Help banana woes :(

[TdC]

I have a banana tree of which I am quite fond. As of a week or two I noticed that it was (suddenly) covered in ickle insecty monstrositys that I diagnosed as spider mites or what the Dutch call Spint. As Mr Tree was looking very much the worse for wear (suddenly, I mean literally from one day to the next :/) I decided to get a chemical spray to get rid of aforementioned beasties.

Currently I am thinking the chemical's goal is to get rid of the things by killing the tree itself, because since I started spraying I've had to prune 4 of it's leaves although I can't really tell if that's because of the bloody mites or because of the chemical spray.

I have to make a solution of the chemical in water and spray it on the plant. The active ingredient is something called tebufenpyrad and although I can see a shitload of dead mites, there is still a large group of them still causing my plant grief.

Any ideas how to combat these buggers? I don't want my plant to die

 

[Will]

A chemical spray is usually the way to go, as long as you aren't eating bananas from the tree. Unless you've fucked up the dilution, it shouldn't be killig your plant, and the mites shouldn't be doing that much damage. It will take a few days to kill them though.

 

[TdC]

oh no, I'm sticking to what it says on the packet. it's just that despite the huge amount of kills I get, there seems to be no effect on the general populace's total numbers :/

 

[Will]

If you've got a big infestation, it'll take a while to get them all, since I think spider mites lay eggs under the silk protection. You could mist the leaves with water, wipe them down with a cloth, and then spray. As long as you aren't too rough, that should work.

 

[TdC]

I wonder where the bleeders come from tbh. One day there was nothing, the next it was pretty well covered :/

I'll get some paper towels tomorrow and wipe the whole thing down, maybe even using the solution for that as well. Currently the plant looks like cack, which makes me mad something so tiny can damage it that much :/

 

[tris-]

you may need to place tighter restrictions on what your plant is getting upto in his social outings.

 

[Tom]

Bananas don't grow on trees.

/pedant

 

[Chilly]

citric acid spray if you dont fancy going too chemically (you can find it in lemon juice, but the sugar wont do the tree any good).

 

[nath]

(you can find it in lemon juice, but the sugar wont do the herb any good).

</also pedant>

(QI on Dave FTW!)

 

[Chilly]

oh fuck offffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

 

[bob269]

Too many pedantics in here, i'd go for the Trem solution and either burn it to the ground, or axe it to the ground and then for the following few days patrol it with the shotgun

 

[Sharma]

and then for the following few days patrol it with the shotgun

No, that's throddie's plan.

</also also pedant>

 

[mycenae]

buy some ladybirds....they'll eat the little bastards with no damage to the plant!

 

[Yoni]

Completely off topic and stuff... tidy your sitting area!!

 

[Chilly]

women....sheesh.

 

[TdC]

Completely off topic and stuff... tidy your sitting area!!

hey lady, that was a good day!

women....sheesh.

qft!

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Generalising, but a good enviromentally-friendly trick is to place plants near your favoured one that attract natural predators of whats attacking your most beloved. For example, certain types of flowers attract wasps which kill caterpillars and such.

I don't know what's appropriate to your invaders though.

 

[TdC]

death. death is appropriate to them

 

[TdC]

also, I mean, I spray the plant and the beasties all seem to disappear :/ I spray the under- and topside of the leaves and the stem. after about 10 minutes or when the solution dries, they're all back. sure, there are some casualties I guess, but they seem to be awesomely hardy buggers :/

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Bug buster extraordinaire

 

[KevinUK]

Bug buster extraordinaire
<pic>

But will it blend?

 

[Yoni]

But will it blend?

If trained properly it may hoover up TdC's living area also *laughs*

 

[Fweddy]

First you must force the Spider Mites to drop the bananas. Then you must eat the bananas, thus disarming them. You have now rendered them defenceless.

 

[TdC]

But will it blend?

If trained properly it may hoover up TdC's living area also *laughs*

First you must force the Spider Mites to drop the bananas. Then you must eat the bananas, thus disarming them. You have now rendered them defenceless.

yer all cocks

 

[TdC]

yer all cocks

and besides that, today I have taken the fight to the mites on their home ground. eg my banana plant. which they will leave, because as of today it has become extra unpleasant for them. I sprayed it yesterday, and today I took a wet cloth to it and carefully wiped down each leave top and bottom. After I was done my ickle water bucket was yellow with mites, and the plant was actually looking better!

You can wipe the mites right off the leaves, and I'd rinse my cloth out in my bucket every now and then to make sure I wasn't just moving them around. Sure, there are still mites on the leaves, but they're not a patch on the thousands I have destroyed! Oh yeah, mite genocide becomes me. Little barstands ;/

 

[Scouse]

Oh yeah, mite genocide becomes me. Little barstands ;/

I do something similar with ants every year outside my back patio doors. If I don't pummel them with about 30 quid's worth of nasty-ant-death at the very first sign of the little fuckers all my parties end up like this:

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

I've got this vision of Teed's neighbours reporting him for stockpiling weapons of mass destruction then getting stormed by cops in black baby-grows and gas masks.

 

[Yoni]

yer all cocks

Let it be known that due to the immense insult I will come around armed with a new indestructible creature which will be immune to chemically prepared substances and genetically modified to have suction pads on its ickle feet to prevent any amount removal via wiping... oO(must stop playing spore)..

 

[TdC]

lols I hope not. have you made a tdc-spore yet?

 

[Yoni]

no but when I do it will probably resemble a cock *laughs*