red mites might ...

[mc55]

noticed some red spider mites crawling over my shallots earlier today - should I be worried, or live and let live ?

[mc55]

[tim]

May I suggest that, if they were RED, they weren't RSM - which are brown - & so TINY that you'd be hard pushed to see them!

Are these yours??  http://bugguide.net/node/view/2419/bgimage

Right or wrong, I have never found cause to dispose of them.

[Palustris]

It sems to be a good/bad year fro these little blood spiders. TALOTA!

[tim]

Blood spiders - that's the term!

Do you reckon they're pests, Eric?

[Palustris]

No, only nuisances, and anyway they eat other creatures so red mites may be on the menu!

[tim]

So sorry - RSM quote - they go red in the Autumn. By which time, if you still have them, you've lost everything!!

[mc55]

Hmm, seems like maybe they are not so good to have around.  They were very tiny and guess could have been a brownish-red, but they showed up quite easily against the soil.

Will have another look at the w/e and see how many I can spot - the shallots are planted at the base of a fruit tree (apple) ... maybe they're after the tree not the shallots.

Would watering with a bit of fairy liquid help ?