I have to agree here with Kenni on Floramite. If you have mites that you
can't seem to get rid of, Floramite will take care of them. It's an ovacide
as well as insecticide. The only problem is the price. The cheapest I've
found if $220/ quart which makes it about $7/ oz. You only use 1/2 oz/gal to
kill and 1/4 oz/gal followup. So if you know a few other people who need
some, pool your money and buy some. It's worth it. All the other new
miticides are in the same price range or even more so you're not going to
find a top notch product on the cheap. These include Ovation, Pylon and
Avid. I do see an 8 oz bottle of Avid for $93. You can check out some
chemicals at growersupply.com.
Gary

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Properly applied, the oil should kill the then-existing mites, whether on
orchids or impatiens. Properly-applied means covering all green surfaces.
The oils (whether Neem, Sunspray or whatever brand) mostly work by
smothering the critters, so if you miss a patch and don't smother the
mite(s) on that patch, they survive and go on to breed more, re-infesting
the rest of the plant. I also doubt that an oil spray would hang on long
enough to smother babies hatching out from eggs, even if the eggs
themselves had been sprayed ...

In answer to the original question, Floramite is very good, but I don't
think it comes in "hobby sizes." It is also important to rotate your
chemicals if you need to spray more than a couple of times. Kenni


"Steve" wrote in message
...
Aaron Hicks wrote:
Miticides?

Talstar (bifenthrin) is quite good. Also for ornamental use are Avid
(avermectin), Mavrik (fluvalinate), Isotox IV (very different from
Isotox), and Pentac (dienochlor).

I think neem oil and pyrethroids are also effective on mites, along with
insecticidal soaps. Kelthane (dicofol) *used* to be the old standby for
mites; I don't know as it's available anymore. It has a chemical
structure quite similar to DDT, but (supposedly) is not as stable in the
environment. It's one of those organochlorine pesticides that isn't the
sort of thing you want around the house.

There's also a boatload of home remedies. Check "Google."

The address in the header isn't valid. Send no e-mail there.

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ


This reminds me of something so I'll post/ask right here. I have never
had a real serious problem with mites on my orchids. I have used sun
spray oil once in a while when there was a small problem.
This summer my wife brought home a large hanging pot of red impatiens. It
started to die off so I took a closer look. It was being sucked dry by
spider mites. I cut back the really bad parts and sprayed it with the sun
spray oil. When it continued to decline, I sprayed it again. It still has
mites.
So the question. Is spraying that oil on orchids for mites a waste of
time or what? I may try a higher than recommended concentration on that
impatiens since it of no value as it is. I've been wondering about this.

Steve