Verdia · Library
Mite observations
Use a hand lens to record mites, eggs, mottling or webbing, and see why Verdia routes Tetranychus and 14 more genera to mites without repeating its steps.
Mite names in the app
Verdia's mite group lists 15 genera, including Tetranychus, Panonychus, Aculops, Aceria, Eriophyes, Polyphagotarsonemus, Brevipalpus and Bryobia. If the first word of the returned name is not among them, the app searches the name for tetranychidae, eriophyidae or acari. The acari keyword is broad, so any name containing it falls into this group.
When the top score reaches 30 percent, the app shows three general mite steps. All three involve rinsing, humidity or a product, so none of them is reproduced on this page.
Under the steps the app adds a short note that they are general steps for this kind of problem and that any product label should be read before use. For mites that note matters more than usual, since the app's third mite step is itself about a product and a repeat after a week.
What a mite record should hold
- Look at leaf undersides with a hand lens and note any small moving organisms or eggs.
- Record cast skins, pale mottling on the leaf and any fine webbing.
- Name the plant and the surfaces affected: upper leaf, lower leaf or stems.
- Note the room conditions without assuming they explain the problem.
Reading a Tetranychus result
A top result of Tetranychus urticae at 56 percent matches the genus tetranychus. The app opens its mite steps; this page lists none of them. A different candidate below 30 percent, for example a thrips name at 12 percent, would appear only in the list of other possibilities, which starts at 3 percent.
- Name returned
- Tetranychus urticae
- Top score
- 56%
- Rule that matched
- genus tetranychus
- Mite steps shown here
- 0 of 3
Pitfalls
- Assuming every mite is a pest; the RHS notes that many mites are not.
- Concluding from dry air that raising humidity alone will identify or control the problem.
- Recording webbing alone, without the mottling, eggs or cast skins that belong in the same record.
- Ignoring that a broad keyword such as acari can route a name here.
Scope of the group
The mite label is a routing result, not an identification. The RHS glasshouse red spider mite page listed below describes one common species; the EPA garden guide and the ASPCA plant list cover wider practice and pet safety.