Quote:
Originally Posted by DonDuck
I've never had them and I don't do preventative spraying. The summer isn't over so I may still have a nasty surprise this year.
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I never knew I had them either til I started staggered planting and having tomatoes from March thru November. I used to think that all tomatoes were just done in late July or early August and were dying a natural death. I have since found out that many varieties can live over 7 months if no diseases or pests take them out. Before I rarely had plants that lasted into late summer so I rarely had any spider mite infestations that I knew of but now I suspect those times in the past when we had unusually hot dry summers that they were the culprit in the early death of my tomatoes. Once I started grafting and had less concern with RKN, fusarium and Bacterial wilt I had to deal with diseases and pests through the hottest months of the year I found that spider mites could show up anytime with the right conditions and learned to recognize the signs of them attacking my plants.
I was not surprised at them showing up much earlier than normal this year since the weather conditions were ideal for them from early May on. I was so hopeful the bit of rain we had a few weeks ago was the end of that weather pattern for the summer but with the end of those few damp days the weather went right back to that bone dry very hot conditions with no rain at all for nearly three weeks and they returned before the rain could get here and help keep them at bay. Finally after spraying the plants for spider mites yesterday morning we got 2 inches of rain last night but it may be too late now as I am sure there are millions of their eggs now ready to hatch and the rain washed away the Pemethrin, soap and DE which would have retarded them from thriving again. With more rain possible I will have to still keep spraying until their life cycle is broken or until the plants die. I went out and checked on the plants first thing this morning and the extent of the damage they did in just a day or two was very disheartening. I need to get out there this afternoon and remove as much of the severely affected leaves as possible and spray the remaining leaves and hope the spider mites haven't spread too far and multiplied too fast to save the plants that look like they could still be productive this season.
Despite the spider mites and the extreme heat and drought this season I have had some of the best tomatoes I have ever eaten. I did not have the really huge ones that I sometimes get but did have a very good crop of large and extremely tasty fruits. The wife and I have put up almost as many tomatoes as we usually do and we have given away bushels to friends and family. I am not terribly upset with the situation but would like to keep a few plants alive for fresh eating until frost if it is at all possible. I hope to be able to remove all the older plants that have little hope now that they have had a return visit from our little friends and concentrate on trying to salvage some of the newer less damaged plants. This will also allow me to start getting some areas ready for fall planting earlier than usual and if the weather permits I might actually get some fall crops into the garden as early as I would like to but rarely get to do.
Bill