Finding Abamectin Miticide for Dahlia Spider Mites - September 2026

Over the past few weeks, I've made mention of a challenging infestation of Spider Mites that have come to take over a good swath of the dahlias in the sideyard.  Despite treating them multiple ways, they seemed to stick around and continue to attack the plants.

I started by spraying everything with my normal miticide - Bifenthrin.  That has (historically) done the trick.  But, either the Spider Mites are immune to it, or I wasn't mixing it strong enough.  Because, they not only survived, they seemed to grow.  And take over more plants.  I did all the non-synthentic things, too.  Like...giving the plants a STRONG spray of water to knock the mites off.  And, I went for two-plus weeks with a heavy-hand of Neem Oil concentrate.  I sprayed the tops of the leaves.  I sprayed the bottoms of the leaves.  I sprayed the stems.  I sprayed the soil.  I sprayed the blooms.  

Nothing would stop these freaking Spider mites.  They were simultaneously attacking:  

1 Ivanetti Dahlia
1 Milena Fleur Dahlia
1 Burlesca Dahlia
1 Crichton Honey Dahlia
1 Brown Sugar Dahlia
1 Pooh Dahlia
1 Saint Martin Dahlia
1 Pink semi-cactus Dahlia (not sure the variety)

The plants were changing color.  Becoming brown and paper-like.  I continued to cut off the dead blooms and collected them and threw them away in the trash.  

And, in my frustration, I tried to find new solutions. 

The one that worked (or...at least SEEMED to work) is a new (to me) miticide:  Lucid.

Someone online suggested Avid (the name brand) and Lucid (the generic) as a good Dahlia miticide. According to Google:

Lucid is "a professional-grade, broad-spectrum spray and tree-injection treatment containing abamectin (0.15% EC) as its active ingredient.  Abamectin (starts working on contact and exhibits translaminar movement within plant tissue)."

Emphasis, mine.  

It works both on contact AND (this part is important), it seems that the miticide gets sucked up into the foliage (plant tissue) and the....when the mites BITE the plant...they get a little taste of miticide with each bite.  

  And....Google says this in terms of targets:

Target Pests: Controls spider mites (two-spotted, carmine, southern red, spruce, European red), broad mites, cyclamen mites, rust/bud mites, and leafminers. It also suppresses thrips, whiteflies, aphids, scale, and lace bugs.

Spider mites.  And a bunch of types. 

How did I know I had Spider Mites?  Well...the damage was indictive of them.  But, I also learned about the white-paper test.  I took a lined index card out to the plants.  Stuck it under some buds/leaves.  And shook the plant.  Little spots would drop onto the card.  The lined nature of the card made it easy for my eyes to see them moving around.  

So...we bought a small jug of Lucid.  The mixing ratio is very light.  Like less than one ounce per gallon of water.

I went around and sprayed everything.

The next day, I went out and did that same white-paper test.  I shook the leaves and the same spots fell out of the plant onto the card.

But this time...they weren't moving.  They were.....dead.

I took my finger to 'smear them' and they all created these red lines.  Interesting.

Now...the plants were still in trouble.  So much destruction took place that they were almost naked.

But, the pests were (seemingly?) gone. 

I continued to water everything in.  I clipped off some of the really bad, dead leaves.  And waited a few days.

Soon...I was seeing some new, green growth.  WITHOUT SPOTS.  WITHOUT the signs of Spider Mites eating away the leaves.  Seeing that new, fresh, un-attacked foliage was the surest sign that the mites had been beaten back.

Below are some photos.  You can see the darker, shiny green foliage that has emerged after the mites are gone.  Compare it with the other, dull and dappled foliage that is mite-infested:

It took three-plus weeks to battle these guys and that has cut the flower production significantly.  But, September and October are the months when we see the most blooms.  Here's hoping there's enough time for these to fully recover and begin producing.