How to get rid of spider mites on houseplants
Content
Spider mite, which often affects indoor plants, entangling all the leaves, is a real disaster for growers. Such tiny insects settle in large colonies and are capable oflead to the death of the plant. How to deal with spider mite on houseplants, you must tell in detail.
Pest description
Spider mite belongs to the class of arachnids and to the type of arthropods, which is associated with a special structure of its body. Due to the small size of 0.5-1 mm, as seen in the photo, the spider mite on indoor plants is almost imperceptible to the human eye. It has an oval body, painted in various masking colors: gray, brown, brown, green. The main diet of adults and their larvae consists of vegetable juices, which they suck from the green parts of plants.
The name of the tick comes not from the ability to weave a web, but because insects secrete a special secret, frozen on the leaves in the form of threads. When there are many pests, a translucent web can entangle the whole plant.
Interesting!
For a short lifetime (less than a month), female ticks are able to lay several hundred eggs, of which within 3 days larvae appear, which, under favorable conditions, quickly become adults.
What does a spider mite look like on houseplants?
One can notice the signs of the settlement of the pest on flowers only by the appearance of the plant and the traces of the vital activity of insects. To pierce the surface they have special jaws. After the settlement, small dots appear on the plant on the underside of the leaves after punctures, which begin to turn yellow, and the leaves themselves dry out and sprinkle. All this hinders the normal development of the indoor flower, impairs photosynthesis, and may eventually lead to the death of the plant.
The main symptoms of the lesion:
- the appearance of punctures, blanching, destruction and drying of the leaves;
- whitish coating on the surface, similar to dandruff, spots and streaks of silver color - traces of moulting and insect secretions.
In order to get rid of the tick on room flowers, it is necessary to start fighting against it in a timely manner, for which you should regularly inspect them with a magnifying glass in bright sunlight. When detecting the first signs of pests, action must be taken immediately.
Where does the tick in the house
Pests can penetrate houseplants in different ways:
- through purchased plants in the store;
- when using contaminated soil during planting;
- wind can blow through the window from the trees;
- on a person's clothes or shoes.
Interesting!
Getting into adverse conditions for further development and even in the absence of food, females of spider mites can fall into diapause - a stage of rest, in which they retain their viability for 5 years.
They also hibernate when winter comes, with a decrease in temperature and a decrease in daylight hours to 17 h. and lengthens the timing of pest control.
Types of ticks and danger
Such small pests settle on domestic plants in accordance with their taste preferences. Some do not tolerate aloe, others - plants of the Hesnerian family, etc.
The number of species of ticks exceeds several thousand, the most common of which are:
- Common or white mites - bright spiders, the most dangerous and common, live on the back of the leaves and young shoots. With strong reproduction, they are able to crawl to neighboring plants.The first sign of their appearance on the flower: yellow spots and the thinnest web that entangles green shoots and leaves.
- Red mites - microscopic brightly colored insects that affect indoor orchids, roses, lemon trees; belong to the most dangerous and rare.
- Cactus flat or briobias - strike exotic plantings, leaving yellow dotted stripes on greens, eggs are orange in color, and clutch is arranged in a chain along leaf veins.
- False mites are the smallest even among their brethren, because of what they imperceptibly damage plants that become covered with cobwebs and quickly fade.
- Cyclamen - settle in the soil, in the tubers and on the leaves of plants, apparently their colonies look like dust, which makes it difficult to detect.
Methods of struggle
It is possible to destroy the spider mite on indoor plants using both folk methods and chemical means. In the first case, the plant will suffer minimal damage, but the latter remove insects faster and more efficiently.
Chemical methods
As a means of dealing with spider mites, those that belong to the class of acaricidal or insectoacaricidal drugs are chosen, sinceordinary insecticides do not bring deliverance.
The most popular chemicals for spider mites on houseplants are shown in the table below.
