but i dont know if they are spider mites... they dont seem to occur in clusters, they just seem to be gregariosly spread among all the plants. they move quickly, zipping around the leaves and stems unlike the slow-moving spider mites ive encountered in the past. there are plently of soil mites here and there too, dispite ample diatomaceous earth. (also fungus gnats) and i was hoping maybe, thes globose, dark-bodied, fast moving mites were some sort of preditory or benign mite that is feeding on the myriad of soil-dwelling tiny arthropods i have running about. if I spray the plants, I don't see them again for hours. they only come out in the dry. my plants (pereskiopsis, grafted and non grafted) show some stunting, but i suspect this is more from the fungus gnats than the mites, SO FAR. there is some leaf speckling, but said leaves are not infested. in fact, they dont seem to have any mites present. just the occasional one zips onto the leaf, and then away ive got ALOT if soil mites in my seedling containers, and they dont seem to be effecting the seedlings at all. It is likely that what i have is just preditory soil mites crawling up the plant to hunt the little springtail-like bugs that are crawling around near the crowns? i hope so. Ive had spider mites in other houses, and i know theres no getting rid of them. ive always found them to be smaller than what i have here tho, and there were always young mites, eggs, and web present. its been many weeks since i noticed the first of them and ive yet to encounter young, eggs, ir webbing
nope. i can see very well that they are acari. they might be EATING thrips.... but what im seeing is mites
