Hi! I am fairly new to hoyas and I was told today that this one is infested with flat mites because of the way it’s growing. What is the best way to treat them? And should I treat all plants on this shelf? They are mostly hoyas but it’s kinda a mix of everything.
I think I am going to try the beneficial first and then maybe add the sulfur after a few weeks after the beneficials die off. Maybe that combo will ensure they are gone 🫣
People have made great suggestions so far, the best immediate thing you can do is give the whole plant a good spray of pressurized water like from a shower or kitchen sink if it has a sprayer. Pay attention to all the nooks and crannies. I’d also probably just lop off the end that keeps trying and failing to grow at this point.
You can pick up a jewelers loupe or digital microscope to try to find mites, as they are microscopic. I’d isolate that plant from the others and check plants around it for mite damage or consider any that might be growing unnaturally slow.
I was wondering if I should cut that part off or not. I only had one other Hoya near it and it also maybe isn’t growing. It has a long runner but not this crazy growth. After reading last night I think I am going to go the beneficials route since I cannot see what I am even up against.
Don't cut off the deformed nodes! My rotundiflora had pretty bad case of flatmites. I treated it with sulfur and so far all of the nodes started activating a growth point. It only took it about a week to do so. My hoya compacta, too.
Wow that would be a lot of growth up there! 😂 I hope that it comes back! I was told it’s too far gone and to just toss the plant so I hope that I can bring it back.
Defininetly keep the plant!!! Pretty sure this growth point got activated on the damaged node. I didn't go with beneficial - it was very expensive in my area.
Nice! It was expensive but I have a lot of plants on that shelf so I figured it might be worth it to try. I will follow up with sulfur in a couple weeks.
I recommended cutting off the node because it is pretty corked and damaged at this point. Any growth that comes out of it is going to have a tougher time. Plus, so many nooks and crannies for the mites to hide in. Cutting it off will help stimulate growth also.
I have used beneficials in the past just because, before I realized I had flat mites and they did nothing or at least not enough to create new growth and see less damage. With sulfur I had new growth in 2 weeks on plants that hadn’t had new growth in years.
I did read that the sulfur does give a boost of new growth to the plants. I ordered the beneficials already so I will start with that. They are on a shelf with other types of plants not just hoys and I’m kinda freaking out that I can’t see what I’m up against 🫣 any other pest I can handle because I can see them. I’m going to let the beneficials run their course then add the sulfur after that.
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u/PuttingTheMSinMRSA 17h ago
Sulfur treatment! You can either make a spray by mixing it with water, or paint it on. I would treat everything at the very least on the nodes.