Title | price, rub. | Drug class, action, use and features |
---|---|---|
Aktellik (Canister 5 l) | 3000-3600 | Akaroinsecticide. Effective at all stages, pollination is done at intervals of 2 weeks, it contains poison that is dangerous for pets, so it is recommended to process plants outdoors in protective clothing |
Apollo, Nissoran | 1350-1450 | Hormonal acaricide. It has a sterilizing effect on adult flower mites, eggs and larvae die. |
Bitoxibacillin (20-100 g) | 40-200 | Bio insecticoacaricide. It has an intestinal effect on adult pests, safe for plants and mammals. |
Demit (5 l) | 5000 | Acaricide, contains the substance fenazahin. Used for one-time treatment, because it causes resistance (addiction). The toxicity is small, but dangerous for fish. |
Karate, 5l | 1750 | Insectoacaricide. It is used at all stages of development of the mite, toxic to pets, fish and bees. |
Neoron (2 ml ampoule) | 50 | Acaricide contact action. The drug from the tick on plants, has a 4th class of danger |
Omite (canister 1 l) | 2100 | Contact acaricide. Destroys nymphs and adult spider mites, 2nd class of danger |
Sunmite (canister 1 l) | 2500 | Acaricide contact action. Effective against insects at any stage, but may be addictive, because it is used only once |
Skelta (canister 5 l) | 15500 | Insectoacaricide. Allows you to remove the tick from indoor plants for 1 procedure, the death of larvae and ticks occurs within 5-7 days. |
Talstar (canister 5 l) | from 3500 | Insectoacaricide, a group of pyrethroids. Affects eggs, larvae and adult ticks, is toxic to fish and bees |
Flumayt (canister 1 l) | 3700 | Acaricide with hormonal action. Effective means of destroying eggs and larvae, adults sterilize, processing is done no more than 1 time per month due to high toxicity |
Fitoverm (bottles of 4, 10, 50, 100 ml) | 15-300 | Bioinsecticide. Contains aversectins that have a neurotoxic effect on insects, low toxicity |
Fufanon (ampoules 2 ml, canister 1 l) | 20-1350 | Insectoacaricide. Effective for all stages, belongs to the 3rd class of danger |
Envidor (canister 1 l) | 2100 | Insectoacaricide. The action is a violation of lipid metabolism in pests and their larvae, 3rd hazard class |
Reviews
On my indoor flowers I constantly carry out prophylaxis by washing the leaves with soapy water. With strong reproduction of ticks, I use Fitoverma with repeated processing in 7-10 days. So far everything helps.
Julia, Minsk
We have to constantly fight spider mites, because there are many trees around my house, and such pests are frequent guests in my colors. No folk methods and biological preparations of parasites were taken. Not yet tried acaricide Neoron, a strong and smelly remedy. Spraying had to be done on the balcony, but the mites all poisoned.
Elena, Kursk
Folk remedies in the fight against ticks
With a small lesion, it is possible to get rid of spider mites on houseplants using proven folk methods that are more benign and non-toxic than chemical poisoning.
Before starting treatment at home, it is necessary to thoroughly clean all leaves using only clean water, since soap can clog pores on the surface. Similarly, do the bathing for the pot and window sill.
Recipes herbal infusions to combat spider mite:
- 100 g of onion peel pour 5 liters of water, insist for 5 days, strain and use for processing;
- Chop 2 heads of garlic, put in a jar and pour 1 l of boiled water, close the lid and put in a darkened cool place for 5 days; the resulting infusion should be diluted in half with water and spray the plant from the spray;
- for plants with dense leaves, manual treatment of spider mites with liquid ammonia is suitable: use all leaves to wipe with a moistened cotton swab;
- prepare a soap solution (green, tar or household soap), carefully process the flower and pot, leave the foam for 2-4 hours, then rinse, and cover the flower with polyethylene to maintain high humidity;
Prevention of ticks
Many growers are trying to apply preventive measures in order to prevent the attack of insects, which include:
- Conduct regular inspection of indoor flowers.
- Maintain optimum humidity (mites do not like dry air).
- Periodic spraying of vegetation from a spray bottle.
- Purchased flowers placed in quarantine.
- When planting plants use only steamed soil to destroy pests that are in hibernation.
It may take a long time to completely cure indoor flowers after the attack of spider mites due to the survivability of the pest and its larvae.