Red spider mites on quercus ilex

zeb

I just noticed the fine silky webs all around my holm oak. I made the red spider mite test and soon had a paper with red streaks.
So, what would be the least stressful way (to the tree) to kill the mites? I've usually used an insecticide that works from the inside; the tree takes up the insecticide with water and the mites die. But it says in the package that some plants cannot take it and I think this could be one of them.


Thank you,
Zeb

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Earl

Pople are probably tired of my stock answer by now, but I am a real fan of Neem Oil. I have now used it for years on bonsai, cacti, orchids and have never seen any ill effects at all. It's great stuff and will knock those spider mites dead. Just be sure to follow up with a second application in a week or two and be sure to get as near to 100% pure Neem Oil as possible. Some are a knock off with mostly regular pesticides with a little Neem Oil thrown in.

If you spray all your plants a couple times a year with Neem Oil you will very seldom see any bugs at all.

Your bottle is right, I have heard that systemics can be real tough on bonsai. I've stayed away from them to be safe. But maybe somebody with more experienced has more to say about it.

zeb

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately my english-finnish dictionary hasn't even heard of neem. I found out it is a product from the seeds of a tropical tree that belongs in the mahogany family, but I have no finnish name for it, so it's almost a useless piece of advice for me. It's a shame.


Zeb

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Two men were walking down a road. The one on the left was interested in bonsai. The one on the right had no money either.

TreeBay

Lots of the english research sites I've seen seem to indicate that the University of Helsinki is funding and promoting the study of Neem Trees and oil production.

I think it may be "neempuu", which is probably a Thai word?

That was a promising word I found on one site ( the only link with a picture that I could find) browsing search results for Azadirachta from University of Helsinki.

http://www.gardenia-helsinki.fi/Gardeniasali.htm

The search page was here:

http://www.helsinki.fi/cgi-bin/htsearch?config=&restrict=&exclude=&method=and&for mat=builtin-long&sort=score&words=Azadirachta

Regards,

Matt

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