The Mighty Mites

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You might have heard of them. You might have even seen them. Mites are a normal occurrence in the garden. They’re not all bad, but some of them can really do a number on your plants. The gall! No really, they’re likely responsible for the gall on your tree. As unsightly as it may be, it’s largely inconsequential for the long term health of your plant. Today we’ll go over our main culprit and also discuss a couple of diseases that mites transmit.

Spider Mites are not technically spiders, though they do have eight legs and belong to the same family. This time of year, their damage can be seen on conifers. If you suspect you may have a mite issue, take a piece of white paper outdoors to the afflicted plant. Hold the paper underneath the foliage and gently hit or knock the branches of the plant. If you see tiny black dots that look like punctuation crawling across the page, you likely have spider mites.

Thankfully, these tiny terrors can be easily discouraged by spraying the plant down vigorously with water, including the tops and bottoms of leaves, once a week during the hottest months of Summer. For treatment options beyond the weekly spray down, click through to read how to best handle them from Missouri Botanical Garden.

Two diseases transmitted by mites that are becoming more common are Rose Rosetteand Coneflower Rosette. The first one you may be familiar with if you have Knock Out Roses. Typified by red new growth resembling a witch’s broom, this disease is often found in the wild multiflora rose. The same Eriophyid mitesresponsible for Rose Rosette are also responsible for Coneflower Rosette. Most people may recognize this as Aster Yellows, but the difference is that Aster Yellows are mainly passed by leafhoppers whereas Coneflower Rosette is caused by mites.  In both cases, remove the damaged plant and destroy it.

That’s it for this week, friends. Tune in Saturday mornings at 8 am for Gardening Inside Out on YouTube. Follow our Instagram for bite sized gardening know-how & questions answered. Queue up the podcast for inspiration on the run. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Happy Gardening,

Sara Bates

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