Agaveville

I originally posted this on Xericworld some time ago. For the edification and pleasure of anyone here who didn't catch it on that "other" site, I did a quick "cut-and-paste job!
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ERIOPHYOID MITE RESEARCH INCREDULITIES STRAIGHT FROM THE FRONT
A quick summation from the best available current information gleaned from many reference sources (most from many years ago).



1) There are many thousands of described species of Eriophyoid Mites. Acarologists (Scientists who specialize in the study of mites) believe there are untold numbers more of undescribed species.

2) Most Eriophyoid Mite species are Host-Specific to a plant genus; many Eriophyoid Mite species are even Host-Specific to plant species. (At least that is the case in a natural, undisturbed environment). They have evolved with the host plant species for millions of years...

3) Fossilized Eriophyoid Mites have been found that date back beyond Fifty Million Years ago that are clearly identifiable, and very little different from today's species. (I guess one could ascertain that they are here to stay!)

4) Eriophyoid Mites are so small that 10 or more of them could easily hold a square dance on the working-end head of a ball-point pen. It is claimed that they can be seen with a ten-X lens, but I find that somewhat suspect. Perhaps if you have a very steady hand and incredibly good eyes...

5) When Eriophyoid Mites mature and decide to move on, their MAIN MODE OF TRANSPORTATION is to crawl to the leaves near the top of the plant, where they congregate at the leaf edge and stand up vertically (attached to the leaf by a posterior sucker-like appendage). They then wave their four legs in the air, and when they sense air movement from at least a light wind, they let go and float through the air to potential new hosts. Of course, most fall on "Fallow Ground" and soon die, but a very small percentage just might make it to a new host plant. Sometimes they even crawl up and over and stand on top of each other in a vertically arrayed chain much like a group of acrobatic circus performers, and float away enmasse on the next breeze that comes along. Air samples taken by aircraft at ten thousand feet in altitude and above have been found to contain migrating Eriophyoid Mites! Look, Ma! No wings!!

6) Eriophyoid mites have no eyes or ears and mostly percieve their environment through a series of long hair-like structures sparsly but strategically located here and there around their body. These hairs are known as Setae.

7) Host plants that are known to have their own special species of symbiotic Eriophyoid Mites include, but are certainly not limited to, the following: All Citrus, Avocado, Camellia, Bermuda Grass, Aloe, Eucalyptus, Wheat, Garlic, Tulip, Rose, Walnut, Olive, Oak, Pine, Redwood, etc., etc. Basically, You name it, they got it!

8) It is believed that Eriophyoid Mites can "Hitch a Ride" to a new host plant by getting accidently caught-up in the leg and body hairs and crevices of other creatures like bees, hummingbirds, beetles, ants, mice, etc. They are also in the plant's flowers so can get mixed up in pollen.

9) Eriophyoid mites are known carriers of many oportunistic pathogens. Much like a mosquito, their piercing mouthparts (Known as Chelicerae) can readily uptake and spread viral and bacterial infection through their ingestion of pathogen-impregnated plant tissue and fluids.

10) Eriophyoid Mites' creation of myriad different forms of mite species-specific galling on host plants is a very helpful identification guide as to the species of mite involved. The mites somehow cause the plant's cells to react in a little-understood way, creating bizarre stunting and monstrose-like growth which creates protective hiding places in which the mites are practically impervious to predators and most pesticides. This type of growth is very similiar to the type of growth that is chemically induced in the laboratory in the tissue-culture protocol process. Eriophyoid Mites DO NOT burrow inside of a plant EVER. However, they surround themselves with this gall tissue to the point that for all intents and purposes, they appear to be deep inside the plant tissues!

STAY TUNED... MORE FUN TO COME...
The Monger

In the spirit of Spring.... MORE ERIOPHYOID MITE HORROR available in these research tools!!

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A listing of some pertinent publications to peruse:


1) World Crop Pests (Volume #6): Eriophyoid Mites: Their Biology, Natural Enemies and Control Edited by E.E. Lindquist, et al. 1996 Elsevier Publishing 790 pages.

