According to statistics, the spider mite is the most common and non-harmful pest. It affects almost all plants except aquatic ones.
Instructions
Step 1
Under high magnification, you can see that these are small mites, their body is rounded, covered with sparse, but hard and thick bristles. All types of ticks in the process of their vital activity braid the affected parts of the plant with a barely noticeable cobweb, for which they got their name. Their color depends on many factors and is quite variable. Most often, you can see brown ticks, with a greenish or yellowish tint. Ticks have dark spots on the sides of the body. Females differ from males in reddish, reaching red color. In addition to color, you can notice a difference in size - males are smaller and their body is more elongated.
Step 2
Spider mites feed on the contents of plant cells on which they live. The presence of this parasite on the plant makes itself felt by the presence of small white dots on the leaves on the underside. There is also a very thin cobweb, thick and white in color, which braids the trunk and leaves of the plant in whole or only part of it. A severe lesion looks like white, thinned leaves of the plant, a large amount of cobwebs. The last stage, after which the plant can no longer be saved, looks like a plant completely covered with cobwebs; on the tips of semi-dry leaves, with the naked eye, you can see an accumulated wiggling mass of pests. The plant dies because the affected cells are destroyed, reducing the area of photosynthesis, the plant weakens and becomes susceptible to disease and infection.
Step 3
Infections and diseases from which the plant can suffer and die is borne by the spider mite itself. It is reliably known that it is with its help that gray rot spores and viral infections are spread. Since the spider mite itself is not an insect, insecticides do not affect it. In the fight against it, acaricides should be used, but there are no acaricides that are safe for humans. Therefore, often, having found a spider mite at home, they throw out the entire pot with a plant until it has time to infect the rest, since it is not possible to cure the plant. Fitoverm, Vermitek, Aktofit can be considered relatively harmless preparations for use in an apartment. But these drugs do not work on non-feeding females of ticks and on eggs, so at least 4 treatments are required at intervals of 3 days in order to consistently destroy all emerging generations.
Step 4
Mites inflict the greatest harm on plants in dry and hot weather, as their activity increases many times over. In conditions of high humidity and low temperatures, their activity is suspended, but they will not die. As a preventive measure, you need to carefully inspect each plant, and especially carefully examine new specimens brought from a store or private collections. Frequent washing of plants and spraying them, maintaining high humidity is a good prevention of the appearance of a tick.
