That or a clover mite.

tj

Hope it's predatory... I like to think of them being on a mission to search and destroy any stray spider mites.

If it is moving fast, it is likely to be a predatory mite. Plant mites are slow moving.

They scurry around like crazy, like they're madly searching for something, which, if they are predatory, I guess they are.

Also, from what I've read, clover mites like cool weather, and my greenhouse gets pretty hot on a sunny warm day.

I see these everywhere. They are suckers, but I never see any noticeable damage to my plants. I don’t worry about them too much and so far from what I’ve seen are harmless to what I grow.

From Barb Ogg, PhD, Extension Educator from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources/ University of Nebraska-Lincoln:

“Clover mites feed by sucking sap from various plants. They feed on clover, lawn and other grasses, various trees, ornamental plants and shrubs, but do not cause much damage.”

That looks like it only has six legs or my eyes are wrong. Mites have 8 legs, right?

If you zoom the photo in, you can see it has 8 legs.

Thanks for a close up of the body and I now see the 8 legs. Thought the most forward leg was part of its proboscis so thought it was some kind of weevil. HAHA!

Paul, that describes what I have perfectly!

I bought predatory mites from Gardens Alive years ago (if I recall correctly, I got 3 different types). Even though we moved to our current house 16 years ago I still see a red mite in the garden from time to time so I think I got a few hitchhikers when I brought my plants with me. They are definitely fast compared to the sap sucking mites.

Ok I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck these things are for a few years, and I keep getting clover mites when I Google red mites. But I think they may be predatory Balaustium mites. I always see them everywhere on concrete and that seems to be what these mites do and are aka Concrete Mites.

Clover mites and predatory Balaustium mites can be easily confused. I’m still confused if I’m being honest.

I will embrace my little red friends with open arms!

I'm going clover mites because the Balaustium mites seem to always be pictured with a darker red colored body with fire red legs. The clover mites seem to be a uniform red like your little guy.

Interesting, sites I've looked at on line have described clover mites (Bryobia praetiosa) as reddish brown.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/mites/clover_mite.htm

Actually, looking more, I see photos of clover mites that show brownish red mites and other photos that show them as bright red. I also see photos of the Balaustium mites, some showing bright red and some showing brownish red.

Judging from the shape of the mites, I'm going with Balaustium mites for what I have, but who knows... I certainly don't :-)

At any rate, I don't see any damage on my plants, so I guess we'll continue to co-exist.

As someone mentioned earlier, the sap suckling mites are slow movers. (Not surprisingly. Afterall, it is not as though the plant is going to run away from you.) If the mite is running around all over the place, it is predatory.

Yeah, they're certainly frantic little bugs. It wasn't easy to get a photo that was reasonably in focus.