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bahram03

Are these spider mites?

Ariel (Zone: 7b)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

I took a video of these small bugs walking around my eggplant. I see them on a few different vegetables I am growing.

At 30 seconds in you can see them walking around the edges of the leaves of my eggplant. (Must watch at 1020p to see them. They are small and get blurred out at anything lower)



Comments (8)

  • digdirt2
    5 years ago

    You can seldom see spider mites with the naked eye much less in a photo. It is their webbing that is visible, not the mites themselves. You need a magnifying glass to see them even when in a cluster.

    Dave

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    5 years ago

    And that was explained very clearly in response to a previous thread by the OP.

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    5 years ago

    Gargaphia solani, eggplant lace bug.

  • Ariel (Zone: 7b)
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I am trying to find out what they are. I see them in large numbers in every plant I have.

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    5 years ago

    On your eggplant? According to your descriptions, eggplant lace bug as stated.

  • Ariel (Zone: 7b)
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    these bugs are too small and dark to be the lacebug. The bugs im talking about are on my eggplant, cucumber and tomatoes. The largest thing I've seen on them are white flies and aphids.



  • digdirt2
    5 years ago

    They aren't spider mites or you couldn't see them much less film them and there is no evidence of webbing in your many photos. But there are probably 100 different possibilities or more and many of those possibilities pose no real threat. Bugs live in gardens and unless you want to get into macro-photography of bugs, the odds are you may never know exactly what they are. So try looking at this from another way.

    It has now been more than 6 weeks since you first posted about them. What treatments have you done in the interim? If so, any noticeable improvements? If yes, continue doing what you are doing or not - your choice.

    If no treatments, are the plants still basically healthy and producing after all that time? If yes then obviously the bugs aren't bothering them and they may well be just another garden bug or even a beneficial and it doesn't really make much difference what the bug may be?

    This late in the season there is little point in worrying so about it, right?

    Dave

    PS: if you feel you simply MUST ID them then break off a leafy branch with several on it, put it in a jar and take it to your local county extension office for ID.

  • Mark_zn5b
    5 years ago

    If they are that tiny and dark they are probably mites and if I were you I would absolutely try to positively identify them, because they will probably be back as long as they have the ability to overwinter. The speckled look on the leaf is very similar to what a mite does also. "Nuke Em" sounds interesting, but getting under each leaf would be a pain. I have a RUP license otherwise I would suggest what we use.


    A cheap 30x or 50x loupe helps, but do not always rely on the extension office or even a University to id them for you. Years ago when I first started getting mite problems I sent off leaf samples to Purdue University. There was a curious spider webbing that was very noticeable in the morning dew, but in twenty years of growing crimson sweet watermelons we had not had a problem. However, we had started growing Charleston Grey and Carolina Cross varieties. To compound the problem Purdue informed me that the plants were suffering from an "abiotic" issue. The reason I sent the sample in to begin with, was because that plant in particular was being hammered by something other than a watering issue. They failed to mention the mites, yet now as I look back, It was obvious. Nonetheless, the advice back from a trusted University was "do a better job or watering."


    Instead, I did a better job of altering my spray schedule and identified the problem myself. Sometimes you are your own best source. Observe them daily and take notes. It sounds silly, but use science.


    I find that once you knock out the larger predatory critters their smaller cousins move in...mites and aphids in particular. I also find that if you ignore the problem from the little critters, you will pay in the form of molds and mildews. There is something about their excrement that fosters that problem so get them under control. Keep that in mind each season because they will return. Just mho.