Is it RSM?

[iann]

You cannot see RSM without the use of a 8X magnifying glass,( unless you have superb eyesight). So I do not think these are mites at all. Cheers

Where do you get this stuff? There are plenty of mites easily visible to the naked eye, red spider mites included, as well as some that nobody could spot without optical aid. That common (possibly even more common than true spider mites) pest of cacti, the false spider mite, is smaller and you really do need good eyesight to spot them. The soil mites that I have seen are considerably larger than a spider mite and quite easy to spot even though they are nearly the same colour as damp soil.

[Mawa]

You cannot see RSM without the use of a 8X magnifying glass,( unless you have superb eyesight). So I do not think these are mites at all. Cheers

I think this is RSM, on the tip of a needle. It is small enough so that I cannot count legs, but you can see them very well with a naked eye.

[Eric Williams]

It must be my age Iann. Ha Ha.. Cheers

[Ali Baba]

Thats not a RSM on the tip of that needle, its a harmless soil organism, possibly an oribatid mite. They have those characteristic bristles on their bottoms. The brown shiny jobs look just like the Oribatid mites that I find in my glasshouse. Harmless and interesting.

I must say I can no longer spot Tetranychus without my reading glasses on...

[Mawa]

Thats not a RSM on the tip of that needle, its a harmless soil organism, possibly an oribatid mite. They have those characteristic bristles on their bottoms.

The reason I called it RSM is because there are two dots on its back (that you cannot see on this photo). Can harmless ones have those dots as well?

[BrianMc]

Without webbing being present I find I have to look hard to find RSM and it is usually the damage done by mites which draws attention to their presence. They are certainly visible to the naked eye(20/20), although not in great detail, but they do blend in well with their host plant. Picking out plants for macro photography I am sometimes surprised to find the odd mite which had previously gone unseen with the naked eye. I have also done some timelapse photography and observed one or two orange specks moving around on plants!

[Ali Baba]

The reason I called it RSM is because there are two dots on its back (that you cannot see on this photo). Can harmless ones have those dots as well?

If you look at the picture posted by antisepp you will see the gut contents visible through the body wall, probably what you are seeing. Those little tranparent bristly bottomed mites are very common on soil surfaces, and completely harmless to plants.

[Mawa]

If you look at the picture posted by antisepp you will see the gut contents visible through the body wall, probably what you are seeing. Those little tranparent bristly bottomed mites are very common on soil surfaces, and completely harmless to plants.

So I have been poisoning my plants with organophosphates for no good reason! Why do they show up in late fall? I did not see them in the summer.

[Ali Baba]

They probably build up in numbers during the warmer summer weather...If you want to see how many mites are living in your soil or on your plants try getting a binocular microscope, say 15 or 20x power on a pot of seedlings. Its amazing how many little critters of different sorts are living happily alongside your plants. My favourites are little black bodied mites with red legs which run around frantically, presumably predatory given the speed they move.

[Hedge]

Found this picture - hope it helps - and article


http://www.allotment.org.uk/allotment-d ... ologically