On 19/08/2011 10:57, in article , "AL_n"
wrote:


I thank you all for the input. Can anyone explain how the plant is actually
killed? I was hoping that once I had killed the pests, that new leaves
would start to grow, but the plant shows absolyutely no sign of life.

Al

The pests feed on the sap of the plant. If the infestation is really heavy,
the part of the plant that they are on will dry out (just as if it had had
no water) and die. Once the growing tip of a branch has dried out, then the
branch itself may well die, and so on until the whole plant has died.

The effect of the red spider is therefore much the same as not watering the
plants for several weeks on end - if the "drought" isn't too sever, then you
can water the plant and it will grow new leaves, like your second plant, but
if the "drought" has gone on too long, the plant has died and nothing you do
will revive it.

It does take a pretty heavy rsm infestation to kill a plant. The good side
is, now you know what they look like, you're in a better position to
recognise an infestation early on.