Well, they were once flourishing now I'm noticing things that weren't there when I bought them!

Pulled out the wife's professional camera and got some great pictures that I posted below.

1st. Is it a spider mite or just a regular spider? He/she has a good small web you can see and had some other single webs going from stem to stem and even from plant to other plant.

2nd. What is the cause of these leaf distortions? Some look like something is eating them, some look like it was scratched by something and some just look plain old deformed.

3rd. Is all that white and brown crusty stuff normal in the stem to stock area? Others have black crusty stuff.

4th. A few leaves look like a snail or slug just traveled across the leaves.

5th. Couldn't get a good picture but I have some house hold ants that love to eat or (just plain chill out) right at where the stem meets the stock. After about 20 seconds they walk down the stock and then vanish in the soil.

If it is spider mites how do I safely get rid of them? If not a spider mite how do I safely remove it and not damage the plant
Is the deformed and distortion leaves a lack of fertilizer? (I've put some Osmocote in a few inches of the top of soil when I repotted them)
Is there possibly some other bugs or spiders I can't see doing something to my plumerias?
I thought ants liked sugar? what are they doing on my plumerias?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Yes, though mites come in all colors, it looks like the web of a mite to me! Get rid of them before they infest all your plumeria like they did mine this summer. I first tried Natria from Lowe's/Home Depot, an insecticidal soap. It is too hot for Neem oil, an organic -way of ridding mites. I had to resort to insecticide, used Spectacide Triazicide to get rid of them. They will suck the color our of your leaves, have babies by the 1,000's who will do the same. Soon, you will lose your plant. Get rid of them.

Oh no...... We just got them about 3 weeks ago from home depot during there Hawaiian week.
We have a total of 9 plants and 5 cuttings. The cutting we brought back from Honolulu is doing great with 2 big leaves and 2 new ones coming out

Where did you get your insecticide at?

I spoke to the Spectracide rep who happened to be at Lowe's. I told him after fighting them with a full bottle of Natria, I an in no better mood about these bugs. This is humid Houston. We are FULL of bugs! So I asked him to recommend one. This is the first year I have had this problem. They are gone I think? Now we battle sunburn.

Spectracide® Triazicide® Insect Killer for Lawns & Landscapes Concentrate

Does that sound like the one you used?

You have both a regular spider(pic 1 is a small jumping spider) a spider mite could hide on his eye they're so small!
Jumpers don't spin webs, the webbing In your other pics looks very much like spider mite web!
Kudos on the pic showing it!

In my experience, combating them is basically a waste of time, and money if you use chems, not only that, but the chems needed are quite likely to burn your plants up...
Insecticide will NOT work! Mites are arachnids, you'd need a miticide... Again, you better really love those plants to justify the price!

Believe it or not... The best cure for mites is going to be high humidity and low temps, there's any number of ways to do this, literally thousands of pages are online about combating them, and combat is the word!

The truth is, these nasty buggers are everywhere this time of the year!
Every breeze that blows by... Carries a mite or 3!
They're amazingly resilient creatures, you can draw your own conclusions, but I've decided it's easier to live with them than fret about them... Keep an eye out, be proactive, you can keep them down to a minimum, maybe even convince yourself there gone... But just keep an eye out...

Yes@lucky. That is what used. Kills like, 240 insects including different kinds of mites. Thing is about pesticides, they often kill beneficial bugs, too. Like the ones that eat mites. I thought long and hard about it before using a pesticide. In the meantime, the mites were spreading to other plants, practically killing my geraniums. For me, it was time to stop the infestation and the risk of losing plants. Weigh it out. Isolation was not an option for me. Too many plants were infected. But it may be an option for you. One plant can simply be hosed down roughly literally washing the webs and their eggs off the plant. They hate that! Good luck. Let us know how it is doing. It's a pain, i know!

Thank you all for your help. As you mentioned, I did research a lot of way to get rid of spider mites and it seems there is a very broad area in different ways.
The only thing I can add is when I found that jumping spider you mentioned. It was because it was hiding in the web. It was right smack in the middle of it. The only reason it came out of it was because I was moving leaves to try and get a picture of it. I saw the web itself was not seen of how big it was until I broke out the professional camera to take a picture of it.
As for right now, I used a spray bottle of just warm water and gave the plant a good drenching. I read though that the spider mites are most commonly found on the leaves. This web was right smack in the middle of the plant where newly formed leaves were starting to develop.
On another note, our neighborhood area is heavily infested with all sorts of spiders including but not limited to black widows and daddy long legs.
Wiki says that insecticides are only to be used once or twice as spider mites can start to become immune to them.
Wiki also mentioned as you did to cover the pot and soil with a plastic bag and use a hose with a gentle sprayer and give the plant a good bath. Especially under the leaves. I think I'll give that a try too

Well, I will do what I can, but have to leave for military duty tonight for 4 days. Hope when I get back it's not a big infestation.

