Got 'em early this year...

Never mind on the russets. I've stemmed their spread pretty well, but it's like whack-a-mole...


Dangerous experiment 2--
Application of double-dose sulfur powder. Additionally, half the group to be sprayed had been sprayed with sulfur of a standard dose only three days previous.

Result-
Failure. 60% of those sprayed showed spider mites the following day.

No ill side effects, no burn.

Corollary test-- those shown as still infected were sprayed with SA water with the purpose of "reflowing" the sulfur powder.

Result-
Moderately successful. Another 50% cleared (for now)

Check out this product it's effective on Russet Mites, Broad Mites, and Two-spotted Spider Mites. Its Organic and California certified. you can get a free sample miticidegreen they have a 2oz free sample.

bfabian69 said:

Check out this product it's effective on Russet Mites, Broad Mites, and Two-spotted Spider Mites. Its Organic and California certified. you can get a free sample miticidegreen they have a 2oz free sample.

Click to expand...

2oz is not gonna go far in my garden, but free is free.

That said, consisting of soybean oil and water (no emulsifiers mentioned or listed), it's probably soy lecithin, a common food ingredient.
It's a simpler mix of Organocide, which adds fish oil and sesame oil to lecithin.
I'm not complaining, but oil sprays have not worked well for me in the past, as a category.
There's a lot of essential oil sprays that seem like they may be more effective, but in the end, they are fundamentally an oil spray.

Dangerous experiment #3
"Insecticidal" detergent.

I made a mix of one tbsp per gallon of Palmolive ultra concentrate.
The only thing I know about it's makeup is it's phosphate free. Doesn't say soap, so artificial detergent is equally likely, if not more so.

Tested on four mite infected plants, small. Also tested on four medium plants known to have thrips.

High contact lethality to mites, quicker than organocide. Organocide leaves them struggling faintly, this is instant.
Middling effectiveness against thrips; the younger, the more effective. More of an immobilizer, really.

No phytotoxic effects noted over 3 days.
So effective I tried it on my plants showing signs of russet mites.

I will continue to use this spray on the four small plants to see if any phytotoxicity occurs from regular use. If not, it enters the spray rotation.

Update on danger soap--
It burns. Slowly. Still a hilariously good one-shot knockdown, but it won't enter rotation. 4oz. conserved for emergency purposes.

Dangerous experiment #4
Diy Safer 3 in 1
Many sources state that sulfur and insecticidal soap shouldn't be mixed, yet Safer 3 in 1 is 12% insecticidal soap and 6% sulfur.

This gets a little wonky in the development, because label measurements are by weight, and liquid soap is sold by volume.

Recipe--
In one gallon of water, add-
2 tbsp Dr Bronners peppermint soap.
(Close as I can get to "potassium salts of long chain fatty acids" though a purely olive oil based liquid soap would be preferable.)
2 tbsp wettable sulfur

These ratios are just a combination of recommended usage rates for each.

Mint and sulfur are smells that are quite conflicting....

This concoction was done to combine the lethality of soap to spider mites and the lethality of sulfur to russets, and also because it's a diy mimic of a known product.
I am running out of bugs to test on (well, easily visible ones), so my experiment results are merely this--
Doesn't seem to burn plants. Dr Bronners is indeed gentler than Palmolive ultra concentrate.