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Harvest mites

coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,428
in Problem solving
Anyone scratching like mad?  It is impossible to go into the garden in August here.  I live in Luxembourg.  What's the situation in the UK?  I have been told that there is nothing I can do except a bath immediately after gardening and wash all clothes in warm water.   :(

Luxembourg

Posts

  • a1154a1154 Posts: 1,108
    Hi, yes scratching in scotland. It’s a bad year or them here. I take anti-histamine tablets and have a good bite cream. Hot showers, and yes don’t put the same clothes on.
    My little dog has them between her toes and on her belly.  There is a good spray for dogs by frontline, but I can’t get near her with it. 
  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447

    Yes, here in NW France we are covered in bites, worse at night. Cortisone cream seems to help.

  • coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,428
    Thank you all.  So it seems that they are a plague in many spots.  I have been putting on a cream called Cicaplast, it gets rid of the itching for a while.  My neighbour doesn't let the dog out in the garden for the entire month of August, just walks on the pavement.  Only a few weeks to go now although the weather hasn't turned yet here.  

    Luxembourg
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    So, they dissolve your flesh and suck it up. How delightful!
  • a1154a1154 Posts: 1,108
    Yup. That’s them. It’s where the bites occur that gets most people going eeeekkkk!
    There seems to be little research into where they live and how to avoid. It’s said they live in large numbers but in quite distinct areas. I don’t not go in the garden in August, but I’m quite careful, but i’ve never managed to avoid them. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Closely related to ticks. Urrkg
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I spent most of my life in the countryside ... walking dogs and working with animals amongst long grass ... I never came across these mites and neither did my farming parents until one of their dogs became badly infected about twenty years ago. 

    Is it a problem which is on the increase?  Possibly due to rising summer temperatures due to climate change?  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ju1i3ju1i3 Posts: 189
    Myself and one of my 4 cats have been bitten very badly :(
  • a1154a1154 Posts: 1,108
    I thought they were in rural, cool but humid climates Dove, I had never heard of them when I lived in England, they seem pretty common in south Scotland, but I think there are different kinds in other parts of the world. I think there is a lack of research because they aren’t known to be disease causing. Absolutely infuriating though. 
    Ju1i3 has the vet said it’s harvest mites? Seems unlikely in London. 
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