spider mites on Mammillaria
Quick answer
If your Mammillaria has spider mites, the most likely cause is: Eight-legged spider-mite arthropods are so small that their damage generally shows up before the pests themselves, with the most common variety red and only a fraction of a millimetre across. They form fine, dense webbing over cactus stems and destroy the epidermis as they feed, leaving an infested Mammillaria lighter in colour or eventually silvery-yellow, with extensive scarring on the youngest growth.
Start here:
- 1. Inspect neighbouring cacti upwind and downwind from an infested Mammillaria to locate the source and any new colonies, since mites drift into a collection on a breeze of silk.
- 2. Apply a miticide following the label directions closely and plan on multiple treatments, since one application is virtually never 100 per cent effective against either the mites or their eggs.
Why Mammillaria gets spider mites
Mammillaria
Eight-legged spider-mite arthropods are so small that their damage generally shows up before the pests themselves, with the most common variety red and only a fraction of a millimetre across. They form fine, dense webbing over cactus stems and destroy the epidermis as they feed, leaving an infested Mammillaria lighter in colour or eventually silvery-yellow, with extensive scarring on the youngest growth.
How to reverse spider mites on Mammillaria
- 1
Inspect neighbouring cacti upwind and downwind from an infested Mammillaria to locate the source and any new colonies, since mites drift into a collection on a breeze of silk.
- 2
Apply a miticide following the label directions closely and plan on multiple treatments, since one application is virtually never 100 per cent effective against either the mites or their eggs.
- 3
Release predatory mites, which hunt and eat the pest mites, as a biological control that targets the colony without damaging the cactus.
Keep spider mites off this Mammillaria
Watch for early signs such as fine webbing and pale stippling on the cactus skin; check new plants for eggs and pupae before adding them to a Mammillaria collection, and treat at the first sign of damage before populations explode.