a firm no for this pesticide since it can cause some toxic traits for you and your pests. They can be teratogenic and tumorigenic.
FAQ – How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
As always, this section will wrap this topic up and you’ll know for 100% everything about spider mites, their habitat, causes of spider mites, first signs, and much more.
Let’s answer all the unanswered questions that we left for the end about spider mites and insects.
How Do Spider Mites Look Like?
To see them clearly, you’ll have to use a magnifying glass. With naked eyes, they look like brown dots on your plant.
Female mites are bigger than the male insects, so if you see some bigger ones and some smaller ones, note this. They are usually brown-red but they come in many color varieties.
How Does A Plant Gets Spider Mites? How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering?
You would never guess this I’m sure. Over-fertilizing your flowers, and most people do it in their flowering phase can magically attract spider mites to your plant.
With too much fertilizer that contains nitrogen, your plant will be prone to spider mites and definitely to other pests as well. Underwatered plants can get spider mites quickly too.
What Are The First Signs Of Spider Mites?
When spider mites appear on your plant, you will need to spot them right away it is hard not to notice the silver dots on the leaves of your plant.
If you look closely, you will also see shimmering silver nets that look transparent at first but are white in color up close.
Of course, you will probably spot the creators of these dots and networks, which are usually brownish-red in color.
What Scents Spider Mites Hate? How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering?
Spider mites hate the scents of parsley, chrysanthemums, dill, garlic, leeks, lemongrass, and rosemary. If you use those scents in the area you notice them in it might repeal them for a while, but they won’t be gone forever.
Can Spider Mites Crawl On A Human Being?
They won’t hatch their eggs on you, that’s for sure, but spider mites might occasionally bite human beings if you’re close to the plant they’re on and not paying much attention.
Other researches show that they’re actually “afraid” of human presence and that they won’t come anywhere near. However, if you spot them near, I wouldn’t sit close to the plant until I use some products on it.
Where Spider Mites Live When They Attack The Plant? How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering?
Once that spider mite attacks your plant, he’ll infest the soil first, and later on, they’ll love your plant’s leaves.
If you choose to use pesticides on your plant’s soil at that point, that can be a huge mistake. They attack the soil as we said above because it becomes too dry and that’s a perfect habitat for them.
What Plants Are Most Prone To Spider Mites?
Spider mites attack most eggplants, cucumbers, strawberries, melons, peas, and many indoor plants during their flowering time due to the common mistake of over-fertilizing.
If you don’t water your plant regularly, if you fertilize it too much, no matter what plant we’re talking about, spider mites along with other pests will appear.
How Does A Spider Mites Damage Look Like?
Once the spider mites damage your plant you’ll see yellow, brown, and even a bit black spots on your plant. Some plants even stop growing after they’ve been attacked by spider mites.
Once you notice the yellow color on your leaves, that’s the last stage before they drop off. Unfortunately, once you spot yellow leaves, you won’t save your plant anymore.
If you want to learn more about black spots take a look at our article about Tiny black spots on underside of leaves.
Can Plants Recover From Spider Mite Infestation?
If you react immediately you can save your plant from spider mite infestation. Plant’s leaves won’t drop off and your plant has a chance to recover. If you stonewall it for some time, the longer you wait, the bigger damage is.
The End – How To Get Rid Of Spider Mites During Flowering
Here we are at the end of another article. Today we learned how to get rid of spider mites during flowering. We have learned that sometimes what seems like a good thing to solve a problem can also create a contra effect, such as chemical pesticides, neem oil, etc.
I sincerely hope that you have acquired the necessary knowledge to fight these pests, which sometimes takes longer than we imagine.
Now, after reading the FAQ section, you will be able to recognize these annoying pests and you will be able to get rid of them in time and thus save your plant. Getting rid of pests is not an easy task, but after reading this article it is certainly easier.
That would be it for today my dears, see you soon!