Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have an infestation of spider mite in my greenhouse. My plants are quickly being ruined by the mites (cucumber leaves turning brown, fine webs over it, capsicum leaves falling off etc)

Has anyone dealt with these before organically ie fish safe methods?

Thanks

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcont ... _info.html

just found this on a google search

Hi Monya seems every body with green houses where they can get excessevly hot are having trouble one way or another is it possable to roll the walls up for the summer and down for the winter i notice the big comercal glass houses eather roll the walls or open the roof

Yep, greenhouse 2 will have that feature,. The current one is quite heavily shaded so it doesn't get terribly hot, however I think the main problem is we only just realised what was wrong today, and by the time the little webs start appearing, it is probably all a bit too little a lot too late

the other thing being caterpillars are doing the rest of the damage, and the more open to air it all is, the more moths can get in. GH2 will have shadecloth sides so when the plastic sides are rolled up, there is shadecloth there

Stu, I have heard of people using many different organic sprays on spider mite, chilli spray, garlic spray, chive spray, even basil spray... Most of the sprays are made by steeping the herb in boiling water, just like a herb tea, then spraying all over the foliage.

I'm not sure about how the fish will react, perhaps you might want to stick one fish in a seperate container and spray into the container to see if it has an adverse reaction.

Thanks Joel. I sprayed last night with a flour, water and milk concoction suggested on the website I linked to above. Also, I removed as many of the webs as I could find. Also, I contacted a mob today to get my hands on some beneficial insects, as I suspect the greenhouse and our method of growing may lend the plants susceptible to attack. At least I know now the warning signs, and the cucmbers are their favourite food, followed closely by capsicums. I will monitor over the coming week and see how it looks before doing anything else. Basil spray is certainly something I could make, I have plenty of that! LOL

Monya, ask joel for a few of his "party trick" chilli's for an organic spray............just make sure your plastic container won't melt............

Joel, i chopped some up for a mate tonights............hehehehehehe.........i then rinsed my knife under water and continued chopping my hard boiled eggs. When i licked the knife (yes, mum told me not to) i still got that warm sensation seriously. Am drying out seeds now.............hehehehehehehe

What sort are they Steve - habanero?

i'm not 100% some sort of tabaso?

orange colour, look like mini capsicums................

so far 3 HARDCORE chilli heads have fallen victim to them......and only a small slice too! its my new party trick plant

poor bastard in WA doesn't realise that we dosed his home made chilli sauce with one............ehehehehehehe

Is it long and thin or more squat?

am organising a photo, camera not co-operating, stand by................

Hurry up

i think the camera is having issue with 1290 images on its card, have stuck it in the printer, but i'm on usb 1 so even the preivews are taking a little while...........hold on

nearly there..................