[garddwr]

Hi,

I have realised for a while that  I have tiny insects too small to really take a picture but they can be seen, recentley the seedlings have started to turn yellow and I don't know if it's down to this ? Could it be the red spider mite this early ?


Thanks

[monsta]

do they look like this?

[garddwr]

Thanks for the reply, well the trouble is I can't quite decide they aren't red though there just small and are dark coloured any other suggestions ?

[Snoop]

Any other clues? Approx size? Wings? Number of legs? How do they move about? Are they slow or quick-moving? Do they seem to be getting bigger?

[blackbob]

Hi,

I have realised for a while that  I have tiny insects too small to really take a picture but they can be seen, recentley the seedlings have started to turn yellow and I don't know if it's down to this ? Could it be the red spider mite this early ?


Thanks

sounds like imature red spider mite,start damping down the worst affected areas.there's always biological control aswell.

[hamstergbert]

Clearly not insects (count the legs!) but arachnids of some sort so the suggestions of immature RSM looks the most promising.

[garddwr]

Thanks for all your replies, some extra info - very fast moving nearly impossible to get on your hand and they seem to escape even if you do catch them on the palm of your hand, maybe they fly ?

[blackbob]

Thanks for all your replies, some extra info - very fast moving nearly impossible to get on your hand and they seem to escape even if you do catch them on the palm of your hand, maybe they fly ?

damp everything down,they hate moisture.

[hamstergbert]

to get a really good look at pesky beasties I always find that a strip of sellotape slows the little blighters down enough to give 'em a good magnifying-glass looking-at!

[pink aubergine]

What are your seedlings?  If they are peas or beans I would say it is pea/bean weevil(little notches taken  out of leaf but rarely fatal, and dont normally cause yellowing.

Red spider mite is very difficult to see without a magnifying glass. It is a greenhouse pest, you would normally see a sickly plant and often a fine spiders web between the branches or leaves. Damping down with water from a sprayer helps, a spray with soap kills a lot of insects and is worth doing as it bungs up their breathing holes in their cuticle.  Dosn't need to necessarily be insecticidal soap, fairy liquid in water will do.

It soulds as could be a leaf miner, I had this prob at work last year. Some of the larger leaves will have me-andering trails through them, with a grub at the end; leaving the leaf almost translucent. These little flies which they produce flit around like fruit flies, difficult to catch, often from stagnant compost. Spraying with soap solution kills off thse critters as well!!