Bamboo mites

[Tarzanus]

I have quite severe bamboo mite infestation. I have no clue how they came since I only planted my own seedlings lately and none of my previously bought bamboos were infected.
Is there a way to fight the darn little creatures without poisoning everything or cutting bamboo down completely.
I tried spraying boos with water regularly and it did little or nothing. I think I saw the little buggers laughing at me.

[needmore]

I have them on 2 plants and I clear cut one, dug it out/potted and the new crop seems to be mite free so far. My other one is so interesting I hate to clear cut it and it still has the mites so I'll be interested to learn if you find a 'cure'. I'm hoping for a systemic miticide.

[Tarzanus]

I hope that high mite population attracts some kind of predator or contagious pathogen that would eradicate them.
It's interesting that Ph. aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' was hit the most last year and there's a lot less mites on it this year compared to Moso which was practically mite-free last year.
My arcana seedlings are also infested this year, last year there were no mites there since it's located away from other bamboos.

I really don't know how these suckers came. Nearest bamboo is 300 meters away and it seemed healthy last time I saw it. Perhaps someone bought an infected bamboo as a potted plant for the patio or balcony. I saw highly infested bamboos in one of the D-I-Y home depot centers. Someone got sc...ed and scr...ed me (my bamboo) as well.

Miticide systemic would be awesome.

[fredgpops]

I experienced a 1/2 acre infestation of mites abt 4 years ago. It seems to have started in a small grove of temple bamboo. Why and how unknown. One local grower said he had also been infested by mites and that it had started in his temple bamboo. I contacted around 5 bamboo nurseries/growers in a few states about their experiences/control of bamboo mites. Response was good. The best solution I found was Talstar. I would recommend this for severe cases only.
For small infestations strip leaves and spray with less potent mite repellents. Rgds

[Chris S]

My sympathy Tarzanus, how did we get to this situation? You could blitz your entire ecosystem with Talstar in the EU until 2011, when it was banned across the EU. As well as being toxic to birds, most aquatic organisms, honeybees and earthworms, it is also an endocrine disrupter and neurotoxin in humans, causing tremors and staggered gait, as well as being a possible human carcinogen. (Loss of such hard-won environmental protection if we leave the EU is just one of the very many horrors of Brexit)

The other alternatives are a small thermonuclear device detonated approximately 100m above your property, or simply cutting affected bamboos to the ground, burning or clearing it all away and waiting a few months for nice fresh vigorous healthy regrowth. The choice is yours.

If you have explored the nooks and crevices of bamboo plant with a good hand lens, you will appreciate the huge number of hitch-hikers they inevitably carry. As well as the known pests, there are the unknown ones we have yet to be scared by. When I get a new bamboo, I remove all top growth, or at least grow it inside a plastic bag until I am sure it is strong enough, then cut it down to the soil and watch those nice clean shoots come up. If I see a plant in a nursery or garden centre with pests, I flash my senior citizen's railcard at an employee, show them the pests, and say that I am from the Ministry of Agriculture and that they must destroy these plants before we come back for a thorough inspection, or we may have to close down the whole nursery, then leave quickly.

The mites and other pests are easily spread by fluttering feathery bird wings, and by flicking squirrel tails, so unless we treat infestations quickly and thoroughly they will only spread and be back again.

[Tarzanus]

Chris, I am certain they hitchhiked birds, just have no idea who has an infested grove nearby. Well, now we all have them I guess. The vermin started spawning in my 'lamatempel' (spectabilis) which is full of sparrows. Sometimes the whole grove moves as they start fighting for top positions inside. I think they somehow managed to have their offspring inside - that puzzles me, because bamboo is flexible and most if not all the nests fall down just as fast as they can build them. That bamboo is much better this year (knock-konck) so perhaps the winged stinkers might have gotten me something that feeds on them as well. Last year 50% or so of the leaves became at least partially yellow, so far there are only mite webs on several leaves, you actually have to look for them. as for all the other bamboos...
Phyllostachys Arcana seedlings are highly infested with at least 90% of the leaves affected. Moso seedling as well.

The only unaffected bamboo this year and last year is Borinda fungosa (gaolinensis?). Mites don't seem to like it at all.

Even if I would decide to use some kind of miticide, I would need to cut the majority of the growth down. Phyllostachys aureosulcata ' Spectabilis' (lamatempel if it really is what I bought) is closing on 10m height and it's getting hard to imagine spraying it. Besides, there's a whole ecosystem in and around that bamboo, including a pond, which would get devastated as well.

I'm still hoping the abundance of mites will attract predators.

PS: there are predating mites that can be bought, but they are not allowed to be used outside in the open. You can only use them in a controlled environment inside a greenhouse.

Thermonuclear idea seems tempting. I'll ask ayatollah if Iran can spare some for a good cause.

[fredgpops]

Fred from Chernobyl by the sea. No I am not on a respirator and no the local creatures have not deserted or died off. Let's start with the scope of the problem. At the time of the infestation, I had 109 bamboo species in my collection. About 1/3 to 1/2 became infested, several were large groves that posed difficult problems because of their height (25 to 50ft tall). Currently my madake grove is probably one of the largest on the Pacific coast. As indicated, I contacted growers for help. None of the. let's call it non-chemical solutions, worked and the infestation continued to grow. As a last resort, I applied Talstar.
I applied one application and had a 80% response. I applied another application to remaining plants and the problem was resolved. I followed instructions and did not see any reduction in creatures (gophers, bees, mountain lions, etc). If you walked through my garden you would be awed by beauty and the positive influence it has on the earth. However, the truth is, bamboo mites don't kill off bamboo. Hard to tell how mother nature would have resolved the problem. In addition, abuse of chemicals has caused problems but abuse of rhetoric isn't been so helpful either. Cheers.

