Little Mites Can Ruin Our Beloved Plants

Most of us love the idea of having green plants around the place and in the garden, and this brings a lovely sense of being at one with nature. In the home, these living plants can make the place feel serene, and in the garden, they decorate the place wonderfully well and give us somewhere to relax in beautiful surroundings. As with all things though, there must be a down side somewhere. In this instance, different critters will set up home on the plants and it is these that can drive us to distraction. For example, spider mites will set up home under leaves and use the food source to sustain its life. For the uninitiated, a spider mite may be hard to spot, but once found, there are several things which can be done.

In the home, when watering any plants, take a quick look under the leaves and see if there is anything going on there. If some rather fluffy white deposits are found, it is these that are the webs for these creatures. They build a sort of tiny nest and, since the creature is also minute, it will hide in it and then tap into the 'life blood' of the plant to sustain itself. On top of the leaves this could be seen as papery light patches where the inside of the leaf has been sucked out. It will continue like this until the whole plant will eventually die off. In human terms, this is like someone taking our food right from out stomachs before we can digest it so it shows how serious the problem is. If the plant is a rare species, or it means something very special to us, a good inspection must be done every time it is watered for sure.

What these creatures go for is a dry atmosphere. With the kind of homes that we have today, the atmosphere is usually dried out so they can thrive under these conditions. One way of ensuring some moisture in the atmosphere is to suspend the plant above a small bowl of water. Make sure not to put the base of the pot in the water though as this can literally 'drown' the plant.

There are some proprietary brands of spray which will kill off the creatures too. One should ensure that the underside of the leaves is made wet with this chemical. Also, if any fluffy white balls of web are seen under the leaves, pluck off the leaf completely if possible and put the leaf in a place where it can be burned. If there is only one or two of these nests, simply rub them off and crush any of the creatures that are seen.

The same goes for garden plants and, when watering, direct the hose to the underside of leaves so that they are literally knocked off the plant. By keeping the ground moist, this will stop them getting onto the plant in the first place. When they are heavily infested though, pull the plants out completely and burn the whole thing.

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Stewart Wrighter is interested in finding a spider mite treatment that is available for commercial locations. For more information about spider mites go to
http://www.spidermites411.com/ .

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