Miticides

C

Crotonologist

Active Member
760
12/11/10
3
36
southern Louisiana USDA 9a
I wonder what the commercial croton growers are using these days for mites?
I know the really good stuff can be very expensive, but I do have a source for commercial miticides and can see possibly needing to upgrade my mite control in the future...
What are the other forum members here using for mite control?
 
Both. 'Sun-coffee' made from grounds; then the grounds and any plain old once-used cofee grounds go around the crotons. Google Broome and coffee for a quick link. His paper is an easy read even if aimed at killing that Asian cycad scale (CAS). He now uses the sun-coffee as an all purpose insecticide and miticide.
But unless you're growing in a near-sterile environment, your going to have mites. Minimizing the damage is the best we can do.
 
Phil Stager said:
Both. 'Sun-coffee' made from grounds; then the grounds and any plain old once-used cofee grounds go around the crotons. Google Broome and coffee for a quick link. His paper is an easy read even if aimed at killing that Asian cycad scale (CAS). He now uses the sun-coffee as an all purpose insecticide and miticide.
But unless you're growing in a near-sterile environment, your going to have mites. Minimizing the damage is the best we can do.
Click to expand...

Phil,

Your last sentence holds the most subtance, in my experiences and eyes. I tried using coffee grounds a year ago, maybe longer and got absolutely no results in combating the asian Scale. Also, I had no luck treating the new Croton Scale on my crotons. I remember a few years ago, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens starting using coffee grounds and at first Christy Jones ( then curator of palms and cycads) thought they would have some success. But I think after a couple of years, they were finding out that very little results were positive.

I gave up altogether, and I am now using a Merit "knockoff" brand to control the scale. Mites, haven't seem to be a real problem, and maybe because of the Merit I'm using. But, like what was stated above, other Miticides can be extreamly expensive but produce very good results. Just remember, mites have 4 stages of their life cycle I believe, and most miticides are not labeled to kill all stages, so a couple of different sprays are needed sometimes when heavy infeststations are present.


Jeff
 
spider mites like dry weather and live undersides of leaves. Croton like it humid. Thus, when watering the croton I spray under the leaves with a stream of water. That seems enough to keep them down in numbers. If it has been dry for a week or so, I will spray the leaf. Plants can live with some insects on them. Just keep them under control and keep a hostile environment for the bugs. When you use pesticides you kill the benificial insects as well. A commmercial nursery is of course a whole different beast. But, as a homeowner, I've never seen problems with spider mites on any of my plants. Actually, I've never used pesticide on anything. I don't think it is needed. A healthy grown plant should be able to defend an insect attack on its on. Spider mites accumalate on plants when they are grown in a non-air movement, dry environment like inside the house or greenhouse. Move the plant outside occassionaly and spray the undersides with water.

that doesn't answer your question I know. Growing plants inside a greenhouse is a different equation. If I had a greenhouse, I would try Dial Soap mixed with water in a spray bottle. A systematic miticide probably would work as well like recommended but cost $$$$.
 
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