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[hereje]

Ok i have a beaker that contains a number of trich seedlings all roughly the size of a jelly bean and well today i come home from work and start reading them a bed time story and noticed a small white dot crawling... as a rule of thumb i generaly say white dots dont move but it spit at me so i cant deny it

Upon farther inspection and a bit of research im 100% sure these are spider mites

in the past mites on adult plants are controlled my a 50/50 mix of miteicide and sevin insecticide with a table spoon of dish soap drenched across half my property making a toxic waste hazard that even OSHA would be proud of

My problem comes into play that these are baby cacti and indoors and whats more is that these plants come from a very generous sts member so i would like to keep them alive and soaking them in harsh chemicals may cause a fatal reaction im afraid not to mention that ive never delt with spider mites and from what i read they are immune to most miteicides and sevin brand insecticide anyways

I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to kill these things effecivly -  have no problems with harsh or toxic chemicals so long as they work and dont damage the plants

I tried my best to get a picture but the camera on my phone does not focus that close

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[New Wisdom]

They are in a beaker with no drainage?

[hereje]

Yes its setup as a terrarium and dosent need dranage because its a measured ammount of water and fungacide so i didnt want any moisture to get in or out - just creates its own little enviroment and worked out quite well if it wasnt for the alge and spidermites - they have lived in that beaker since around halloween and are roughly 3/4" tall but now that i got the mites i gotta open it and kill the bugs so i may end up potting them in the process although im new to cacti seedlings so im not really sure what route im gonna take if they even live through a mite treatment at all

[Khaedin]

My brugmansia has been under constant attack by mites, I released about 100 ladybugs a week ago, the mites are nearly gone now. Spider mites love heat and dryness. Being that your plants are in a closed beaker, I'm not entirely sure what to tell you other than pot them up and try ladybugs or a miticide. I believe mine are the two-spotted mites, they're more of a brown than white. I'm not an expert though, this is my first season having them.

[hereje]

Where did you buy the ladybugs and how much did 100 cost you?

[Sunshine]

I know that question was directed towards Khaedin but...

Over the summer I saw packaged of ladybugs for sale at a local gardening supplies store called hewitts. They weren't that expensive iirc. I think it was around 10$ for a small box.

[hereje]

Very cool tyvm

[Khaedin]

Hirts Gardens sells them on eBay. I bought 1550 for about $14. The next lowest is 750 but its only $2 cheaper. It would be silly to not get the 1550 even if you don't need them. They come in a mesh bag, you can keep the rest in your fridge for several months and pull them back out whenever. They hibernate in the fridge.

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[hereje]

Oooh i never would think of them hibernating tyvm for the info

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[Khaedin]

No problem at all. Just glad to help. I've been letting about a hundred or so out every few days to compensate for those that fly/run away/die. The spidermites are nearly gone, the only thing they don't seem to eat are the eggs. I've been wiping them off as I see them.

Edit: Or they could just be laying eggs faster than the ladybugs can eat them. I'm not entirely sure, but nonetheless the spidermite population is incredibly small now.

[Frog Pajamas]

^ you must have the luckiest room in the world 

[hereje]

Went to a couple "indoor farming" shops today looking for live ladybugs but they did not have
any because i guess they are out of season here

But he said that he uses this stuff on his cacti for just about anything that come up and that i
should dilute it 50:50 with water for seedlings and just use a couple sprays

The deed has been done ill post the damage when i see what it does

[hereje]

That stuff works good - sprayed it last night and there is nothing moving today it
wiped everything out in one night with no noticable damage to the babies

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