We have not seen mites this bad in many years! With the onset of this hot and dry weather we are having, spider mites are multiplying like rabbits! Our horticulturalist was out to a client’s home last week and these burning bushes looked perfectly fine. In less than a week they looked like this, there were so many mites, thousands of them, that you could see them moving in their webs.
As you can see, Mites can do a whole lot of damage in a very short time and populations can build up in a matter of days. if you suspect you have mites, give our horticulturist a call for a consultation and quote for treatment. Burning bushes that are planted close to your home are the most at risk of developing mites. Routinely hosing down the bushes knocks the mites off the plants and they generally cannot get back where they were. If you want to treat yourself, summer rate of Horticultural oil is the best option. Products like Sevin are labeled for mite control but they have a side effect, they cause the mites to explode even faster because the treatment also kills predatory beneficial insects. Mite webs cover entire plants. If you see webs that are singular, especially if there is a pencil-sized hole somewhere near the center, these are spiders. Leave them be! They eat mites mosquitoes and other bugs you don’t want!
