Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Here we go......
I've lived in this house for about 11 years, and have always had difficulty growing tomatoes and eggplant in the ground due to spider mites.
I gave up for a few years.
I thought that I might have better luck in AP, due to the humidity inherent to the media (supposedly they like dry conditions), and the fact that plants get less heat stressed in AP in general due to constant water supply. The system is outdoors.

so I tried again. The plant that I put in lasted many months, and thennnnnnn.....BAM! Spider mite crazy death infestation....I guess they crawled their little destructive selves up the legs of my system, or rode in on the wind.

I have a feeling that most sprays are also quite effective against fish.....
I have searched the forum, but most posts I found mention problems with them, but very few solutions.

So, does anybody have any tried and true methods for getting rid of these teeny tiny pains in my.....happiness.

I thought I remembered a conversation about wood alcohol, but it might have been for aphids.

If it is a mass infestation, hit the population hard with a Neem oil spray to try and reduce it as much as possible, covering any exposed areas of gravel in the GB with newspaper a few sheets thick beforehand. Also spray any other plants on your property that are affected by the mites. Then 3-4 days later release some predator mites that are suited to the variety of mites in your system. Release them onto the affected plants in your system, as well as on other plants on your property that were affected by them. Google up "Predator mites" or "Integrated Pest management" in your area to find a supplier.

If it's not a heavy infestation, then Neem oil on it's own can do the job, but you need to thoroughly spray any affected plants every day for 4 days, then every 3-4 days for a couple of weeks after that.

I’ve used neem oil in the past for aphids with good effect and have just done a google and read it’s only recommended for ornamentals. Oh.
I suppose any leafy vegetable should be washed after harvest anyway.
I think tackling the host plants outside the system would be a good method.
The only pest control I’m doing nowadays is snail pellets as predictor wasps, spiders and the like seem to control the pests fairly well now and using oils and BT could have an impact on these also.
Stoopid organic gardening.

I would go for the predators, I get them early spring and don't have a problem until next spring. They can handle a heavy infestation quite well, you just have to have faith and wait.When you think the mites have killed your plant have a good look and you might see a little green shoot coming out and from then on everything will be fine. this photo shows what they can be like .A couple of days after this photo was taken you couldn't see a spider mite.I have video of them and it looks like a dog rounding up a flock of sheep.

You might get a better idea from this one. The predators are the orange ones and when you have a moving picture you can see them chasing the spider mites. It is like a miniature version of lions catching wilder beasts.