mites, are they friend or foe?

[mobius]

I saw some tiny bugs crawling on the edges of one of my containers. I managed to get one stuck on a piece of tape and got a good look at it under a 60x micoscope. It was a tiny mite of some kind because it had 8 legs, an abdomen, thorax and reddish-brown head. It's body was a translucent milky white colour.

I don't see any damage or deficiencies to my plants and these guys seem to only hang around the edges of the container of one of my plants. I'm thinking this is just one of those harmless soil mites but I just want to be absolutely sure. How do I make sure they are not spider mites?

I am growing in FFOF soil and have been using molasses the first two weeks of flowering.

 

[mobius]

looking at some pictures, they look a little like "Hypoaspis-miles"

http://www.syngenta.com/global/Biol...ucts/content-images/B21---Hypoaspis-miles.jpg


if they are really these guys i don't want to kill them.

 

[Avinash.miles]

if you arent doing organics... id kill them.
thats just me, im dealing w hemp russet mites right now and ill kill anything.... anything i can or cant see w or w.o magnification. post pics of ur plants, spider mite damage is pretty tell tale, look @ them under a loop and u can tell what they are most likly.

 

[Avinash.miles]

my 2 cents: FOE

 

[Avinash.miles]

duplicate

 

[mobius]

if you arent doing organics... id kill them.
thats just me, im dealing w hemp russet mites right now and ill kill anything.... anything i can or cant see w or w.o magnification. post pics of ur plants, spider mite damage is pretty tell tale, look @ them under a loop and u can tell what they are most likly.

well i'm using fox farm nutes, which is not organic (only big bloom is organic).. but i don't see the point in killing bugs that can be beneficial.

Hypoaspis-miles are supposed to eat fungus gnats, thrips and other nasty critters you don't want. i was thinking of taking a preventive measure and watering with some mosquito dunks in early flower, but now i'm not so sure.

what is FOE?

 

[Avinash.miles]

FOE is the opposite of FRIEND
ur right, bugs can be good or bad.
i just think the amount of BAD bugs potentially do is way more than the GOOD then they are capable of
my 2c

 

[MF Grimm]

Sound like root aphids man. From the description. Just keep an eye out for deficiencies.

 

[Hammerhead]

Knock on wood I have never had mites thank the gods.. I have had Gnats 1x and it was from a contaminated bag of home depot super soil...I have not made that mistake again. Keep your garden clean. Don't leave dirty things around. Clean everything. If you get clones allot you should have a quarantine area to make sure they dont have any issues.. I grow only from seeds. I have Tried clones none survived the trip...I will stay with my seed crops..

 

[Neo 420]

First and center I always say identity the invader before doing anything,. It maybe benificial or it may be a pest. Pics would help...identify then appriopiate measures can be taken. Until then it's a crap shoot......

 

[MIway]

It's next to impossible to specifically identify the critter... Within the soil mite community that is. Like a thousand plus species... That are known... It's difficult to do. Would have to send it in to a University for identification, if they can do it. Usually the only thing we can do is try to identify any problems associated with em and then go to a short list of potential candidates. There's a thread here that discusses soil mites and George Smiley has the heads up for some bad ones. But the odds would suggest its just one of the soil decomposers.

If you see any issues and or problems... Then maybe start worrying. But I highly doubt it's the beneficial you are thinking about. And the spider mites only really crawl around like that when the populations are booming and they go looking for additional territory... You'd see the damage before that.

 

[mcfly420]

do they have very long hairs coming from the rear? hypoaspis doesnt seem to, might try comparing them to the Tyrophagus species. Ive noticed some mites in the same places, with no obvious plant damage, and am thinking about adding predator mites and maybe fungicides. I think they are only eating algae/fungus but dont want them to take over.


Several species of Tyrophagus occasionally attack greenhouse vegetables and ornamentals. They are normally associated with decaying organic matter (e.g. straw bales) in the soil or other growing media. When mite density is high, a portion of the population may move onto plants and can cause injury to young leaves and flowering buds.
The symptoms of damage by different Tyrophagus species are quite similar on the same plant species but they vary greatly from plant species to plant species. On cucumber, melon, and pumpkin seedlings, mite feeding produces numerous small holes and yellowish spots on young leaves
which later become deformed; leaves of mature cucumber may be skeletonized on the dorsal surface. On watermelon, tomato and Capsicum seedlings, infested leaves became lustrous, discoloured and deformed. Ontomato, attacked seedlings become dwarfed and stunted. On Gerbera, mite
feeding in the bud stage results in few fully expanded petals and malformation of the flower base. On begonia, mites damage the anther and cause discoloration to flowers; stems may be dwarfed and show corky streaks. On Viola and cyclamen, flowers become infertile due to mite damage to anthers. On kalanchoë, infected shoots show narrow brown streaks of corky tissue; mites can damage the growing tips and rudimentary leaves and can also induce the development of secondary buds, giving the plant a ‘broomy’ appearance. Light infestation of the flower bulbs produces feeding marks on the margins of the developing leaves, which may become deformed and develop streaks of corky spots.

