How To GET RID of Spider Mites & Prevent Spider Mites - EASY Process With Insecticidal Soap & Neem

[Music] hey everybody welcome back so today's video has been very requested and it's my process on getting rid of controlling and preventing spider mites for the longest time a lot of you know i've struggled with spider mice i got to the point where i just felt a little bit helpless i did a lot of the things you know with sprays trying to get rid of it and then sometimes they would just get so bad that i'd have to throw them away i stopped buying allocations for that reason because it got to the point where it was like well if i get spider mites on this plant i'll probably have to get rid of it and a lot of these plants are expensive so i'm going to keep this video pretty short i'm just going to share the process none of it's rocket science it's all very straightforward this process is nice because it will also get rid of any other pests that you have on your plant whether it's like mealy bugs or thrips or aphids it'll get rid of all of that now it won't get rid of the pests and the soil but just like my fungus gnats video with mosquito bits i found that the process and how i'm treating my plants makes the biggest difference when combating spider mites so i'm just going to be using insecticidal soap but i'll be sharing the process in which i use it which i found makes like the biggest difference when it comes to killing these freaking spider mites man i do want to make a note that these are just my suggestions based on my trial and error um i always say for people to experiment things on their own see what works for them a lot of it depends on your climate and where you live and the types of plants you have i'm just trying to help out my plant friends and the plant community by sharing you know what has worked for me and feel free to leave in the comments below if you have other suggestions of stuff that's worked for you i've tried beneficial insects i've tried all sorts of different stuff and this process is what's worked best for me so i'm going to jump into the good stuff first go ahead and share the process that i do and then i'm going to share some tips for prevention which i use when i bring my plants home and then after i treat for spider mites now if you're new to my channel welcome my name is ashley and as you can see i am a crazy planned person and proud so if that brings a smile to your face make sure you subscribe so that my episodes will show up in your news feed i'm also on instagram and absolutely love my plant community i like this type of insecticidal soap and this brand it's worked great for me it's not expensive i like to get the ready to use kind because anything that can make life more simple i'm all about it now the other thing you'll want to use are some gloves now i highly recommend if you're going to have a lot of houseplants is to find a way to have some sort of sprayer whether it's in your shower or in your sink or outside that has a strong spray it's really helpful in getting rid of pests and cleaning off leaves so i have found just bringing the insecticidal soap on the plant does absolutely nothing for me what i do first is i take my plant outside or to my shower wherever where i have the strongest spray and i spray down the leaves of the plant i spray the backsides i spray the stems then your plant is kind of ready at this point and prepped got some of the dust off you know whatever is on it spidermite webbing is waterproof then i take the insecticidal soap and i spray the tops of the leaves and i spray the backs of the leaves now again just spraying it isn't really going to do much i've seen people use all sorts of stuff i just use my gloved hand and i literally take my time and i just rub it like i'm washing a dish and i just wipe down the leaf rub the leaf rub the leaf off the leaf rub believe probably like i just rubbed the whole thing i do that on the tops of the leaves i do that on the back sides of the leaves so much so that there's like a thick lather on the leaf i do it all the way down the stems any crevices and then i leave it so how long you leave it will really depend on the types of leaves your plant has you can always do an experimental run on like a part of the leaf before you do this process if you have one that has like a velvety leaf you're not sure if it'll burn the leaf or how long you can leave it for um do a little test run i try to leave the lather on there as long as possible just to really do the work for me and i'll leave it for maybe 30 minutes to an hour and then what i do is i take that very strong spray again and i spray it all off the front the front the back everything and i wash my hands off and maybe get a new set of gloves for any spider mites that may be on there most of them will be dead at this point the spider mites will lay eggs underneath the webbing so usually that first run run will get rid of pretty much everything but just in case there are some extra eggs then i repeat the process and i spray it again and i lather up the leaves again and then for this one i'll probably just leave it you know 20 minutes or 30 minutes and then once it's been sitting there once it's done what it needs to do at that point i'll spray it off again i have found that this process really works it's not residual so it's not going to stay on the