mites, white flies and aphids.
MITES
Mites are not insects but arachnids,
related to spiders. They are very small and
look like small brown, red or black dots on
the undersides of leaves. A blemish can be
seen on the top side of the leaf where they
have been sucking. The infection may not
be noticed until after there are 10-50 of
these on a leaf. Using a magnifier they will
be noticed walking around on their eight
legs when they are not sucking the plant
dry. Mites thrive in a dry environment. High
humidity and low temperatures slow them
down.
There are two major problems with
mites. First, they breed very quickly every
8-14 days and they like large families.
Secondly, they are hard to control. Before
budding a soap dip or the homemade bug
killer will knock down the population. Then
pyrethrum and soap sprays will keep it low.
Growers realize that the idea is not to
expect to eliminate them, but to keep the
population down so that it does little
damage to the crop. Once established; mite
predators, which are other mites which feed
on their cousins, keep the population totally
under control it may take several
introductions to get them started There are
several different species of predator mites,
each does best at a slightly different
temperature range. Some growers
introduce mixed populations, others just
one species.