I just gave them a good bath with a plastic bag around the pot and soil then put them in the shade

Now that they are all dry went to put them back on the front porch and guess who is back!
@Swayback that black jumping spider as you called it is in the same exact spot on the same exact plant.

It doesn't move around a lot. It just like to chill where that web "used" to be! It's about the size of a small pebble. So it's too small for me to get with my fingers
Could it be that it eats spider mites? I could have sworn I brushed it off last night. Plus after the bath, it's still there!!!!!!

Apparently you have found yourself with a "pet", Lucky.

Looks more like regular spider web to me. Spider mites are so tiny that the only way to really tell for sure is when they start sucking your leaves tell they turn dry or when you brush the under leaves with a wet white paper towel and you see the little black spots or by using a magnifying. Lense.

For the first time this year I've seen a few of my plumerias with leaf distortions similar to yours or maybe even worse. The only thing I can think of is I did put a generous amount of slow release fertilizers when I reported then but With a lot of rain. I probably have overfertilized them.

Some of the imperfections on your leaves are most likely regular wear and tear on the life of your plunerias.

I guess it's possible the jumper is eating them, but it's probably just staking out its favorite spot, I name mine, they regularly frequent the same spots... They physically can't bite humans, and are a blast to watch hunt!

When I was at my wits end, I resorted to spraying as well, the only thing that I found decent results with was a homemade mix made from vinegar...
This page contains a similar recipe.
http://spidermite.info/spider-...

You can't really spray the bugs off with a hose, they hate it! But the webs and many mites will remain unless you do it ALOT!
The vinegar in the mix actually dissolves the webs, and the mites!
But it won't kill all the eggs, nor will it kill any mites that are in stasis in the soil... But it's very satisfying to spray and watch it bubble, that's it melting them away!
Beware! 20-30 mins after you spray this mix, you must wash it off!
That same rough blast from the hose will wash it off fine, no scrubbing needed.
Just being conscious of them, and staying on it is your best bet, total eradication is basically a pipe dream.

GigiPlumeria said:Looks more like regular spider web to me. Spider mites are so tiny that the only way to really tell for sure is when they start sucking your leaves tell they turn dry or when you brush the under leaves with a wet white paper towel and you see the little black spots or by using a magnifying. Lense.

For the first time this year I've seen a few of my plumerias with leaf distortions similar to yours or maybe even worse. The only thing I can think of is I did put a generous amount of slow release fertilizers when I reported then but With a lot of rain. I probably have overfertilized them.

Some of the imperfections on your leaves are most likely regular wear and tear on the life of your plunerias.

Pic 4 shows what I identify as mite webs, notice how sweep up towards the plants but sag in the middle, that's a dead ringer for mites!
They only use webs as a means of travel and just spin behind themselves as they go, their webs can't catch anything, they're very weak, and not sticky.
None of the damage I see looks remotely like mite damage.

Thank you all for your help. I really do appriciate it. I will now start to watch out more for these spider mites.

Here are some other pics I got of the web.

I wonder if you can remove the mites webs by using q-tips. That will disrupt their habitat.

The slightest touch will crush them, even wiping them with your hands, a tiny brush, anything will reduce their numbers.

My screen is very small, so it's hard to say for sure, but I think I see little mites in those webs, many people will need a hand lens to see them, they are in fact very small... But if you pick one little dot and watch it a while, it'll move if it's a mite!
Once you get an eye for them, learn their trucks and a few of your own, you'll be able to spot them in no time!

Got questions about inflourescence. I live up north and bring the plants inside. My plumeria stopped flowering and the terminal Thyrsiform inflourescences (the stem where the buds and flowers come out of) remained. Do I remove that stem to encourage more flowering ? Or do you leave it and have more flowers come out of the same stem? I cut one off and left one. If you want cut flowers do you take the stem and all or just remove flower by flower?
chirogardener

I simply leave mine as-is, @ryan91. Sometimes, when their "season" begins again, they will re-bloom. But often they will not and that stem will simply drop away. I am not sure there is an advantage when removing them or leaving them. I am sort of a "let-nature-do-its-thing" guy.

By the way, welcome to NGA/ATP.

ryan91

I never remove the flower stem. You have a chance of more flowers later or even a seedpod!

To harvest the flowers I always take them off one by one. Removing the entire inflo - where the flowers generally do not bloom all at once - will diminish your chance of more flowers later since I find they do not generally continue to bloom reliably in a vase.

Does anyone know what is happening here? It started small and on one of the leaf stems now it is on every single one of them and yesterday a leaf fell off. Some of them are turning yellow and some of them are curling up.