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spider mite

GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447
in Problem solving
I have just found minute eggs on my dahlia seedlings in the utility. I squashed a larger one and it had legs so think its spider mites. Where have they come from and how do I get rid of them?

Posts

  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    They're so small that I can barely see adult spider mites, so I think the eggs must be virtually microscopic... if you can make out legs, I doubt it's a spider mite.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447
    What else could they be?
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    I think it's best you can take a photograph of the soil. I take it, the soil is not from the garden? Example, snails' eggs can be visible. I agree it would be impossible to see spider mite eggs.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Probably aphids - I just noticed a few on my seed-raised clematis in the greenhouse.  They bear live young which look like tiny eggs at first.  With seedlings being so delicate, all you can safely do is carefully pick them off.  I no longer use 'bug sprays' but when I did, they always caused some kind of damage or growth issue to young foliage so I wouldn't recommend those.  Once the plants are a bit larger, you could try immersing the whole plant in a bucket of water with a few drops of liquid detergent in it for about 30 minutes.  The aphids will drown but the plant will come to no harm.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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