Fortunately for you, it is rather easy to eliminate spider mites. Using a really stiff spray from your hose, direct it all around the lower level of the rose and turn it upward to hit the undersides of the leaves above.

Repeat several days in a row or several times during the week. In most cases, that will take care of the spider mites.

Kate

OMG I cant believe that's all I have to do!
Thanks Dublin
I wish I had realized this before my poor rose was 60% destroyed.
Hopefully she'll grow back bigger and happier.
Thanks!!!

OMG I cant believe that's all I have to do!
Thanks Dublin
I wish I had realized this before my poor rose was 60% destroyed.
Hopefully she'll grow back bigger and happier.
Thanks!!!

Even if every single leaf on a rose has been damaged by a spider mite infestation, Kate's advice will bring the rose back because you have broken the breeding cycle of this pest.

If you live in a hot and dry climate, it's good practice to wash your roses a couple of times a week and then you'll never see an infestation.

Smiles,
Lyn

All that is correct.

Use pesticides, and you will have more spider mites. :-(

Use a garden hose, and you can eliminate mites AND things like aphids. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. :-)

And don't worry -- your naked Pope will grow new leaves, once the mites are chased off.

Jeri

Some insecticides including Sevin and Merit will cause outbreaks. Not fungicide.

Spider mites are normally worst on the lower foliage, which shows pale stippling on the upper leaf surface with the leaves eventually curling and drying out. Mysterious foliar symptoms on the upper or new growth of Florida roses could be chilli thrips.

This post was edited by michaelg on Sat, Aug 17, 13 at 10:44

Hi,

From the land of hot summers and always dry, something those mites love. I do exactly what has been suggested too. I use a good forceful spray of water from the hose on the leaves for a few days in a row. It is so hot that the roses appreciate the wetting, but the mites hate it.

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Fri, Aug 16, 13 at 20:39

Spraying with a hard stream of water is definitely the way to go. I've never dealt with them outside, but they always show up on my indoor cuttings that are waiting to go out in the spring. It's amazing the way they can make a plant look so dried out and half dead. I didn't think growers in Florida had that problem because of the humidity though.

Maude

I didn't think we had spider mites here either, but we do. I saw them with their tiny webs crawling all over. I will now spray my roses with water every day. I used to not spray them for fear of blackspot, but i usually water them in the hottest part of the day to prevent them from wilting so I don't think that will be a problem as the leaves will dry quickly in this heat.
Here is another question, what do you do for thrips?

My tomatoes have been decimated by spider-mites, blast them daily but next day they are right back again, primarily on my wild Everglades 'maters....but none on the roses, so go figure. the chili-thrips have been terrible on the roses however, especially the knock-outs, in my no-spray garden...the only thing I do for the chili-thrips when they get bad is to prune them off...but now is the time to summer-prune anyway as the roses go into hibernation in the heat...be sure to bag those cuttings and get them into the trash, so they don't go right back onto the roses.... they do seem to prefer the buds and the new growth, so when it's like this we just have to accept that we don't have the flowers...they do disappear when it gets colder, and the roses come back to life... the roses like the same weather we do!.....LOL, sally

DSD, I just try to ignore flower thrips (don't confuse with chili thrips). To control flower thrips you have to spray the buds when the sepals crack and again when the bud starts to open. The least harmful insecticide is spinosad.

I'm more concerned with chili thrips (I should have specified). I thought my roses were all suffering from the heat. But now I realize that I think it's the darned chili thrips that have them looking so bad. Any suggestions?

DSD, there is a thread up on controlling chilli thrips.