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Palmbob...errr. ...Geoff: I recently tossed one aloe that appeared to have Aloe mites. Since it wasn't a valuable plant, I tossed it in the dumpster, rather than have it near any more plants. I have one Agave parryii 'Huntington Clone' that may have this problem? Never seen anything like it on an Agave before. I applied imidacloprid,...but who knows what the end result will be. Have your tried any of the micro-encapsulated insecticides? X-Clude (timed release Pyrethrum) has been a good chemical for me. Don't have a clue,...as to whether it would work for Aloe mites, but is effective on a lot of other little "varmints" (including ants). Thanks, again, for the very informative article.
I have not tried Imidacloprid, but others have and one says it worked while others have said it 'backfired' and only made things worse. Imidacloprid is an insecticide and, at least in veterinary medicine, has no effect whatsoever on arachnid neuro systems... so I cannot see how it can work on aloe mites, which are not insects. Aloe mites are not hard to kill, just hard to get to. Even diluted bleach will kill them. There are lots of reports of this and that systemic working, but how do they know? Only evidence of something working would be to cut into the plant during and active infection and find only dead mites. Most mite infections on a plant are self limiting- they die out normally, and then reappear somewhere else on another plant... so you could probably use a voodoo doll and it might look like it was working.
Palmbob... Don't know if trying a product called Pest Tabs would work either. This is one of the latest generation of synthetic pyrethroids, with seemingly little "bug resistance" (I don't spray often). I use it in my barn for the wretched flies that we have here. Even though it is NOT listed for arachnids,...there's NO spiders in the barn either, following a single application. The product is somewhat "residual" when used as a premises spray. I used this product in coastal GA too, to eliminate the rampant Black Widow populations we fought in the barn. It is an excellent product to use as it comes individually sealed in foil pouches. Keeps the "chem" off your hands, places where you don't want it spilled. Even though not listed for spiders/mites... would it be worth a try? Years ago, and on my job, I had access to Metasystox, which conquered ANY bug, especially if the plant were literally dipped in the diluted solution. As it was quite toxic to many animals, it is a restricted pesticide, and should be used veery carefully (it might not used at all anymore, because it was beginning to fail as a miticide...as greenhouse over-use was building mite resistance).
As I said, this bug has virtually NO resistance to pesiticides... it is EASY to kill. No need to get a super killing product... the problem is HOW to get the product to the mite... need to find something that either penetrates these galls (like a systemic) or has such a long residual that infections months later can't occur (this would probably mean every bee within a mile radius would be killed, too.. .a real problem...)
I can see your concern, Palmbob. I only had to throw one plant, and label one other plant as something "suspect". If you have a collection of Aloes, this could readily be truly devastating. A systemic is certainly the way to go...but, I don't know of another over-the-counter systemic that is as effective as Imidacloprid. That said,...the over-use of Imidacloprid will also likely cause resistant populations of mealy-bugs, mites,..etc, in the near future. The last thing left standing on this earth,...sadly...will be an insect/arthropod. DO hope, you can find a solution. You obviously have a wonderful collection. What are the nurseries using...as restricted pesticides, to control mites? Anything...? You could possibly quarantine your "suspects", or types of Aloes that may show less resistance to Aloe mites, and treat them singly? This is not easy, if infections can occur months later. Once you have something like this, it can easily become a Plague.