This massive tome is absolutely the most comprehensive amalgamation of information on Eriophyoid mites ever accumulated. It's in-depth study of these microscopic pests is elucidating and frightening in the extreme. It covers virtually all aspects of these incredibly bizarre creatures, and is absolute must-reading if you intend to do battle with these pests.

Unfortunately, not only is this book currently out of print, but it's original list price approached five hundred dollars. I have seen no used copies available, at any price, ever. There is a digital copy for sale for around four hundred dollars. I have heard rumours of a paperback version available on Amazon.com for around four hundred dollars...

So in frustration I went to my local public library and found that they could get it on loan from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They sent out a request and had it transferred to my local branch in Rancho Bernardo; I had it in hand within a few weeks and they allowed me to keep it for a couple of weeks and then extended it for a couple of more.... didn't cost me a penny!

The other six volumes in the series are equally impressive in their girth and comprehensive coverage of other pest genera. Simply indispensible....


2) An Illustrated Guide to Plant Abnormalities Caused by Eriophyid Mites in North America Edited by Hartford H. Keifer, et al. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, In cooperation with The California Department of Food and Agriculture; also sub-titled Agricultural Handbook Number 573. November 1982, 178 pages.

This is the last of many works by the Legendary God of Mite Studies, Hartford H. Keifer. It has excellent color photographs and discussion of some one hundred different types of gall formations on many different genera of plants, along with line drawings of their respective causal mites.

The scanning electron microscope photos of mites will astound you.... Absolutely critical and indispensible reading!

Difficult and expensive to obtain.

3) The Eriophyid Mites of California (Bulletin of the California Insect Survey, Volume 2, Number 1) By Hartford H. Keifer, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1952, 123 pages.

An extensive listing of Mite host plants in California, along with an array of plates with comprehensive line drawings of some one hundred or more mite species. An excellent primer if you can find it...


4) Agricultural Acarology: Introduction to Integrated Mite Management by Marjorie A. Hoy, CRC Press, 2011. 410 pages, with a Compact Disc in a folder under the back cover (which just so happens to contain a P.D.F. of one of the above publications, among many other items and color photographs!)

Some 400 pages of distilled mite spirits! The latest poop on the Acari... Just wait until you get into the horror of Varroa Jacobsoni, and especially Acarapis woodi (the tracheal mite of the Honey Bee). And we couldn't figure out what Colony Collapse Disorder Syndrome was all about.... These pests make Freddy Kreuger look like the Easter Bunny. Furthermore, This great introduction to the Acari includes a plethora of other good Halloween reading on Dust Mites, Chiggers, Ticks, etc.

Indispensibly current and shocking... The kiddies will love it!!

FAIR WARNING!! DO NOT READ AT NIGHT WHEN ALONE IN THE HOUSE BY YOURSELF...


5) Mites Injurious to Economic Plants by Lee R. Jepson, Hartford H. Keifer, et al. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, 1975. 614 pages, plus an additional 74 plates. Reprinted as an Indian Edition in 1994 by Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh in arrangement with the original American Publishers.

Another massive volume on the Acari with comprehensive coverage as well as extensive photographic documentation. I was lucky enough to get a reprinted hardback copy recently from India at a great price; The book smells exotic and feels like velour! An important classic book at a very affordable price; thank you so very much, Mr. Singh!!


6) Eriophyid Studies I Through XXVIII, B-1 Through B-21, C-1 Through C-17 by Hartford H. Keifer, 1938 through 1979, 66 Reports of Aproximately 20 pages each. Published in the California Department of Agriculture Bulletins (I through XXVI and Occasional Papers 1 and 2); The California State Department of Agriculture Bureau of Entomology as Special Publications (B series); Privately Published and Issued By H.H.Keifer (C Series). Well over 1,000 pages in the aggregate.

These reports give good indication of the scope of the life work of the greatest student of Eriophyidae of all time. Most of these reports were, at the time of publication, descriptions of countless new species of Eriophyoid Mites. There are endless line drawings of every aspect of the individual species described. Over forty years of work went into these reports. They are fascinating in the countless variation observable in the physical charachteristics of this massive genus of unseen little monsters.