Tyrophagus putrescentiae
Known as the mould mite, this species is a major pest of stored products and houses. It is known to attack cucumbers in greenhouses in the UK, Poland and Japan. It also occurs on ornamentals such as Gerbera, Viola, Cymbidium orchid, kalanchoë, Freesia, Tulipa and Narcissus in greenhouses in Europe.
This is a relatively small and slender mite (Fig. 8.2.5A), with adult females 320-420 μm long and adult males 280-350 μm long. The body surface is translucent and smooth, giving a shiny appearance. The appendages are also colourless. The eggs are oval and only slightly punctated on the surface.
Prevention of the infestation of the growing media and discouragement of the rapid growth of this species in the growing media can reduce its chance of moving onto plants. The soil or other growing media should be sterilized. Fungicides may be used to reduce fungal food for T. putres-
centiae in the substrate. Soil predatory mites (e.g. Hypoaspis species) may be released to reduce mite buildup in the soil. Phytoseid predators such as Neoseiulus cucumeris and N. barkeri may be used against mites on leaves and flowers.
Parathion, applied as a spray or as dust, gives good control of T. putrescentiae on Kalanchoë, Viola or Gerbera, but dicofol, endosulfan, pirimiphos-methyl and cyhexatin are ineffective.

 

[SeaMaiden]

I can't help you with mite ID, but I'll share my own thoughts on the subject, which tend to be rather starkly different from most growers. My thought is this--if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

In other words, you saw a mite. But, is there something actually wrong? If something's wrong, ok, understood and proceed from there. But if nothing's wrong then, for me, in my world, you don't just go killing things just because you don't know what they are.

I'm landing with the people who say figure out what it is before you decide to nuke it.

 

[mobius]

well i caught another one and examined it closely... definately a mite of some kind, i don't think it's an aphid. i don't see the telltale hairs protruding from the back. it also doesn't look like a spider mite. i only see these guys near the edges of the pot, not even in the soil, they just like to hang around the edges. i am pretty sure i have springtails as well, those were easy to identify. i'm guessing they are hunting the springtails.

pictures of mites i found on the web that look similar:



Amblyseius

Rhizoglyphus (Bulb mites)


hypoaspis miles




I am leaning towards Amblyseius and hope to god it's not a bulb mite because they can be a pest from what i understand. there is surprisingly very little info on the bulb mites i wish i could find out more on them to know for sure if they are beneficial or not.


btw my plants are really healthy from the looks of it and haven't seen any bugs on the plants themselves, nor in the soil, just the containers.

 

[mobius]

OMGNOOO

I just looked a picture of the Tyrophagus putrescentiae

I think that might be it!! Crap. What should I do?
​

 

[thegambler]

Azamax your soil.........don't take a chance. Most mites are the worst things you can have in your garden. Nuke em all..........better safe then sorry!

 

[mobius]

I guess I have multiple species of mites, first time I noticed them they looked like hypoasis miles now I'm pretty sure I also have these "Tyrophagus putrescentiae" or mould mites, which are hunted by hypoasis miles. I guess the mould mites are feeding on the fungi created by the molasses I've been giving the past couple weeks? Are they going to hurt my flowering ladies?

 

[mobius]

Azamax your soil.........don't take a chance. Most mites are the worst things you can have in your garden. Nuke em all..........better safe then sorry!

Yea screw it i'm going to nuke them good. I just hope it's not too late for me.

 

[medicalmj]

OMGNOOO

I just looked a picture of the Tyrophagus putrescentiae

I think that might be it!! Crap. What should I do?
​

I spent dozens of hours watching the feeding habits of different soil mites under a stereoscope. I highly doubt you have mould mites or hypoaspis miles. You either have an Oribatid or Astigmatid type mite. Both feed on either bacteria or fungi. And are a sign of a healthy soil system. Look up "mouth(parts) feeding soil mites" videos. The Histiomatidae (an Astigmatid mite) has a very specialized mouth part for feeding on bacteria. You will see this mite moving back and forth over roots and soil. It's slower moving than the Oribatid type mite, which moves rather quickly and is usually smaller than the Histiomatidae. The Oribatid will have longer, and specialized, front legs than the Histiomatidae. Again I have observed both of these and their feeding habits. And they are nothing to worry about. I have both mites in my garden.

The reason I doubt you have mould mites is because you WILL have lots of mold somewhere for them to appear. And Hypoaspis miles would be nice to have since they're predators, but they don't flourish like the two mentioned mites in soil and need to be replenished in most enviroments to use as a benificial.

That being said, they are at least 1200 species of Oribatid mites in North America alone. I suspect that our community has a limited variety however, due to the nature of clone sharing and the type soil distributors we rely on.

 

[medicalmj]

I guess I have multiple species of mites, first time I noticed them they looked like hypoasis miles now I'm pretty sure I also have these "Tyrophagus putrescentiae" or mould mites, which are hunted by hypoasis miles. I guess the mould mites are feeding on the fungi created by the molasses I've been giving the past couple weeks? Are they going to hurt my flowering ladies?

Dont panic and dont "nuke em"!

The mite that looks like Tyrophagus is most likely really Histiomatidae. They come from the lineage of Oribatid (soil mites) but are astigmatid mites. You will know them from Oribatid from their specialized mothparts. You see a "tongue like" mouth part that moves back and forth very fast. You need patientce and the right angle, etc. It basically flickers back and forth many times per second.