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Mite guidance
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Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on Sun, Jun 12, 05 at 14:07
| I have never had a severe mite infestation, so I'm at a loss & need some help from those that have seen BAD infestations. I get lots of mail from posters on the forum, & yesterday, I received a photo of a peach tree with what appeared to be the "tent" of some species of tent caterpillar or web worm. The tree is growing in the ground, inside a greenhouse, so there would be lots of heat & little air movement - mite heaven. I had her go out at night to check the web for small caterpillars - there were none, nor is there caterpillar damage evident to leaves.
My questions: Can mite infestations be so severe that the webs take on the appearance of those above listed pests? Even immature fruits are partially encased in this webbing. In the photo, there appeared to be something tiny suspended in the webs, but when I blew up the photo, detail deteriorated. Is this the habit of any mites you might know of? I instructed her in doing the mite test with white paper & told her to isolate the suspended specs & view under magnification, but I have not heard the results yet.
Sorry, but I am unable to post photos to the forum. I hope the info is adequate to confirm whether or not they are likely to be mites. Other thoughts/comments welcomed.
Al |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Mite guidance
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| My thoughts and comments are that I'll bet you would like to see this post moved down the line! Especially since we've put our heads together and solved the problem! ;-) |
RE: Mite guidance
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Wed, Jun 15, 05 at 17:31
| An embarrassed thank you. Off to the archives with it then! ;o) Al |
RE: Mite guidance
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| Ok, are you going to share the answer with the rest of us? I'm rather curious after all this time! |
RE: Mite guidance
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- Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 16, 05 at 23:12
| Sorry. Here's the skinny: After getting some help from Dorie in the way of photos & written input, it was evident that mite infestations can indeed be so bad as to show webbing that looks remarkably similar to tent caterpillars/web worms. The photos that my friend sent had small insects suspended in the webbing that she was able to identify with a magnifying glass subsequent to mailing me the photos. Diagnosis: Red spider mites. I suggested she remove as much webbing as possible by hand & treat with a sharp spray of water followed by an insecticidal soap application. I advised her to follow up with neem oil treatments every two weeks for several weeks. I have found neem very safe and very effective on mites as both an antifeedant and a chemosterilizer (it renders them unable to reproduce). Al |
RE: Mite guidance
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RE: Mite guidance
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- Posted by lola1 z9 Cen. CA (My Page) on
Fri, Jun 17, 05 at 13:27
| Sorry for getting a hold of this so late. Just last week, I noticed in our courtyard, many pansies and violas (which I haven't gotten around to pulling out yet) were encased in webs. I couldn't believe it. My fiance who is actually a grape and stonefruit farmer knew exactly what it was. Mites. I never saw them actually encase an entire plant like a 'tent' as you described above, but that's exactly how it looked. Since these are considered winter annuals here in CA, they needed to be pulled out long ago to make way for the summer ones,---but I just haven't gotten around to it. Last night, I got rid of them and sprayed the surrounding, remaining items with Neem. I'll have to continue to re-spray for a while. |
every 3 days
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| in my experience with web spinning red spider mites, i have found it is best to treat the infected plants every 3 days as their life cycle will cause a fresh hatch of "babies" this often. another thing that you might try to spray with is liquid seaweed(ascophyllum nodosodum). the seaweed doesnt leave any film and is much healthier than the neem oil. |
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