Rare and difficult to obtain. My copies were purged from the University of California Berkeley Entomology library, which is reputed to have been closed permanently and all the books sold off.


A quick note in summation: I would be surprised if any of you that are not under a sincere and comprehensive mite elimination program are even remotely mite-free. "Control" and "Management" are useless theories that will end up with futile and hopeless results when dealing with something this virulent and unseen. Nearly every ornamental plant grower I have visited, including virtually all of the biggest growers in the western United States, have serious and growing infestations of this pest (which is highly likely to be composed of seperate infestations of many different mite species working independently of each other).

To be educated is to be forwarned; to be forwarned is the first step in becoming pro-active. We will never beat these invisible pests by throwing ineffectual Bad-Actor chemicals at the problem willy-nilly. There are magical new chemicals in existence, and on the horizon, that are paradigm leaps ahead of what was available only a few short years ago... Study and learn, and I promise you that you can beat this problem; There is no plant that needs to be thrown out; learn to use your worst infestations as indicator plants as to the efficacy of your mite elimination and prevention programs! The new formulations are far safer to use and 100% effective when used correctly.

In haste and ernestness....

The Monger

Agavemonger wrote:2) Most Eriophyoid Mite species are Host-Specific to a plant genus; many Eriophyoid Mite species are even Host-Specific to plant species. (At least that is the case in a natural, undisturbed environment). They have evolved with the host plant species for millions of years...

That means I don't have to worry about aloe mites infecting my agaves or agave mites infecting my aloes? Wonderful!

Agavemonger wrote:6) Eriophyoid mites have no eyes or ears

Oh good, that means they can't see or hear you when you sneak up on them with the sprayer.

Agavemonger wrote:8) It is believed that Eriophyoid Mites can "Hitch a Ride" to a new host plant by getting accidently caught-up in the leg and body hairs and crevices of other creatures like bees, hummingbirds, beetles, ants, mice, etc. They are also in the plant's flowers so can get mixed up in pollen.

I always wonder when I visit a nursery if there's the possibility of mites hitching a ride back home with me.

Agavemonger wrote:9) Eriophyoid mites are known carriers of many oportunistic pathogens. Much like a mosquito, their piercing mouthparts (Known as Chelicerae) can readily uptake and spread viral and bacterial infection through their ingestion of pathogen-impregnated plant tissue and fluids.

In other words - Be careful when you stop and smell the roses! Or Agaves or Aloes or whatever it is that you're smelling these days.

Last year I had a local nursery buy a huge amount of agaves from me. I visited them a few weeks ago and asked how their sales were. The owner took me back to where they kept them to show me what they had sold and I was shocked. About half of the agaves that I recognized as coming from my nursery had moderate to severe mite damage. It didn't take long at all for healthy agaves to become scarred up when in proximity to sick ones.

In my nursery and garden I have zero mite activity so I know for certain it was a problem that nursery had already. Your best option is to avoid buying agaves from any nursery that has infested plants in their inventory.

KLC wrote:Last year I had a local nursery buy a huge amount of agaves from me. I visited them a few weeks ago and asked how their sales were. The owner took me back to where they kept them to show me what they had sold and I was shocked. About half of the agaves that I recognized as coming from my nursery had moderate to severe mite damage. It didn't take long at all for healthy agaves to become scarred up when in proximity to sick ones.

In my nursery and garden I have zero mite activity so I know for certain it was a problem that nursery had already. Your best option is to avoid buying agaves from any nursery that has infested plants in their inventory.

Some places it literally runs rampant, with no effort to control it. With that many sick plants and that many mites, I am not surprised that newcomers don't stand a chance. There are several nurseries where I refuse to buy agave at any price, because they are literally over-run with mites. If I can afford a bottle of Forbid 4F, so can they. Certainly at the prices some of them charge for even modestly sized agave.

BTW - all the plants I got from you are still thriving, especially in this weather.