Hi Steve,
Thanks for elaborating on the Sevin use - esp. as it regards spider mites. I'm not thrilled to learn that I probably already have spider mites trying to gain a foothold in the garden
, but I guess it sort of "comes with the territory." Following Bill's mention of Sevin and your comments, I did a little reading up on things and re-read this excellent link re: spider mites from UCD's IPM series:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7405.html
Besides cautioning against the use of certain insecticide/pesticides, it mentions dry, dusty conditions favoring the spider mites. I didn't really pay much attention to that last year (had enough other things to worry about in the garden at the time). As you no doubt recall, I just have dirt paths between my raised beds, which probably didn't help with the dust and spider mite situation. Hoping to make navigating the garden in my wheelchair easier after rains ('as-if"
), this past winter, I began covering some of the paths with cardboard and later added a medium-heavy landscape (underlayment) fabric on the paths. (I'll attach a photo so you can see what I'm talking about). I wasn't thinking about the spider mites at the time, but I think maybe the covered paths combined with the perforated silver mulch covering the bare dirt in the beds MIGHT (as opposed to "mite"
) help in keeping the spider mite problems somewhat under control (combined with other measures mentioned in the UCD/IPM article).
That's about all I have to say about mites for the moment, but I'm sure the subject will come up again before too long
!
At least for now, the plants are coming along without any new problems.
BTW, so far the landscape fabric is holding up well with the wheelchair use. Time will tell how it REALLY holds up and if the dark color has any major negative effect on the plants as the season progresses.....
Anne