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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Thursday, July 29, 2021
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Matt D.
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Connecticut
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Entry 68 of 90 |
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Initial Spider Mite Control Part 2 of 2
-Enter beneficial insects/mites! These are actual insects/mites that feed on the pest insect/mite as a method of biological warfare. However, for this option to be effective it is not a simple as grab product X and spray on plant, there are some very specific steps that must be completed in order to increase the effectiveness of the beneficials.
1.) Reduce the initial population of spider mites.
-Physical removal is nearly impossible but areas that the spider mites are in particular high densities isopropyl alcohol should be used to physically break the webs and desiccate what mites it does come in contact with. The physical breaking of the webs is a time-consuming challenge, but if the webs are left the beneficials will not be able to reach the spider mites.
-Leaf hot spots were simple cut and removed as a whole as these leaves were basically going to be a total loss. The number of leaves removed was kept to only the worst ones to reduce the number of leaves that would be absent for the rest of the growing season.
2.) Beneficials Ordered
-However, the company only ships them on certain days of the week and they have to be shipped overnight so there may be a delay from the order to the arrival.
3.) Spray Applied
After the physical removal and removal of select leaves there was going to be a few days delayed until the expected arrival of the beneficials so only in the areas of dense populations noticed was a combination of two products (active ingredients Abamectin and Hydrogen Dioxide) were applied. The Abamectin is a known miticide and the hydrogen dioxide may help desiccate the small mites. There would be a few days until the beneficials arrive to the risk to these would be minimal while maybe offering some effectives against the two spotted spider mites.
*More details to come soon...
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