Webbing on your plants? Look for spider mites....

Do you have webbing covering plants in your landscape? Or maybe, you have webbing covering some of the leaves on your plants? Check the underside of the leaves for spider mites.

Spiders mites are not insects, but arachnids more closely related to spiders. They are very small, often looking like little dots running around on the leaf surface. If you look with a hand lens, you'll see that adults have eight legs and oval shaped bodies. Immatures resemble adults (except for the first stage out of the egg which only has six legs), but will be smaller in size.

Spider mites thrive and reproduce rapidly in hot weather, so conditions have been great for them the past month. A generation can be completed within a week when conditions are favorable. Plants under water stress can become infested with spider mites. The majority of calls I've received have had spider mites on tomatoes and marigolds.

Spider mites cause leaves to get a speckled appearance, called stippling, where the mites suck juices from the plant. Leaves may also turn a yellow or bronze color and eventually drop off. Leaves and other parts of the plant may also become covered with webbing.

So, as always, what to do about spider mites?

• First off, check that you have an active infestation. Many times people see spider mite damage, but the mites are long gone.
• Ask yourself if you need to do anything or are beneficials doing the job for you.
• Avoid spider mites by reducing stress to your plants with planting in the proper location, watering & fertilizing properly.
• Try knocking spider mites off the plant using high pressure water spray.
• Be aware that sometimes pesticides may cause spider mites to become more of a problem after they are used.

Update on the boy:

My son has a hollow leg. While the doctor has not done x-rays to see if this is true, I'm certain that it has to be true. There is no way he can fit the amount of food into his stomach that he has been eating. I'm terrified of the amount of food he'll consume at 13; I'll have to take on a second job just to pay for groceries!

All in all, he's doing great. His weight is holding steady at around 20 pounds even though he's eating A LOT! He's also moving around constantly when he's awake, so he's burning off all the food he's eating. His latest discovery and new favorite thing is pulling himself up...on anything and everything- the coffee table, the baby gate, the stroller, the couch, some random person's leg. It doesn't matter what; it's all good.



LOVES- pulling up on EVERYTHING, the remote control, chasing the dogs & cats around, dumping out his blocks, his Beebo book. Oh yeah...and fish with fingers....(read Millie Moo by Roger Priddy and you'll know what I'm talking about...fish with fingers creeps Mommy out).