Red Mites

Class: Insects
Common Name: Red spider mites, red mites, and glasshouse spider mites 
Scientific Name: Red mites is a common name for several important species of mites such as Tetranychus urticae, Tetranychus cinnabarinus, Panonychus ulmi, and Panonychus citri.
Potential Host:

There are hundreds of different cultural crops, including peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, squash, watermelon and melon, beans, peas, citrus, papaya, strawberry, shade trees, shrubs, flowers, and more ornamental plants.

Who Am I?

Red mites are tiny arthropods that are classified as Arachnida and members of the Tetranychidae family, along with hundreds of different species. They are distributed worldwide and considered a persistent concern for growers in warm, arid, and dry weather regions.

When weather conditions are right, a red mite female can lay up to seven eggs daily and do so on the underside of leaves. Adults feed upon plant tissues leaving yellowish nourishing marks.

Red mites’ presence in fields could go unnoticed until infestation reaches a critical point were damage to plants is clearly visible.

Control Measures

Early detection: Because large populations of mites are hard to deal with and control, an important part of successful red mites management is to catch infestation at the beginning.

Avoid using products that could be lethal to the biodiversity in your field, thus hurting the natural balance that currently exists in the field (and it’s close surrounding.)

The key for controlling red mites is through the application of chemicals. A high spray volume of around 100 liters of water per dunam(0.25 acre) is essential.

The following are insecticides used in one or more parts of the world: befinizate, acequinocyl, cyflumetofen, milbemectin, spiromesifen, abamectin, and pyrimidifen. As a rule of thumb, in most cases, adding mineral or neem oil to the spraying mixture can significantly improve results.

Neem oil

Phytoseiulus persimilis is a well-known commercially available predatory beneficial mite.

*Names marked in red are considered to be highly poisonous to beneficial insects.

*Names marked in green are considered to be organic and IPM (integrated pest management) compatible.

Caution and careful notice should be taken when using any plant protection products (insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides). It is the grower’s sole responsibility to keep track of the legal uses and permissions with respect to the laws in their country and destination markets. Always read the instructions written on labels, and in a case of contradiction, work in accordance to the product label. Keep in mind that information written on the label usually applies to local markets. Pest control products intended for organic farming are generally considered to be less effective in comparison to conventional products. When dealing with organic, biologic, and to some extent a small number of conventional chemical products, a complete eradication of a pest or disease will often require several iterations of a specific treatment or combination of treatments.

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