store bought spider mites?

[slugworth]

I bought some hot pepper plants july 28th and just noticed all the plants have spider mites.
These plants were never outdoors and I used fresh potting soil.
It had to be in the soil when I bought the plants.
I heard of another greenhouse that neighbors were complaining of spider mites months ago.
I thought the plants were a bargain but I guess not.
I was going to grow them under lights for next year.

[slugworth]

It just dawned on me,tomato plants from the same source did poorly outdoors.
Probably the same woes.
The tomato plants weren't cheap.

[slugworth]

They may have been originally in one or 2 plants and spread.
One pan of 4 plants that were segregated are still ok.

[MissS]

I learned my lesson years ago. I will no longer buy tomato plants or soil for my garden. It's just too risky. I have enough problems with seed sent that was not fermented so it carries disease.

[ddsack]

The worst pest I ever brought into my house was scale on a large dracaena plant bought from some chain store. It infected my potted lime, lemon, and orange trees and I have been fighting it for over 30 years. Just spent three hours washing each leaf and woody branch of the orange tree with dish soap and a rag, removing all the scale shells and immature scale (I hope) before bringing them back into the house for the winter. But I know that in a couple of months I will see a gradual return of some that got missed. Have yet the lime and lemon trees to wash this weekend before the expected freeze/frost on Monday and Tuesday nights. It also infected other house plants, including a bay tree and my staghorn fern.

[slugworth]

I am going to start my own seeds next year and try to avoid store bought plants, but it is tough when you have to walk past them without blinders on.

[slugworth]

I learned my lesson years ago. I will no longer buy tomato plants or soil for my garden. It's just too risky. I have enough problems with seed sent that was not fermented so it carries disease.

Decades ago I had a friend that had an old stove out in the garage and he would actually bake soil before using it.
Fresh soil and soil from old potted plants.Open garage door so he wouldn't stink up the place.
I was thinking of doing the same with a cheap microwave oven from goodwill and cooking the soil outdoors.

[slugworth]

I use a long butane lighter to dry roast the little rascals without cooking the plants.

[worth1]

I would be so tickled off.

[slugworth]

The plant kicks into wildfire mode.

[slugworth]

I have the plants outdoors in 40 degree F temps to see if that will kill the pests without doing the same to the plants.
44.5 °F Now
Feels Like 41.2 °F

[Tim DH]

Hi Slugworth,
I DO microwave seed compost, so that my precious tomato seedlings get a clean start. I can't be bothered with the faff of doing larger quantities. Given that I have problems with soil pests, growing the tom seedlings sterile, prior to grafting, makes sense to me.

Tim DH

[slugworth]

I brought the pepper plants indoors to avoid a frost tonight.
The cold temps recently may have done the trick getting rid of the mites.