What are these bugs on my succulent?

5 years ago

These are very tiny bugs that are difficult to see even with a magnifying glass. I am attaching a video made with a digital microscope. I had these once before and as I recall I used both imidacloprid and tau-fluvalinate without success. I ended up having to euthanize that plant. I am hoping someone can tell me what they are so I might find an effective treatment.

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Lisa Schnorenberg

5 years ago

Those are definitely Two spotted spider mites.......I have found them on my tropical plants like Brugmansia (also known as Angel‘s Trumpet) in my greenhouse with my digital microscope. They can usually be found on the under side of leaves and along the veins. If they get really bad you will see fine webbing.

Raising the humidity and misting the plant regularly will help keep them away. I haven’t ever had to use any kind of treatment beyond that. Damage is usually small dots on the leaves from their sucking mouth parts. When inspecting your plants, also look for their egg sacs, which are round translucent balls. I don’t worry too much when there’s just a couple of mites on my plants But I’ve heard from people that have chronic problems with them.

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Comments (7)

Fori
5 years ago

Was there something unhealthy about the plant that made you examine it this closely? Almost everything has critters on it if you look close enough.

They could be mites, but mites can be beneficial or destructive or neutral depending on the species. Because of that, I'd suggest waiting for an ID or plant damage before doing something.
John Stein
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Yes, they are damaging the plant. You can see a little bit of one dead spot at the top of the video. I check all of my plants and they are bug-free.

Yeah, I'm thinking they're mites. I used tau-fluvalinate months ago which kills some mites but not these it seems. Or maybe I didn't use enough.

I found them on three other plants now. :-(
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
5 years ago
Do they have 8 legs?
John Stein
Original Author
5 years ago
I can't tell - I can't see any more detail than what's in that video. I'm away from home for a few days but when I go back I can try and see.
Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
5 years ago
My guess would be the dreaded spider mite.

Pics from Google.

Is there webbing on your plants?
John Stein
Original Author
5 years ago
Yeah I saw those and they do look similar. But I was away from home for 3 months and someone else was taking care of my plants so they had plenty of time to multiply, yet there aren't that many of them. And no webbing. When I had them a long time ago there were never very many, and no webbing.