Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi simo,
The place in Waneroo is Manchil IPM Services pty ltd. email is info@manchilipmservices.com.au . web site manchilipmservices.com.au.
Biological Services,Adelaide,email info@biologicalservices.com.au .web www.biologicalserves.com.au .
I have dealt both of them and can't fault the service.

I had spider mite problems in my system when I had a greenhouse. The problem seemed to come on mostly through the winter into spring when the temperatures would swing wildly in the greenhouse. I think they attacked mostly because it was the wrong season for tomatoes and they were struggling with the cold nights but extreme heat during the day as I was trying to re-capture heat to keep my tilapia alive.

This winter I have no greenhouse and the tomatoes are gone for the winter but in the summer I haven't noticed spider mites in any of the outdoor systems.

Faye has a good point about spraying with anything containing soap or oil, both can be bad for the fish and the bacteria if they wash into the system. Also be very careful using such around an indoor system as they tend to be smaller and a little spill could be disaster.

I use a natural non chemical soap made from biodegradable fatty acids so as far as I can tell it doesn't stick around for long. Plus limiting how much you mix into the spay to a drop or 2 reduces enough of the risk for me to feel safe that if somehow it did end up in the system in larger then the small amount of spraying needed to control any infestations it wouldn't cause to much havoc. The neam oil breaks down in water fairly quickly as well(100 hours reportedly once exposed to water) and again I limit how much I mix in to about a cap full max so im not worried about that much ether. Iv been using it regularly on my plants in my indoor system for more then a year and my fish have never shown any issues with it even with heavy spraying because of an active infestation. I also use it on all my other houseplants and in my garden as insect control and fungus control.