Spider things...

[TheAlphaWolf]

Quote[/b] ]What huge red things are you referring to?

not the blister things but the golfball sized (ok maybe not THAT big) red regions around the bite... and no I don't mean that lyme disease bull's eye!
I'm almost sure they're not chiggers. if they were, you'd probably be itching like crazy by now..

 

[Bugweed]

They are mites. To get rid of them, fumigate the greenhouse, or a natural method is to put a bead of PennyRoyal oil around the plants. Around each pot/tub. The oil will drive them off. They hate it. I always wore PennyRoyal whenever I went bogging, and never got a chigger or tick. Mosquitoes wouldn't land on me either. Ole Native American remedy. Works really well!

 

[Finch]

yep, velvet mites

Probably

 

[TheAlphaWolf]

Quote[/b] ]These mites are slow moving creatures that have big appetites. Even the young mites prey upon insects many times their size, preferring grasshoppers and crickets. They also consume insect eggs.
Some mites are used for controlling many kinds of insect pests, so are considered beneficial to the environment. They are no threat to humans.

so it's not a velvet mite.
http://kaweahoaks.com/html/velvet_mite.html
and I see zero reason to kill them.

 

[adnedarn]

Quote[/b] (Finch @ Mar. 26 2005,8:48)]yep, velvet mites

Probably

info I found online for "velvet mite"
These mites are slow moving creatures that have big appetites. Even the young mites prey upon insects many times their size, preferring grasshoppers and crickets. They also consume insect eggs.


Doesn't seem to fit really...

 

[Finch]

they are fast moving too, and are very easy to squash.... probably Trombidium sp.?

 

[mabudon]

I live in south western Ontario, Canada, and I can say with certainty that we have those things all over the place ouside in the summertime.... I always called them "red spider mites" cos I thought that's what they were, guess it's not so simple...
The ones we see here do NOT bite, and in fact don't seem to do much of anything from all I've seen, they DO look a little bit like ticks but they are nowhere near as fast.. they move with a real fluid, steady motion, not erratic..
I really don't know much else about them, since, even though they're everywherre, they never seemed to be bothering anything...
Bugweed's suggestion sounds best, since that would keep them away- they seem to go in cycles up here, one day they'll be all over our picnic table, next day they're all gone and don't return for a long time, if ever....

 

[Finch]

Quote[/b] ] they move with a real fluid, steady motion, not erratic..

ya we have them here too, and thats where learned what they are, by thinking they were parasites/pests. Thats why im pretty shur ethere velvet mites

 

[adnedarn]

Finch, I've read a few pages on these velvet mites, and they all talk about how the front pair of legs are used as antenae... The things I have don't seem to do that. My image shows the legs to the side, and that's how they act in the green house as well.
Andrew

 

[Ozzy]

Andrew has bugs.

Ha Ha