jkd2572
Masterpiece
A malathion bomb......
Ants on my Juniper. Should I be concerned?
- Thread starter sikadelic
- Start date
bonsaiBlake
Chumono
as a bit of a anti-chem person when it comes to my plants, i just drown my plant for an hour. Completely submerge for an hour in a five gal bucket of water. Drowns pratically all pests. Best done early in the morning to allow the soil and tree to drain and dry properly without burning foliage, and its chem free 
edprocoat
Masterpiece
Most of my plants won't fit in a 5 gallon bucket and they are being beseiged by mites and aphids, worse I have ever seen them. I wonder if anyone knows what would be a good chemical, or preferably a systemic type that would work on both pests? I need it for my juni's (mites) and both my apples and my quince (aphids) .
ed
ed
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bonsaiBlake
Chumono
If they dont fit in buckets i use either my kitty pool or a 55gal trash bag. last resort bonide, only after i try the water/alcohol(3/1) in a spray bottle, twice a day morning and night for 2 or 3 days.
you are quite a bit more experienced than i, but so far these methods have woroked for me. im sure others have more effective means. hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will chime in.
you are quite a bit more experienced than i, but so far these methods have woroked for me. im sure others have more effective means. hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will chime in.
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Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
edprocoat
Masterpiece
I usually use the commercial Insecticidal soap once a week for the aphids, and a good heavy water spray of the foliage for the mites with great success. This year the aphids are back the next day, and the leaves on the tips of my apples seem to have shriveled a little, don't know if its from the Insecticidal soap which I have been applying every other day. It does not seem to have negativey affected my Chinese Quince though. It seems to kill them instantly, and new ones appear the next day among the dead aphids which are still on the leaves having turned from green to brown.
The mites are literally draining my large Juni's, the once green new tips are starting to turn yellow on as much as 60% of them. I am worried about getting some serious problems with them as I can't seem to keep up with the pests.
ed
edprocoat
Masterpiece
Brian, is there a certain type of Malathion you use? I see Bonide products in Home Depot, Lowes and Wal-mart but they are all different types. Some are over winter products, very few mention mites as a pest they control on the label. Several say "do not use on trees that show signs of stress, curled or wilted leaves" . I found one Bonide product that mentioned it worked on mites and aphids and worked on apples and juni's and stopped rust and was a fungicide on the Bonide site but I can not locate it anywhere.
ed
Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
Eight also made by Bonide works on aphids and says it works on spider mites (I havent had a problem with them yet so never used it for them). Ive used it on aphids and it took care of them with one application.
The active ingredient is Permithrin
The active ingredient is Permithrin
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Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
I use Bayer 3 in 1 Insect, Disease, and Mite Control, availiable at Lowes or Home Depot. It works on just about anything. I also use Avid and Forbid if the mites get out of hand. I have used oils, soaps, and blasts of water, all eventually failed. You put a lot of time, and sometimes money, into a tree, I hate to see it wither away from something that can be cured by the use of chemicals. If used responsibly, they are OK for the plants and the environment.
John
John
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
Currently, Spectracide. I don't know if there's any difference between brands, but I wonder if the effectiveness fades over time.
sikadelic
Chumono
This is what I bought last night. I mixed it up at the strength for scale (2Tbsp/Gal) since I saw some scale on there too. I know it probably wont do anything as they are super resistent to sprays, but I thought I would give it a try. I gave the two trees a healthy dose and will hope for the best.
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GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
I found it effective on scale as well but fruit trees did not like it at all. I use it on everything except the fruit trees(Malathion). On those I use Copper Fungicide for scale and nothing else.
Grimmy
iant
Chumono
I feel for you. Mites are really hard to keep up with where I am too. They're all over the landscape stuff in my yard as well as my neighbors yards on all sides. They're everywhere! I spray my plants once a week now but I have no hope of eradicating the whole problem. There's no way. There are areas of my patio that are a few feet from the nearest plant that have a dozen spider mites (the red ones) crawling around per square foot. (there's a lot of stone areas of the patio and they love the warmth of the stone in the middle of the day.) I might consider buying the predators next spring...
Ian
coh
Imperial Masterpiece
If they're the larger (large enough to see the legs without magnification), red, fast moving mites...I'm not sure if those are damaging to plants. They might even be predatory mites. I've read conflicting things about them...anyone know for sure? There are so many different kinds of mites...
Again, I'll state - especially if you live in a drier area (like California)...spray the foliage thoroughly with water on a regular basis.
Chris
Again, I'll state - especially if you live in a drier area (like California)...spray the foliage thoroughly with water on a regular basis.
Chris
iant
Chumono
They're the two spotted spider mite adults. I'm pretty sure of it. I've seen the nymph/young adult stages under the leaves with the two dark spots on either sides (with a 10 magnifying loop.) The adult stage gets so red that they're easy to see at my place because there is a lot of off-white stone in the back yard. So they show up very well against it. I've accepted the fact they're part of the ecosystem and I just need to keep the population in check.
Ian
Ian