[ShmuBamboo]

I have found that Talstar and Avid (with an ag soap/spreader activator) are the best offensive measure to eradicate bamboo mites. I spray them in rotation to vary their diet so they do not build up immunity. I had a small infestation here last year with them on my Fargesia nitidas. Talstar is a contact spray so you have to spray the entire plants. Avid will not kill eggs so you have to use it repeatedly for a few weeks per session. Avid is translaminar though so it will be effective if you only spray one side of the leaves.

Also Refined Neem oil (70%) works well with ag soap to kill all types of mites. But spray Neem when it is under 70 deg. F or you can get leaf burn. Also another mite spray I found that is effective is hydrogen peroxide at a rate of one to two cups per gallon with ag soap as a spreader. A Neem and H2O2 and ag soap combo is also good, but these are contact sprays so you have to cover the whole plant to kill the mites, and they may or may not kill the eggs if they are under the mite webbing. Mites cannot build up any immunity to Neem, ag soap or H2O2. Neem and H2O2 are pretty harmless to humans and pets.

[needmore]

I actually had good luck with neem last year and did not get any leaf burn even around 100F in shade.

[fredgpops]

Talstar saved my tush re major infestation. Got to have the right gear to protect yourself. I would only use this for major infestation. Follow instructions carefully and use protective gear. Neem did not work for me for large volume situations but may be ok for smaller infestations. rgds

[ShmuBamboo]

Since spraying with talstar and avid a few years ago I have not had any Bamboo mite re-infections here. Where they came from is anyone's guess. Birds, nursery equipment, bugs, pets, whatever. I have had to add using Avid on my cane berries now in the early spring and late fall as there has been an intended western outbreak of broad mites on wild and cultivated blackberries and Cannabis plants. Apparently some university or government agency released them in hopes of eradicating the wild blackberries in the western US. The tried this method before with several blackberry diseases from New Zealand and Australia, with zero long term effects. Other than to release another pathogen into the wild in the US. Stupid is as stupid does. Now broad mites are a menace for all cultivated cane berries and hemp from coast to coast. And the wild blackberries remain as vigorous as ever. Blackberries of all types are having a massive bloom and fruit set this year in the PNW.

Mites mites mites. Broad, spider and hemp. And several different types on bamboos. I am not sure what type my bamboo had, I think they were bamboo spider mites. Avid is not that evil. It is a natural occurring substance found in soil bacteria. It is also photo-sensitive and breaks down pretty fast. Aza-Max is a neem extract that seems to work well on spider and broad mites. So it may also work on bamboo mites. It is listed as a miticide. It is considered 'organic' but why it is organic and Avid is not is beyond me. More stupid is as stupid does... Bee-Safe is another one that you can use. Its a contact or topical oil spray made of mostly sesame oil and fish oil and lecithin. It basically works the same as refined neem oil.

[dependable]

I have noticed mite infestations on a lot of my bamboos this year. They seem to go for some species more than others, but most are affected somewhat. I have perhaps 14 species of bamboo and many sub types.

The mites are new my groves, and I have not introduced any new plants for several years. I'm thinking that it might be related to my groves being an over wintering roost for the last couple of winters for a large number of Robins and Ictarids.

My groves are too big and in too many parts of property to consider spraying them with anything, unless I want to buy a commercial tree spraying rig, and even then, the amount of chemical I would need would be in the 55 gallon drum range.

Has anyone tried the predatory mites that are supposed to help control the bamboo spider mites?

In people's experience here, does the infestation ever kill the groves? Dose level of infestation vary from year to year, or just get worse? My groves were set back pretty badly by freeze event last winter, and now this.

[Tarzanus]

Sorry to hear that. Bamboo mites are really nasty. They came the same way to my bamboo, most likely flew in with the birds, or possibly surfed on the wind.
Some years, bamboos can look ratty and mite infestation is terrible with visibly worn out leaves. They like dry weather and don't thrive if the weather is rainy, especially during the winter.
Mites can't kill bamboo grove, they can only make it look bad. Some seasons hardly visible, some seasons can be terrible.
I've also been thinking about predatory mites but I never really decided to try. Once I did place two old baggies (not nearly enough) with them into my grove, but they were old and the weather was still cold. I don't know if it had any effect on them.
Lately, I noticed some of the predatory insects started lurking around the most affected bamboos. I suspect after last years extremely heavy infestation they learned these mites can also be eaten. This year it is extremely wet with floods, so the mjtes are not really an issue. I guess I will see next year.


I hope you can get rid of them!

[dependable]

Thanks for the reply, good to know it would kill the plants and that damage varies.

I'm looking into predatory mites, trying to figure which species and what release date would be best. I know they won't solve the problem, but population could be established to mitigate, it would still be worth it.

[Tarzanus]

Here, winters are too harsh for commertial predatory mites to survive. I hope local predators start devouring them soon. This year there are hardly any.