FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I treat lawns and trees for a living and every time I find a tree or shrub with potential spider mite damage I use this method:

-Grab a sheet of white paper
-Rub the piece of paper under the plant
-Brush your hand over the area on the paper which you rubbed under the plant

If you see a reddish smear across the paper, then your plant has spider mites.


I'm not too sure how effective this could be with Flytraps but I've used this method for a long time, maybe it will help someone catch the problem before it gets any worse.

lol thats just from killing em huh?

It's a good idea, but getting the paper under the flytrap leaves can be difficult. I use a similar method - a blunt lead pencil dragged across the surface of the leaf will also produce a reddish smear if there are mites present.

so the "reddish" smear is blood? haha


Allen,

I actually use a little Belomo Triplet 10x magnifier. Steve told me about it. With it you can see the little things crawling on your plant:
http://www.belomo.us/

yeah the reddish smear is the mite itself lol

Nice Matt, I wonder if that magnifier would be useful for Alberta Spruces and other Conifers that suffer from Mites, I might look into that with my boss, thanks for the link Matt

lawndude
nice. yeah, my dad grows orchids and he told me to do the same thing. I didnt actually try it, because I knew for sure that I had spider mites. but yeah, thanks for sharing

linton wrote:It's a good idea, but getting the paper under the flytrap leaves can be difficult. I use a similar method - a blunt lead pencil dragged across the surface of the leaf will also produce a reddish smear if there are mites present.

he means under the pot

Matt wrote:I actually use a little Belomo Triplet 10x magnifier. Steve told me about it. With it you can see the little things crawling on your plant:
http://www.belomo.us/

Yeah, those Belomo loupes are great. Here's another link for them.

http://www.amateurgeologist.com/belomo- ... ifier.html

i really dont wanna see those things!! i bet they are ugly!!
have you ever looked at a butterfly upclose!!?!??!?!?!

Steve_D wrote:

Matt wrote:I actually use a little Belomo Triplet 10x magnifier. Steve told me about it. With it you can see the little things crawling on your plant:
http://www.belomo.us/

Yeah, those Belomo loupes are great. Here's another link for them.

http://www.amateurgeologist.com/belomo- ... ifier.html

wow thats cool, pretty expensive for me though, can i just use a regular magnifyng glass? PM me if you have an answer please