Combating spider mites or spider mites on your vegetable garden plants

Spider mite

Spider mites belong to the family of Acari (mites) Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They usually live on the underside of your plants' leaves, where they spin their protective silken webs. They can cause damage by piercing plant cells to feed. Spider mites are known to feed on several hundred plant species. In our vegetable garden, this mainly affects our tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, and climbers like melons and cucumbers. Spider mites are less than 1 mm in size and can appear in various colors. They lay small, spherical, initially transparent eggs. Many species create their silk webs to help protect the colony from predators. They derive the "spider" part of their common name from these webs. Warm, dry conditions are ideal for spider mites. Under optimal conditions (around 27 °C), the two-spotted spider mite can hatch from the egg in just 3 days and become sexually mature in just 5 days. A female can lay up to 20 eggs per day, lives for 2 to 4 weeks, and can thus lay hundreds of eggs. This makes them very difficult to control.

Spider mites

A plant affected by spider mites will look weak and unhealthy, with a dusty appearance on the underside of its leaves. When you take a closer look at the underside of the leaf, you will be able to see that the dust is actually moving, indicating a spider mite infestation. The plant may also have some webbing at the base or on its branches. You cannot see the details of spider mites well with the naked eye, but with a simple magnifying glass, you can make them more visible. A red spider mite is completely red. There are also spider mites, such as the two-spotted spider mite, that are partially red. Red spider mites are entirely red. By shaking a few off onto a piece of white paper, you can distinguish the colors better.

Try to grow as many different vegetables as possible in your vegetable garden. This not only allows you to harvest delicious vegetables at different times, but it also makes it harder for spider mites to find preferred plants, and most importantly: you attract beneficial insects. These beneficial insects are often their natural enemies. Deploying these natural enemies is the best way to control spider mites ecologically. Lacewings are usually used, but predatory mites can also be deployed. It is best to act preventatively and release beneficial insects in advance. You can also plant flowers in your garden to increase the biodiversity in your vegetable garden. The best predatory mite to use preventatively is soni-mite. This predatory mite has no specific preference for temperature and works even at low humidity. Soni predatory mites are supplied in breeding sachets with hooks. They offer 5 weeks of protection and emerge by themselves. Check the product description carefully for guidelines regarding application.

You can try to control spider mites naturally with a nettle infusion or nettle slurry; however, you must spray it very regularly, and if the population is too large or too deeply established, the slurry will barely work. There are no acaricides (= insecticide) for private individuals that work against spider mites. The best remedy is therefore to ensure they do not become a problem. Try to keep your plants healthy and the environment free of dust and debris to keep spider mites away. Also, ensure the plants have enough water. Water will help keep spider mites away because they prefer a very dry environment. You can use predatory mites both preventatively and curatively. It is important to check the product description carefully to see what kind of infestation you have and what environmental conditions you need to meet to obtain an optimal result. For example, a phyto predatory mite eats about 20 eggs or 5 adult greenhouse spider mites daily. Forni-mite also eats other spider mites, does not require high humidity, works well at temperatures above 30°C, and is therefore a good addition to phyto-mite. Both predatory mites can also be used in the vineyard.

As we always strive for, a vegetable garden rich in biodiversity is the best remedy against harmful insects such as spider mites. Certain plants or shrubs attract ladybugs, such as garlic, parsley, marigolds, coriander, dill, pot marigold, alyssum or sweet alyssum, parsley, dandelions, butterfly bush, ... So try not to just grow crops to eat, but also consider plants that attract various beneficial insects. I hope you found this article helpful.

Best of luck in your vegetable garden, Tom