I am seing what appears to be webbing developing on my (largely) dormant trees - black pine, valley oak, crab-apples, maples and chinese elm. I cannot find any little critters with a 30-power loupe but so far have assumed that my trees are infested with mites. I am therefore expecting an explosion of the little devils when we finally DO get some warm dry weather around here (I've fought mites on the elm before)....It's late February and where I live it has not really stopped raining since the fall. Right now the temps dip to the low 40's and rise maybe to the high 60's with relative humidity in the mid 50% upward. Some of the maples and crab-apples are beginning to leaf out as well as a chinese elm. The pines and oaks are dormant. They all have some webbing. From what I have read and tried to understand, these conditions are NOT what would lead one to suspect mites but there is that darn very fine webbing that matches the description of mite webbing down to the "pearl-like" egg casings on the strands. I am hoping some more knowledgeable gardeners out there might have some suggestions as to where I should turn next in determining if indeed my problem are mites and if so does anyone have experience with predatory mites or miticides (and how do you keep chinese elm free of mites without causing the leaves to drop)? If not mites what might I be experiencing here? Thank-you all in advance for your advice/suggestions. Regards - Tim