Spider Mites on Arborvitae

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gordon
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Spider Mites on Arborvitae

Post by gordon » June 4th, 2021, 11:01 pm

We have a row of 32 Arborvitae that I planted three years ago as 5-6 foot plants. They are now between seven and nine feet.

This week I noticed two were a bit bronzey green looking and I started to do some reading. That was when I learned about Spider Mites.

I have read thru some old threads and wanted to see if there is any updated guidance since these threads Morhpeus posted back in 2012..thanks in advance....

Gordon

: Spider Mites - miticide?
Post February 16th, 2012, 8:09 pm

Soap also kills spider mites--a spray of 1 tsp of any (not anti-bacterial) soap in a gallon of water sprayed on the trees will kill any mites that live there. It's not going to kill the eggs, however, so they'll come back, but if you keep it up you can keep the population very low.

A few drops of orange oil or pine oil simply make the kill more certain, but soap should take them out all by itself.

This also works with aphids and thrips

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Spider Mites on Arborvitae

Post by MorpheusPA » June 5th, 2021, 12:13 am

Spider mites on Thuja would be most unusual, but hey. Practically anything takes them out, so you can use a basic insecticide if you want, or the above formula that I referenced (wow) almost ten years ago.

Keep an eye out, they do repopulate easily. Those thunderstorms we had today likely knocked the population way down, though. Wet weather reduces numbers by quite a lot, as will having pretty much any predator insect find the colony.

gordon
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Re: Spider Mites on Arborvitae

Post by gordon » June 5th, 2021, 12:56 am

Hey Morpheus..I was hoping you would see my post. This afternoon I bought two bottles of BioAdvanced Insect, Disease and Mite Control and had enough to spray about half of them.

I will try your approach as well..wondering if I can use the hose end sprayer for the dishsoap, or if it will be too thick...Also thinking of ordering some ladybugs...

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Spider Mites on Arborvitae

Post by MorpheusPA » June 5th, 2021, 5:22 pm

The hose-end would be just fine, there's really no problems with it. Usual app for soap is 2 oz per thousand square feet maximum and it won't cause an issue on Thuja or related Cypress. Not with that waxy coat.

You can try to order ladybugs, but they're shipped in hibernation. Their typical reaction is to come out of hibernation and immediately scatter to find homes. Most don't stay at their hibernation location, so...yeah.

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