Directionalized Mite Question About How They Travel

8Rhizome8 · Dec 3, 2024

Greetings everyone!
There is plenty of information on this site pertaining to mites; Mite identification; Mite eradication; Tourettes in humans following mite discovery etc

What I am wondering however is more directionalized as the thread title indicates.

How do mites travel?

Are they airborne? Do they come from soil and tromp their happy asses up the stalk and out onto the undersides of leaves? Do they act by namesake and move on the breeze like a spider repelling from a thread? I’ve done some searches on Google as well thus it could just be my lack of proper vocabulary and wording. I mean, I can see how they would transfer from one plant touching another but how do they seem to always be at the crown top?

Okay, so it’s more like a series of questions but I am curious as to how they move?
Thanks in advance.

LoveGrowingIt · Dec 3, 2024

8Rhizome8 said:
How do mites travel?

Many ways, I think.

I had spider mites twice. The first time they arrived in my environment on some flowers I bought at Lowe's. I foolishly and unsuspectingly brought the flowers into my grow tent. I won't do that again. The second time they must have traveled in by attaching themselves to my clothing. I had moved the flowerpots to the far side of our deck. A year later, the flowers were dead, and I decided to dump the soil in our compost. All I did was carry the pots over to the compost, but there must have been a few viable eggs that rode in on my shoes or pants. I didn't expect them to survive the winter, but they did. I sprayed the area with AgroMagen GrowSafe and haven't seen any spider mites since then.

8Rhizome8 said:
Are they airborne?

I studied spider mites in the initial stages of my war against them. I understand they can use their webs to float on a breeze. I've read they don't like strong wind, though, so fans can be used to make them hunker down.

8Rhizome8 said:
Do they come from soil and tromp their happy asses up the stalk and out onto the undersides of leaves?

According to what I've read, they don't like soil. They can't live in it or on it. I suppose they could walk across it. They need to be on green plants to survive.

8Rhizome8 said:
Do they act by namesake and move on the breeze like a spider repelling from a thread?

I believe so.

8Rhizome8 said:
I’ve done some searches on Google as well thus it could just be my lack of proper vocabulary and wording. I mean, I can see how they would transfer from one plant touching another but how do they seem to always be at the crown top?

I've seen them start in the middle of a plant. All they need is the right environment to propagate.

8Rhizome8 · Dec 3, 2024

LoveGrowingIt said:
Many ways, I think.

I had spider mites twice. The first time they arrived in my environment on some flowers I bought at Lowe's. I foolishly and unsuspectingly brought the flowers into my grow tent. I won't do that again. The second time they must have traveled in by attaching themselves to my clothing. I had moved the flowerpots to the far side of our deck. A year later, the flowers were dead, and I decided to dump the soil in our compost. All I did was carry the pots over to the compost, but there must have been a few viable eggs that rode in on my shoes or pants. I didn't expect them to survive the winter, but they did. I sprayed the area with AgroMagen GrowSafe and haven't seen any spider mites since then.

I studied spider mites in the initial stages of my war against them. I understand they can use their webs to float on a breeze. I've read they don't like strong wind, though, so fans can be used to make them hunker down.

According to what I've read, they don't like soil. They can't live in it or on it. I suppose they could walk across it. They need to be on green plants to survive.

I believe so.

I've seen them start in the middle of a plant. All they need is the right environment to propagate.

Dude, thank you so much for your input! I’ve battled them myself both indoors and in a greenhouse. There are so many published ways one can battle the little bastards. I just wasn’t finding a lot of material on their habits.

Dually, I don’t think anyone ever really gets rid of them in totality but we can stay ahead of them and keep them at bay. I am a really big fan of Enzymes Komplete for this very reason. It is quite universal and can be used/sprayed through all plant life phases. Again, thank you for your input. Am hoping to see more responses.

LoveGrowingIt · Dec 3, 2024

8Rhizome8 said:
Dude, thank you so much for your input! I’ve battled them myself both indoors and in a greenhouse. There are so many published ways one can battle the little bastards. I just wasn’t finding a lot of material on their habits.

You're welcome. There's information out there, but like with many subjects, some of the information is bad or otherwise useless.

8Rhizome8 said:
Dually, I don’t think anyone ever really gets rid of them in totality but we can stay ahead of them and keep them at bay. I am a really big fan of Enzymes Komplete for this very reason. It is quite universal and can be used/sprayed through all plant life phases. Again, thank you for your input. Am hoping to see more responses.

I haven't had a problem since I sprayed that last infestation with GrowSafe. It seems universal, too. I recently and successfully used it for WPM. I tried many methods to kill spider mites before that, and none did the job. Getting a sprayer that can spray the undersides of leaves helps a lot, too.

In my neck of the woods, spiders of all types are at their worst in late summer. That's when I really have my guard up.

dreamnfox · Dec 3, 2024

8Rhizome8 said:
Dude, thank you so much for your input! I’ve battled them myself both indoors and in a greenhouse. There are so many published ways one can battle the little bastards. I just wasn’t finding a lot of material on their habits.

Dually, I don’t think anyone ever really gets rid of them in totality but we can stay ahead of them and keep them at bay. I am a really big fan of Enzymes Komplete for this very reason. It is quite universal and can be used/sprayed through all plant life phases. Again, thank you for your input. Am hoping to see more responses.

Captain Jacks dead bug will kill them but it works best on very small plants. I got them on my mom's once, I chopped everything back to 2 nodes, removed all but 2-3 leaves on a plant. Sprayed the plants, pots and surrounding area once a week for 2 months. Was able to completely get rid of them. That was 2 years ago. This was an indoor garden though, outside is much tougher to get rid of

8Rhizome8 · Dec 3, 2024

LoveGrowingIt said:
You're welcome. There's information out there, but like with many subjects, some of the information is bad or otherwise useless.

I haven't had a problem since I sprayed that last infestation with GrowSafe. It seems universal, too. I recently and successfully used it for WPM. I tried many methods to kill spider mites before that, and none did the job. Getting a sprayer that can spray the undersides of leaves helps a lot, too.

In my neck of the woods, spiders of all types are at their worst in late summer. That's when I really have my guard up.

I’ve heard really good things about GrowSafe. Thanks for bringing that one back to my attention. I was turned on to Enzymes Komplete at the 2017 Emerald Cup. I walked by their booth at the end of the weekend when they were closing up shop and was handed three sample bottles. Which proved to be Great timing on account that when I got home from Cup weekend I had spider mites in my greenhouse. It was deployed immediately via atomizer and following second treatment one week later they were gone or at least reduced to almost nothing.

8Rhizome8 · Dec 3, 2024

This is an informative read as to how mites move and migrate. Which, was my initial inquiry.

One moment, please...

Seems they can and do move on the breeze and are capable of wind travel. They are capable of trasfer via plants touching each other and by webbing from one plant to another.

Directionalized Mite Question About How They Travel

Directionalized Mite Question About How They Travel

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