The spider mites did not win!!! Hooray!!! :D
You may recall that I posted before about Emmy the elm tree getting infested with spider mites. I was very worried if she would make it. She went from looking like this in June:
To this in July:
To this now:
Yeah, I was afraid for my friend.
But look! There are new leaves sprouting everywhere!!!
YAY EMMY! My strong tree friend.
I had treated her a few times with diluted Dr Bronner's Castile Soap, and wiped off the little webs and sticky spots with wet paper towel. I just did another wet paper towel wiping off of webs in the corners of branches, and removed all her mulch. Then I swept the whole balcony. The latter two actions to hopefully to keep her from getting re-infected from any buggers hanging around.
Now I'm going to go shower and change so I don't spread any spider mites to my other plants.
But HOORAY! There is hope and recovery happening! :D
Congratulations! I also loved this idea you had. I would be interested in talking about how to expand that idea!
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Sure, how so? Do you want to do like a tropical trees version? Feel free! ^_^
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And hey, thank you for the tipu!! :)
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Why do you think the spider mites attacked it? I always wonder when my bonsai trees get a disease how they might have become weakened. Maybe something is wrong with the soil (ph, too wet, too dry), or the heat suddenly caused the tree to become stressed and vulnerable to attack. Maybe the spider mites simply enjoy the taste of your tree when they are hungry.
Glad it's looking better.
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I'm not certain. I had a couple of theories - I had just moved the tomatoes back outside before the attack, but the tomatoes were next to a bunch of houseplants inside and none of them have spider mites, so I don't think it was the tomatoes.
I had put the dead flower ends of some carnations in the soil added to the mulch, which is a possibility - perhaps they were in the carnations.
I had also added a layer of compost to the top from a bag I bought at the store, but I also used that compost on a bunch of other plants and haven't seen spider mites in them.
So my best guess is the carnations - so I won't add flowers to the mulch anymore!
It could also be the heat, but this is her third summer and she was much smaller before, so my thought process was more about where the spider mites came from rather than if she was susceptible to them, though since I realized she had them, I've been deep watering her more and giving her extra food - more water was recommended by an arborist as a tactic to use on top of treatment. So the susceptible part might have been heat stress/needing more water in said heat.
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Spider mites are the worst! I have tried so many things to repel or kill them but they are resilient as hell.
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I figure as long as I can keep her going this summer/fall, they will be killed in the winter because she's outside and this is Denver. I hope!! <3
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