Pink tropical hibiscus

by Jane
(USA)

When I was working for a high end landscaping company as a gardener, it upset me how many plants were just thrown away as the clients' tastes, seasons or plant health changed.

I would give them away to workers or take them home and nurse them back. One of these is a pink tropical hibiscus that was getting tossed because it hadn't been watered by a client who refused to install irrigation of any kind.


I've had it for 5 years now with no problems until last July. I brought home 2 ivies from a chain store. I didn't take the time to look as well as I thought I had...major mistake.

Both poor things were dead in a week and a half from spider mites. When I removed all of the dead leaves, I saw how heavily they'd been pruned, probably trying to fix the problem in the store without being able to spend the time. My hibiscus was the only plant who caught them but now I'm having a hard time getting rid of them.

I tried spraying off the plant every day when it was warm outside. Then I tried nicotine tea (killed the flies that got it outside) but hardly put a dent in the spiders. Then I came here from Google looking for another natural way to stop them.

I have to look up Orthene but the Murphy's passion has been passed down through my Dad's side so I have that. I'll give this a try and really hope it works.