You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
I'm seeing these teeny little red spidery fast things crawing on my pots, and I'm assuming also on the soil and/or plant. Any idea what they are? I've seen them before, but there are a few on each pot now.
If they're spider mites, they'll be on the undersides of your leaves--check there and see if you see them. I don't recall ever seeing them crawling around on pots or in soil or moving fast, plus they're so small I don't know that you'd really notice them if they were there so I'm not positive that they're spider mites. If you do see them on the underside of the leaves though then that is what they are, give the plant a good blast with a hose, then if you're OK with chemicals I'd spray the undersides of the leaves with insecticidal soap. Mist the plants frequently to keep the humidity up, and you'll probably have to repeat the hose or insecticidal soap treatment several times to really get rid of them. Also quarantine whichever plants you've found them on, and to be safe I'd do the hose/soap on any other plants that were around them, they spread easily between plants and sometimes it's hard to tell where they've gone until they're doing damage.
Hi mfrese, if you can see these spiders with you naked eye, it is NOT red spider mite, these are so tiny, you wont even notice them till you either see the leaves yellow OR you see the fine webs, I suspect you have either got aphids or something like that, so as Ecrane said, give a blast with the hose, if still around, then use your soap spray, you dont say indoor pots or out, but while in this warm weather, it wont do any harm to mist the underside of the leaves anyway, if indoors, try to give a more humid atmosphere like sit plants on a few pebbles in a saucer of water, this keeps the plant out of the water but allows humidity to circulate around the plant, it will help keep the aphids away also. keep a close eye on the plants now you know these criters are about. Good Luck, WeeNel.
Buddleja North-West England
(United Kingdom) (Zone 8a)
Hi mfrese, I agree with WeeNel that they're probably not spider mites if you can actually see them. I think I know what you're talking about though - but I don't know the name. Are they bright red, very tiny (but visible), they move really quickly and if you squash them they leave a little blood-like trail? I have loads of them in my garden - I tend to find them on walls and windowsills, especially in the sun. I've no idea what they are but I do remember seeing them a lot when I was a kid - when I spent a lot of time climbing and sitting on walls. They don't seem to do any harm in my garden so if you've got the same thing as me you could just leave it alone.
I just had the exterminator look at what you are talking about. He said that they are baby box elder bugs. They cluster together and are very fast. Nothing to worry about. I have them everywhere!!
