Have been wintering 3 Kumquat trees in the basement and then putting them outside in summer. On their 3rd year now. This year there was a good crop of fruits. However, they take forever to ripen- all winter, basically by the window and under grow lights- and of course since they winter in the basement, spider mites are inevitable. I've learned to spray these at first sight, before things get out of control. However, although these trees produced a lot of fruit, all of it tasted bad (although it looked fine). Quite frankly I believe it was the neem oil that ruined the taste of the kumquats- although they were thoroughly washed before eating. After all, the stuff stinks horribly. Its not hard to imagine this being sucked up into the fruit, and throwing the flavor off. My question is, what are people using for spider mites besides this that you've found effective, does it smell better and has it affected the taste of citrus?
How big are they? If not too large giving them a good shower every so often knocks off most of the spider mites off and keeps things under control, and the water does not hurt the great kumquat taste. I have also used horticultural oil, and it washes off and does not seem to change the flavour of the kumquats. I have heard you can use food-grade oils such as canola, but have not tried those.