Home»Pests - Diseases»Mites
There are many common cuss out there that can work mayhem on indoor and outdoor plants . Among the most common of these are spider mite , scarcely visible plant vampires that will literally take in the life out of your prized plant if they get the opportunity .
know for their power to reproduce quickly , spider touch can be killed with various lifelike and chemical methods .
Photo Credit: Instagram @quickanddirtygardens
You might be surprised to find out that everyday rubbing alcohol is one of their deadly foes – even when chemical options give up working .
What Are Spider Mites?
lease ’s begin by taking a look at what makes spider speck such a problem in the first place .
These petite bugs are actually arachnids and get their name because they ’re able to whirl vane . In fact , their mussy webbing might be the first sign of an plague because the mites themselves are about the size of a pin tumbler ’s straits .
They build these webs to make get from one branch to another easy and allow supererogatory protection against likely predators .
These slight creatures are piercing insects that deflate the flora and feed on its sap .
One or two will not directly bear upon your plant , but once they begin reproducing , you’re able to quickly find yourself lot with a massive population explosion that can kill your plant if not dealt with .
A single spider speck can lay century of eggs in its short life , with the egg hatching and train into a sexually mature adult in just over a week .
The testicle themselves have a protective coating that makes most pesticide ineffectual until the eggs hatch .
How To Use Rubbing Alcohol On Spider Mites?
Rubbing alcoholic beverage is a contact Orcinus orca , so to utilize it effectively , you require to know your enemy and how best to apply rubbing alcohol against them .
take down that you’re able to also employ isopropyl inebriant alternatively of scratch alcoholic drink with adequate result .
What Rubbing Alcohol Does To Spider Mites?
Rubbing inebriant can be a surprisingly lethal weapon against plant pests .
It dries out the protective coating on their exoskeleton , which keeps wet within . As a result , the pest quickly dehydrates and dies within a few hours .
It also bear on spider mite eggs – if you may espy them . While it wo n’t harm most plant , the alcoholic drink quickly dry out pests on contact .
Be indisputable to test the inebriant on the part of a single leaf to ensure your plant is n’t sore .
Generally mouth , delicate or velvety leaves are more potential to be damage by rubbing alcohol than sturdier leaves or those with smooth or leathery textures .
Using Rubbing Alcohol On Spider Mites
One of the big error mass make when trying to use scratch alcohol is to have too much or too petty water .
Too much water ( specially with an already downhearted alcoholic drink assiduousness ) can prove completely ineffective .
Conversely , having too small water supply and a mellow alcohol concentration will prevent the alcoholic drink from soak into the exoskeleton .
A general consensus is that you should only apply 70 % percent rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol .
Mix 1 part of the alcoholic beverage with 3 to 4 part water , with the debile root being used for more sensitive plants .
The software can be made in two ways : spray and wipe .
The spraying method works best when a plant has more fragile leave , such as Swiss cheese plants , that could easily be damaged easily .
Simply pour out your potpourri into a spray bottle and squirt down the works , gain sure to get the bottom of the leaf .
After 3 to 4 60 minutes , you will want to gently wash the leaves if you could ( for Swiss cheese plants , you may require to apply a sprayer feeding bottle for this ) .
While this method is well suited for flimsy leaves , it ’s less effective because you ’re likely not going to hit as many wanderer hint using a sprayer bottleful .
Wiping is well suited for flora with tough leaves and will let you kill pinch more effectively .
To kill them , take a cotton swab or soft microfiber material , dip it in your alcohol solution , and pass over the leaves down top and bottom .
Be sure to carry the leaves unbendable but gently so that you do n’t danger tearing them during the intervention .
Also , be sure to get any crevasse while wipe the works down .
gargle the parting off about 3 to 4 hours after discourse to murder the dead wanderer mites and any remaining alcoholic beverage residue .