plant and continue to prevent anything it's mainly just killed whatsoever on whatever's on the plant so you can use some neem which is a good preventative for mites pests and you can spray some neem on the leaves if you want to you can spray in the soil with neem spider mites mainly live on the plant but you know these things they'll like get in the soil they're best they don't have rules they do whatever they want now if you're having a terrible breakout of spider mites you may want to repeat this process in you know five days or something like that but once you have it under control and this should help you get it under control fast um then i would say repeat the process every month month and a half until you're not seeing it anymore and just keep an eye on it and then you know continue up with the process the neem oil and the insecticidal soap should really help i don't do the two rounds of of it i just do the one round this process is nice because it will also get rid of any other pests that you have on your plant whether it's like mealy bugs or thrips or aphids it'll get rid of all that now it won't get rid of the pests and the soil if you spray some neem oil lightly on the top layer of the soil it will help you know break up the reproductive cycle of the spider mites and it's also a preventative for other pests however if you are doing this treatment and you're treating pests other than mites you can use some systemic granules i like to use this brand and that's very helpful as well however it doesn't really do anything for mites unfortunately but the neem oil will help if you'd rather just change out the soil completely and not do any kind of treatment you can do that however i'd recommend if you have a delicate plant maybe to hold off on that because you want to limit the amount of shock that your plant is going to be experiencing however if you have like a nice sturdy plant something that's you know a little bit tougher than maybe like a fragile begonia or calathea you know go ahead and give a repotting if you want to now you'll be doing yourself a huge favor in some simple steps to prevent having the problem moving forward and possibly in the first place so the first thing i do now when i bring a plant home i always quarantine and wash the leaves off but now i actually do a little bit of the process that i just showed you i take them and i spray the leaves off usually with the you know the strong sprayer and then i spray a little bit of the insecticidal soap i rub down the leaves i usually leave it for at least 15 minutes and then i spray it off again and it's just a really simple process that saves me heartache in the future the other thing i do with my plants is i have them set up so they're not touching each other like it looks like they're touching each other but they're not so it just helps prevent the spread of the spider mites the other thing that i do is if i find a plant with spider mites i thoroughly clean the space where they are i wipe it down with sanitizers i vacuum i move all the other plants from around it check every single one with a light and then i keep them quarantined to the ones that are having a problem until they're you know until i have the problem under control and even then i might they might live their life somewhat secluded from from the rest of my plants maybe in a different area of the house by themselves i also try to check my plants regularly now in the past i would do my watering schedule and just zip through and i wouldn't necessarily like check my plants for pests but i found just taking the extra 10 minutes to like take my cell phone with a flashlight and i go through and kind of check my plants you know once a month or or twice a month and i can catch the it's such a simple thing but like making the conscious effort to do that has just made it a lot easier to catch the problem quickly before it gets escalated and it spreads to the rest of my plants so that's another thing that i've done that's a little bit different and i just want to say from one plant parent to another that i'm here for you and don't feel bad you know don't be hard on yourself we all are figuring it out we all have to deal with the same stuff nobody has perfect plants um you know we all go through the same things so just know that and with these episodes it's always really helpful if you have any comments or things that have worked for you um if you leave them in the comments not just for me but for other people who are trying to figure out the best way to tackle the problem for themselves as well so if you haven't already and you'd like to see future episodes care videos and plant shopping videos and house plant tours that kind of thing make sure you subscribe so my episodes will show up in your news feed and again i'm on instagram and love my plant community on there as well so maybe give me a follow alright guys i hope you have a fabulous rest of the day you will definitely be seeing me soon bye [Music] do

Channel: Plant Life with Ashley Anita

Views: 10,769

Keywords: houseplants, plants, spider mites, how to, how to get rid of spider mites, spider mite prevention, plant pests, bonide, insecticidal soap, neem oil, pest prevention, kill spider mites, remove spider mites

Id: pFRb02ynanE

Length: 9min 49sec (589 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 15 2021