Hey guys I recently got a new job, thank god, despite the job situation going around, and I have been away from the garden for the better part of the week, I returned yesterday to discover that my tomato plants are infested by Spider Mites. I mean some plants have at least some tips completely covered by these small critters, one plant has been going from green to a off yellow-greyish color in the last week.
I need to do something! Please help me, my fig trees are a couple feet away, and dont want this to spread.

(I keep my fig trees there because I built a shade area, 50%, covering the veggies about 13x13ft)

If you can see them, then it is t spider mites. Spider mites are so small you will see the webbing they make before you'll see a mite.

Are you sure you aren't dealing with aphids? Can you post a picture please? Myself and about two dozen others at F4F grow heirloom tomatoes and can probably ID the bugs in two seconds flat.

The (tiny) "White Flies" also love tomatoes.

Usually aphids are not too much of a problem on tomatoes, more so on heirlooms but I grow them commercially and not too much problems, a few that I did not spray and they left on their own or were parasitized by rouge wasps.  For spider mites you will see speckling or stipples and to kill them I would recommend spraying with floramite or avid or even forbid, but the thing that will help out the most is break them down with water to knock them off the plant so you could just get away with insecticidal soap and knock down with water after spray, spray every 5 days for 3 sprays and that should do it.

Thanks for your advice, I just got home from the Nursery where I got NEEM Concentrate (Organic) for the spider mites, and BT Worm killer for the caterpillars eating my Romaine and Iceberg lettuces :(
And just to throw in the 'just in case' I got some diatomaceous earth to spread around the garden.

Here's the pictures Jason
(Roma Tomatoes with a few spider mites, really small) Damage is evident :(

(One of my fig cuttings with spider mites!!!)


(My poor tomato plant)

Spider mites alright!

Just North of Los Angeles. Not dry, but very very hot. 95ish avg. this past week. A couple 100's the last couple days.

moderate temp and dry.


that's a first for me.  i've never seen anything like that before.

The temp under that area is always a good 7-10 degrees less, the 50% shade cloth really works well there. Its usually kept moist just because there are so many different veggies growing there.

You can do a lot to control spider mites just by spraying the hell out of them with a solid jet of water.  It won't undo the damage though.

Is there more of a chance of spider mites and other pests if the plants are under shade cloth?

I hope not because to know the temp is 7-10 degrees less is welcome news.

What kind of insecticidal soap do you use? 

Thanks,

noss

I use safers end all.

I've read somewhere that Spider Mites love the heat and dry weather, so the hotter and drier the better for them.
I didn't use any soap or any kind of pest control on my plants until I noticed this, I had some Home Defense spray that I used around the perimeters of the garden to keep the ants away, but nothing on the plants.
I did my first application of NEEM Concentrate (NEEM Oil extract and water) and BT Worm killer on the plants and woahh today its like a ghost town in the garden, not even ants in the ground because of the diatomaceous earth I sprinkled all over.

I will do this all over again next Saturday the latest unless I get some time after work before then.