Can anyone ID these mites??

[Korxi]

Hi guys,

Yesterday I was inspecting the medium of my plants, and found these tiny critters.. The medium I'm growing in is synthetic and will in time be covered with moss - right now it's mostly algea
I googled some mites and found that there are types - soil mites - that break down algea and plant remains, I'm really hoping these fall under that category and that they wont hurt my plants!

The ones on the second pic are really really small, 1/3 - 1/2 mm long, and I really think they look somewhat like the pics I've seen of spider mites, however I see no signs of damage to the plants..
The mites on the first and the third pic are both 1 - 1 1/2 mm long

I really hope some of you can put an ID on these little bugs!

Christian

Sorry about the quality of the pics, they are REALLY small those things! I even brought out the 105 mm macro lense!

[Brutal_Dreamer]

The last photo looks to be the red spider mite that will damage your plants. I am not too sure about the other ones, Christian. I would use a miticide before trouble starts to show. Remember to use it again for the ones that will hatch from eggs.

Cheers,
BD

[smartie2000]

the last one is a mite. the others I don't know

[Korxi]

I got the first one ID'ed as a spring tail I'm hoping the other two are not dangerous since they are not on the leaves and no damage has been done so far.. I don't think we have any real miticides availible in Denmark - all that stuff is banned here even most fungicide..

Christian

[Gin]

Hi soap will kill a lot of bugs .Here it is Safers soap but what I think it really is Basis super fatted face soap smells just like it , You might find something like it no perfume added to the soap , I agree the last picture looks like a mite they will suck the life out of a plant , hard to see until it is almost to late . If you can't find the super fatted unscented bar soap dish soap in water might work , be sure to spray and drench the pot 3 times at 3 day intervals mites have a short egg hatch cycle . Gin

[Korxi]

I got some answers today form a local pro grower with 30 some years experience. The first one is a spring tail, the second ones are the first larva stage of a moss fly and the last one is a mite, but not a dangerous kind since it is only in the medium eating either other mites or plant remains!

On a side note: I'm visiting my parents and found that my mom has 4 plants with a lot of tiny tiny red mites on the leaves eating away. I got a insect poison recomended by the grower - it's not designed for mites but flies and whasps. I sprayed my mothers plants and hope they'll make it!

Christian

[Shaydra]

Ugh!!

I can't stop scratching since looking at those pictures!! The last one reminds me of a tick.

I found some tiny spider mites on my ivy plant in the other room -- almost too late. Sprayed it with a miticide 2x last week and neem oil 2x this week. And this week I noticed they were also on my mini-rose plant outside ... actually, I bet thats where my ivy plant got it from. I put the rose next to the ivy a few weeks ago when the night temps got into the mid-upper 30s.

*scratches more* I think I need a shower.

[smartie2000]

makes sense that the second one is a larvae of a fly....many things are found in media especially sphag I am finding. I supect they are more interested in eating the sphag than the orchids

[jtlqh]

If it is a flat spider mite, you need to spray once every 3 weeks, flat spider mite regenerate much slower than red spider mite. I got rid of the red mite in my collection by spraying 3 times, at 3 days apart, but didn't continue till the next 3 or 6 weeks, so the flat mites came back and eating all the plant leaves. Well the damage was not done as quickli as red mites though.