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  #1  
Old 01-16-2016, 06:14 PM
samfish samfish is offline
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Orbatid mites
Default Orbatid mites

I found a few small, shiny, black insects on one of my plants today.

From internet search, it looks like they are Orbatid mites.

I caught and killed 5 of them.

However, I saw some posts online saying these are benficial...


Anyone know if it is better to leave these on plants?
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  #2  
Old 01-17-2016, 09:24 PM
WhiteRabbit WhiteRabbit is offline
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Old 01-17-2016, 09:52 PM
wintergirl wintergirl is offline
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Everything I have read about oribatid mites is that they live on decaying matter. They should not hurt your plants but be a clue that your media is breaking down. They are called "soil mites" and your orchid should not be in soil.
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Old 01-18-2016, 12:44 PM
NYCorchidman NYCorchidman is offline
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Orbatid mites
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They eat live and dead plant material, and fungus.
I don't know exactly what kind of fungus, but if they eat any fungus, then that counts pathogenic ones as well, which would be great!

I have millions of these. I hate them! they just look so creepy when so many of them come at the surface of the pot after watering.

They must have come into my collection via plants I bought. They seem almost ubiquitous in greenhouses where many plants are grown.
I noticed that some pots have none, and some have a lot. These also move quickly to neighboring pots and multiply, hence, I had nearly none years ago, but then now they are found in at least good 30% of my pots.
When I water pots with high population of these bugs, I would repeat filling up and draining the pots many times trying to keep the numbers down, but some are bound to stay inside the pot and they seem to multiply quite fast.

They will break down the potting mix, but I guess their poop might add to the fertilization? hahaha

I gave up on them other than this active rinsing and hence keeping the numbers down as much as possible.
They seem harmless other than creeping me out.
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