Garden Post - WHAT'S A SPIDER MITE?!

So a couple weeks ago, I noticed that our marigolds were starting to... how do you say it.... look a bit under the weather... I thought, MORE WATER! HAVE SOME PLANT FOOD!

No avail..

They kept getting browner and browner...

and browner...

till finally today, I walked over to them to see what was going on...

and I thought, wow... is that a spider web? 

And it wasn't... 

What it was was even better (and by better I mean I'm officially the most grossed out person on the planet). 

Because you see all those little red specks?

Those aren't part of the web. They MADE the web. 

It's THIS!

This my kind friends is a spider mite... and they're ALL OVER OUR MARIGOLDS. 

I have the heebie-jeebies as I write this. I'm actually vomiting all over myself, because since discovering them. I feel like they're crawling all over me. The vomit is the only way to make me feel better... ugh. ugh. ugh. UGH. 

Lesson learned?

Spidermites like hot, dry climates. They thrive in them. Pro-tip? Water more often, because honey you can't kill them once you've gotten them. 

Now all of our marigolds are in white trashbags, to be thrown out Wednesday. 

I found out, so you didn't have to, 

Happy Gardening!

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