Spider Mites! (On my tomato plants, not my cats!)

[nurseangel]

I am at war with the spider mites.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I don't want to use anything that will harm bees or other beneficial insects.  I tried a home remedy of biodegradable dish detergent, cooking oil, and water, but it killed the blooms on my plant.  I ordered something called "Liquid Ladybug" and it works great.  However, it is expensive and I have gone through almost the whole bottle in two days.  I saw a yellow and black spotted bug on my plant and actually thought he might be a good guy.  As it turned out, not so much.  He chewed a huge hole in one of Abe Lincoln's leaves! I am so desperate that I was actually contemplating buying ladybugs or praying mantises, which are costly online and are usually free right there in my yard.  If I didn't want ladybugs, they would be covering my green French doors.  And if I didn't want a praying mantis, I would be terrorized by a giant one in my gazebo.  I am afraid of them; I don't like the way they look at me, and if one jumps in my hair, it's over.

 

[sivyaleah]

Try a spray with Neem oil in it.  There are many brands out there; it's technically called horticultural spray.  Neem oil isn't toxic to other plants/humans/cats, etc.

Best to spray early morning and make sure you get the undersides of leaves and stems too. Also keep your plants well watered - mites like dry conditions.

Hope that helps you!  

 

[sk_pacer]

If you leave the oil out of the soap mix, it doesn't kill blooms. It also has to be something like Sunlight to work best.

 

[nurseangel]

Thanks, y'all!  I am hoping the rain we have rolling in may help, too.  It's odd, I've grown tomatoes every year since I got married, and this is the first time for the spider mites.  And it appears there is a cutworm out there somewhere.  I can't find him, and goodness knows I've looked, but it is very early in the season for him. If it's not a cutworm, it is something behaving in a cutworm like manner, shearing off parts of the plants.  It could be a walking stick.  One of them wreaked havoc on a lemon tree I had set outside to get some sun.  He took forever to find; he looked just like part of the tree.  I let him go when I caught him.  I didn't realize that some walking sticks are poisonous.