That's what I thought also. However, when I consider the source(s) and thought about it, I figured that it was likely they knew what they were talking about. It's one thing for me (who has grown plants for many years) to diagnose an issue and something else for these other guys to diagnose an issue. Their level of experience & knowledge is incredible. What I've seen is that people in the business can often see (& diagnose) a pest infestation from a distance that others would likely overlook until their plants were shriveled & close to death. Seeing something hundreds of times is different from seeing it a handful of times. I'm regularly amazed by how many times a noob (or sometimes - not a noob) has posted a pic with no idea they even had an issue and someone on the forum points out evidence of pests...Well, can't argue with experience, but I don't think there's enough content in that picture to conclusively prove that it isn't just a baby spider.
Not 'everyone' said this. One of the things I quickly learned when I joined the various forums is that not all advice is the same. Within the forums are tidbits from folks who have grown more Nepenthes (or VFTs or Sarrs or dews or ...) than I likely will ever see. Adjacent to those pieces of advice are others from folks who have been growing their 2 Neps for 4 months (& may be in the 7th grade). People like to give advice whether they have a clue or not & there are no warning signs stating how truly experienced the contributors are...The specks in the foreground could certainly be mites, but they could also be dust, little bits of substrate, or pretty much anything else. The web could easily have been made by a baby spider. The "mite damage" on the leaf could be sunburn, acclimation stress, or a blurry photo. I was shocked at how fast everyone screamed "spider mite!," ...
Again - neither do I but I've learned that is all the more reason for me to listen & try to learn from what the experienced folks are seeing (which was all I stated in my post).as I don't see how even an experienced grower could make such a sure diagnosis.
Absolutely & completely true. I didn't see any posts in this thread where he was being "ridiculed or patronized". If that was how you (or he) interpreted my post - I apologize. That was not my intent...In Noddy's defense, it's entirely the grower's business what he/she does about a problem. There's nothing wrong with giving advice, but if the grower chooses not to follow it that's their decision and they should not be ridiculed or patronized as a result.
Noddy,
When I see the combined depth, breadth & years of experience telling you that there is a good chance you have a spider mite infestation - personally - I would listen (& try to learn from what they were seeing).
Well SirKristoff YOUR WRONG ... That was a G14 brought in that's been outside.... just repotted by me that's all I'll have another photo for you soon if that will help you peeps to decide...
Since I only posted the image as I thought it was funny that what ever did was not eaten ;-)
On a serious note, lets get to the bottom of it ;-)
Here you go does this help you peeps
Noddy
Have fun getting advice from others, dont bother expecting any from me if your rude little escapade continues.
So make sure it's read right.Text can be read wrong...