rafatopalian
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Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 10:09 pm

Having Hard Times w/ My Chinese Elm - Mites & Worms Help?!

Hello everyone,

New to the forum, so HI! :) My name is Rafaela and I'm oh so very new to the Gardening business!

Back in April, I was surprised by my boyfriend with a lovely Chinese Elm, which I decided to name Burton. I live in NY and even though the buildings are tall, my apartment gets enough natural light during the day (3h-4h direct sunlight; brightness all day long).

Recently, I discovered Burton was suffering from a Spider Mite infestation on its leaves. I went to Home Depot and purchased an Insecticidal Soap (https://thd.co/2tLvcuy) and treated the leaves every 3 days with the spray, for a total of 3 weeks, as it was told to me by Home Depot workers. Luckily, the Spider Mites disappeared from the leaves. Unluckily, they found their new home on the soil of my dear Burton. :( I've been trying to treat it with the same insecticidal soap, but I haven't been seeing any improvements to it.

As if that wasn't enough trouble, I discovered, two days ago, that there are some extremely tiny white worms on the soil. Upon researching what it could be, my best two guesses is that it is either earthworms or grindal worms - although I don't see either being precisely it.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I thought about repotting Burton and making sure I really clean it out before repotting, or perhaps treating it with something a little stronger (although I don't want to harm it further). Has anyone ever been through something like this? Does anyone have any tips on what I can try to do, in order to save it? I've watched several videos on YouTube but am still skeptical as to the approaches taken by the owners, seen no one had to deal with a Chinese Elm nor had the same issue.

Really do hope I can find an answer. (or multiple answers hehe)

Thank you! :)

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Without looking at them, my best guess is that what you are seeing are not the same spider mites that were on the upper foliage and the "worms" are not earthworms.

If extremely tiny, one possibility I could think of is fungus gnat maggots -- is the soil being kept rather moist?

Mites -- I occasionally get what looks like red mite-looking things in the soil. I haven't decided if they are bad or not, because they are rather big and visible to unaided eyes -- typically bad ones are tiny and predatory mites are bigger -- but they must be some kind of soil mites.

If what you are seeing are not round but narrow and they jump, then they would be springtails, also tending to appear in soil that is too moist.



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