Trouble in Paradise

After growing plants for as long as I have and working in a greenhouse, I am pretty good at identifying the normal pests that bug (hehe) your indoor houseplants.  I look at plants pretty carefully before I purchase them, but no matter what you do and how careful you are, bugs still seem to appear.  

I've been pretty lucky lately, but just noticed the other day that I have spider mites on my gardenia.  Spider mites are tiny little guys that live on the underside of your leaves.  You can tell them by the speckling they create on the top side of the leaf as they suck out the sap.  If you turn the leaf over, you can usually see their presence - sometimes you can see some webs, but usually you see little flecks of white. 

Here is a leaf that has been pretty affected.

Compare that to a shiny green leaf from the same plant that didn't have mites, or as many, on the underside.

It is my fault for not seeing them sooner.  I had a suspicion, but waited until it was pretty obvious and the plant is pretty infested.  So, how do you get rid of spider mites?  Well, luckily, it isn't too hard.  Annoying maybe, but not hard.  Since they are so small and aren't actually attached to the plant, you can spray them off.  I took my plant into the bathtub and trained the showerhead on it.  I'll probably have to do it a few times over the next week to make sure I get them all.  It would have been easier if I had a sink with a sprayer or even a backyard and a hose, but the shower should work fine.  Make sure to get the undersides of the leaf since that is where they are hiding.
Again, I will have to keep watching this plant and am keeping it away from the others.  It will need to get rinsed off a few more times over the next few weeks too.  Of course, you can use pesticides, but especially in my  house, I try every other method before I go the chemical route.
While they live up to their name, pests are one of those things you just have to deal with.  Keeping your plants healthy and making sure to take care of problems before they become real issues is the best way to handle it.