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My son's first soccer team was called the Mighty Mites, but that's not
what I'm in a wad about these days.
They love the current conditons in most of the Southeastern United States---heat blasted and bone dry. There have been no long, soaking rains to keep them in check, or wash them away. As a result, they're literally making hay of plants everywhere by sucking moisture out through tiny, pin-prick holes on the undersides of leaves, thus destroying the chlorophyll contained in individual plant cells, causing the host plant to shrivel and die. They're itty-bitty plant vampires. My personal attack on mites is basically thus: Mites wreak havoc on ornamentals, fruits and vegetables. They are incredibly difficult to control, as their minute size makes detection difficult until damamge is obvious to the naked eye. Mites are smaller that the size of a dotted "i" on this screen, and I can't see the little pests even with my reading glasses! If a tell-tale web is visible amidst browining leaves, the host plant is well on its' way to the rubbish bin. Once I find a suspected infestation, I take a leaf and shake it HARD onto a piece of white paper, then examine the loose material with a magnifying glass. Minute red spiders are usually the culprits on camellias, ivies and roses, with the yellow mites appearing more often on vegetation and fruit-bearing trees.
Scientifically speaking, they aren't insects, but are closely related to true spiders. Equally charmless, ticks are also in this category. The phylogenic notation for mites is 'acari' or 'acarina.' General use insecticides are therefore, ineffective as controls. Specific miticdes are not commercially avialble. Those which contain a miticide list it as one of many agents in the product. The miticide agent in these products is weak, at best. I really hate to use miticides on anything edible, but have used them as a last resort on smaller ornamentals. Spray miticides LATE IN THE DAY (after the bees have gone to bed) and use a small stream sprayer to control the direction and location of the chemical. It's also much easier to get underneath leaves with a smaller sprayer. Small plants and those in managable containers can be well saturated with soapy water WEEKLY to remove both the tiny pests and their even tinier eggs. When mites are very active, their eggs can hatch every seven days. I have spayed soapy water on decent sized camellias early in a mite attack with good results, but dilgence is the key here. Horticultural soaps may yeid better results, and are just as safe. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Mighty Mites in Gardening in Southern U.S. is owned by . Permission to republish Mighty Mites in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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