Spider mite

Trouble shoot problems you are having with your cactus.
charlpic
Posts: 378
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 1:09 am
Location: Quebec, Canada - Zone 4a

Post by charlpic »

Bumping this back... did alcohol treatment worked out ? or soap ? How about dilution ?
Shmuel
Posts: 627
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Post by Shmuel »

Hi Charlpic,

Yes, the 95% ethyl alcohol sprays seems to have done the trick. I am terrified of a reinfestation, but for now it seems just fine.

See if you can tell the old infested portion from the new growth in this Weingartia:
Image

I did not use soap. I wanted to try an alcohol / Fantastic mix, but could not find a small size of that kind of cleaner. Also, I am not really sure of what other kinds of soap to use. I don't have a specifically insecticidal soap.

That's my update!

All the best,

Shmuel
Amazing plants, amazing form, amazing flowers...
Amazing cacti!
charlpic
Posts: 378
Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 1:09 am
Location: Quebec, Canada - Zone 4a

Post by charlpic »

Nice ! 95% that's quite hard. I have a 70% here and I wanted to know if I should dilute it.

I now find them on a lot of plants since I recongnized them on the first. I mean, this is bad. Found them in the indoor GH, on my cacti rack, i'm demoralized. Those tiny orange moving dots will drive me crazy.
iann
Posts: 17184
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:10 pm
Location: England

Post by iann »

Easy to kill a mite. Hard to kill them all!

Strangely enough, you don't have to dilute the rubbing alcohol. As with all dessicating sprays it can damage the plant. You can also freeze them with alcohol sprays that evaporate too fast, including some aerosols. Avoid spraying in hot sun. A nice warm day when the plants will dry quickly, but not too quickly, is good.
--ian
Shmuel
Posts: 627
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Post by Shmuel »

Thank for the warning Ian. By the way, the advantage of the ethyl is that one can mix it with orange juice... helps for coping with the frustration of a mite attack. :occasion7:

Do NOT try that with methyl or any other alcohol... [-X :pale:

I would like to note that one of my teenagers got ahold of the alcohol squeeze bottle and "watered" the plants with it. These are dry, more or less dromqant plants. Includes Titanopsis, Fenestraria, Lithops. I was terrified of total destruction of roots, etc , but seem to have no ill affect from the alcohol. It stayed in the soil quite a while due to cold weather.

Also, I was horrified to find cottony cusion scale on a shrubby mesemb in a pot(don't know which - has orangish flowers in spring). I pruned off the scaled areas, down to a stub with a few leaves, took some cuttings from what seemed to be cleanish areas, and heavily sprayed the cuttings and plant with alcohol. That was 10 days ago and seem to have no bad effects.

The saga goes on...

Shmuel
Amazing plants, amazing form, amazing flowers...
Amazing cacti!
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