I noticed small webs at the base of my leaves on my rubber tree plants. I’m assuming spider mites but haven’t found anything I can see with the naked eye. I showered the plants with cold water (front and back of leaves) and now they are quarantining. I bought neem oil today. Should I water the neem oil down to prevent plant damage or add soap to it like some say? Looking for the best option without causing damage to the plant! TIA ☺️
Spider mites
0 Mi piaceRight, I figured that part out but my question is referring to the use of neem oil.
0 Mi piace Yes you can use that or an insecticidal soap
0 Mi piace Look up recipes on pintrest
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Bug Clear Ultra. I haven’t found Neem oil to be that effective and if anything can hurt a plant more if you don’t get the concentration right in your mixture and you end up clogging the leaf pores, especially since Neem oil requires continuous spraying several times a week when an infestation is present. I spray my own rubber plant once every 5 weeks or so with bug clear ultra and that seems to work. I am, however, now considering using Floramite which is what the industrial gardens use, but it is pricey and you only use it twice a year. But, rubber plants are very hardy so, long as you treat it now it should be ok!
1 mi piaceThis is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much!!
1 mi piace No worries! You’ve done the right first step by completely showering the plant. Mine is sadly too big for that! And I’ve noticed that spider mites take up residence in different places depending on the plant. On rubber plants they do indeed tend to like making their webs at the base of the leaves where the leaf stalk joins onto the main plant trunk. Spider mites once you have them are hard to get rid of and will require keeping on top of them frequently :-)
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