cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17588319

[Image description: a thicc green hornworm hanging onto the stem of a tomato plant. The hornworm is speckled with little white dots, has eyespots and angular white stripes down his side, and the namesake sharp little spike of a horn on its butt.]

  • thrawn@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    5·
    5 months ago

    Yep, I’ve tried various soaps and all kinds of oils, tried regularly spraying down the leaves to keep them dust free and the humidity up, tried removing plants at the first sign of infestation, all of it seemingly futile under the literal avalanche of mites I get every summer. If I miss a few days of these preventative measures, my poor tomatoes will have leaves gone from a slight sign of damage to a fully webbed death. And it’s not like my plants are water starved either, I use drip irrigation under thick mulch, so the soil stays moist even on the hottest days.

    It’s been really constraining on my growing season. I’m often able to get plants in the ground around mid-February and get a good harvest in May, but June/July is spent just watching all my plants die a lingering infested death. I’m in 10a, so I should easily be able to get a second summer crop in, but new seedlings planted at the end of spring seem to fare even worse than their established brethren. Hence why I’ve finally decided to spend the $$$ on predators, really hoping that their population establishes and tames the micro menace.

      • thrawn@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        3·
        5 months ago

        Hard to judge, as not one of my next door neighbors is interested in gardening, despite my efforts at offering seeds/seedlings/help.

        I haven’t gotten to really connect with any gardening groups in my area, but the handful of folks I have talked to also have problems with spider mites, though not sure if to quite such a severe degree.

        • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.worldEnglish
          31·
          5 months ago

          Hrmm I’ve heard skipping a season if they’re really bad can be a potential solution, I know it’s tough to not plant anything, but if it’s one year and it makes the rest better instead of a constant struggle. Maybe worth a try?

          • thrawn@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
            3·
            5 months ago

            Yeah… the thought has crossed my mind, even though tomatoes are my absolute favorite thing to grow. If I knew for sure it’d really reduce the population, I could probably convince myself, but how sad would it be to have a tomatoless year just to have the mites back in full force the next. 😕

            • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.worldEnglish
              31·
              5 months ago

              Grow indoors one year? You probably spend close to the same amount in remediation as you could get a light and a tent if the light bleeds an issue.

              I’ve experimented with some veggies in my aeroponics system, but soil works too.

              My understanding is the point is to make them want to go somewhere else and nest for the winter or whatever they do. They stay since they know they get fed every year.