I repotted some youngsters a while back. I checked yesterday and noticed mites crawling onto my hand as I held the pot checking for branches to use for cuttings. Today I checked some new mix I've been cooking and was horrified to see these guys all over it. There are 5 to 10 per square inch across the surface of my soil in the pots and they will crawl up and over the rim of the pots. I saw some random ones on leaves, but this could have been from disturbing them during the inspection. I put a double hand-full of pine needles in my soil mix bin 2-3 weeks ago, I also put a handful in my worm bins. The needles were what gets raked up and piled around the base of a white pine tree in the yard. Am I screwed?
Thanks alot Izzy! It looks like the mites are of the predatory kind. If they're going after fungnats or their larvae, that's great. I've had tons of those bastards in the past...but not so much lately, maybe that's why! I've been holding off on repotting till i knew for sure - I'll be busy tomorrow. Thanks for the link, I've been there before, didn't think about checking there first, but why would I? This is where I come for the straight dope. lol
