TINY RED MITES ON LEAVES -- ERIOPHYID MITES

Sun May 08, 2011 7:59 pm

I have recently moved house, which has an average sized garden, with a number of older trees and shrubs. One tree ( a fruit tree - not sure what yet - we've only been in the house 3 months!) blossomed well, some fruit has begun to set. The tree looks healthy. However, I noticed today that the under side of many leaves have got a very small red coloured invader - I am calling it a mite - it might not be! Any ideas as to what it is and how to get rid of it.
Thanks
Geoff

Sun May 08, 2011 10:57 pm

It could be red-spider mites, but that's really just a stab-in-the-dark guess. Can you get a close-up photo of these critters, preferably with a good digital camera, not just a cell phone camera? No blurriness (or at least, a bare minimum) and bright light (probably best not to use a flash for a close-up shot) will get you the best photo, I think. However, be forewarned that this advice is coming from "the world's worst photographer"! :lol:

Get the best pic you can with the best camera you have available to you. Post it according to our Webmasters instructions, which can be found here.

We'll do what we can to ID the little beasties for you.

Tue May 10, 2011 8:39 am

Thanks for the reply.
I have taken a photo - the link is below:

Thanks

Geoff

Tue May 10, 2011 9:10 am

My goodness! (Excellent pic, BTW!) At first, I thought it was a fungus, rather than an insect. But then I did some searching around and came across this pic:

Tue May 10, 2011 9:22 am

Thanks again for the very quick response.
The beasties on both photos appear to be the same.
Do you have any recommended treatment for these - I assume now that they are insects - red spider mite? - so an insecticide would do the job? I will look for one which targets red spider mite

Thanks

Geoff

Tue May 10, 2011 9:29 am

Indeed, the second pic is a magnification of the first.

These are eriophyid mites. You can find quite a lot of information about them online, but the important point is that, while considered a harmful insect, they rarely do any significant damage to a tree. Trees can support huge populations of these little critters, and be none the worse for the wear. Their presence is usually more of a problem of aesthetics to the tree owner, rather than to the health of the tree. Pesticides are considered "overkill", and treatment in general is just to keep the tree well watered and fertilized, perhaps with a mulch of compost.

I found a few good sites about them, if you are interested. I think the first one is the best, and among others, it offers information about the one you have on your tree. There are many, many species of these mites, though, and they show up in different ways, i.e. galls, rusts, blisters, etc.

http://www.entomology.umn.edu/cues/Web/ ... dMites.pdf

http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/pest/eriophyd.htm

http://www.paflora.org/plantclinic/eriophyid.htm

Tue May 10, 2011 9:37 am

BTW, it looks kinda like it might be an apple or crabapple leaf to me. Not sure, of course, only seeing part of it. I'm not much of a tree expert, anyway. One of our more knowledgeable members may pop in here and correct me.

Tue May 10, 2011 12:04 pm

Sure looks like an apple leaf Kisal.
This little fellows a new one to me on Top Fruit.
Guess that in the normal course of a year the early sprays to control aphids would have taken care of this little chap as well.
It appears that he does no real harm....and I would think that the normal predators that are around will deal with it due course anyway.
Reckon that it would make a good lunch for any Ladybirds around.

Wed May 11, 2011 5:37 am

How are you, Jona878? I always look forward to your posts.

Wed May 11, 2011 5:55 am

Hi Kisal
All ok over here thanks.
We have had a very early spring this year the blossom is around a month early following a fairly hard winter. As a result there looks as if we are in for a bumper crop unless a very late frost or hail hits us.
Guess it will mean that thinning will be a major job this year.
Funny game fruit growing............you spend half the year trying to get the fruit on the tree.....and then another three months cutting half the stuff off.

Best wishes from this side of the pond.
John.