Spider mites

Spider mites are a common pest problems on a lot of different plant species around the yards and gardens, spider mites are members of the Acari family Tetranychidae, which has around 1200 different species.

Female Tetranychus urticae

Damage is caused as spider mites feed, bruising the leaf cells with their small, whip like mouth parts and ingesting the sap and the chlorophyll from the leaves. Damaged areas typically appear marked with many small, light flecks, giving the plant a somewhat speckled appearance which is a good indication of spider mite infestation.

Spider mites tend to thrive in the dry and hot conditions with an ambient temperature of 85 degrees F which is around 29.5 degrees Celsius,  with relative humidity less than 60%, these are the perfect conditions for spider mites to thrive and reproduce, I suppose this is what makes spider mites so successful as a species as when it is very hot when most insects, animals are sheltering from the midday sun the spider mites are busily at work destroying your indoor and outdoor plants, also spider mite predators need to be in the area of spider mites infestation to have any affect on the spider mites population, if not then they need to be introduced phytoseiulus persimilis being a good one and once the spider mite is wiped out the spider mite predator will then move on from the area to the next meal depending on the species.

Classic spider mite infestation

Spider mites can feed on a large number of plant species both indoors and out, one of their particular favorites tends to be rose bushes they find these rather tasty and I have seen some massive red spider mite infestations on rose bushes, spider mite damage to rose bushes is very common.

So what are some of the spider mites favorite plants to feed on? spider mites also prefer peach trees, lemon tree (left) orchids, cucumbers, Blackberry and other berry fruits, Junipers, tomato plants, day lilies, strawberries, capsicums, and beans to name a few and I am sure there would be many many more I have missed on a spider mite menu, near all of the above you can expect red spider mite to attack, below a quick recognize spider mites video, some good info on identifying spider mites infestations.