That’s a Berry Good Question!!!
Posted: April 25, 2011
Q. After reading the article on cyclamen mites on strawberries in last month’s issue, I started checking for them on some strawberry plants. Where exactly on the plant should I be looking, and do you have any other tips? (Tim Elkner, PSU Cooperative Extension, Lancaster Co.)
A. Unlike two-spotted spider mites, where you can find the mites almost anywhere on the plant and mostly on the leaf undersides, with cyclamen mites you need to look way down in the crown. Get into the center of the strawberry plant as much as possible, peel off some of the youngest leaves in the center, and check the very base of them. You’ll find the cyclamen mites right there on the plant hairs if you have them. I look for movement to find the mites, and tell the eggs apart from grains of sand or soil by the fact that the eggs are very smooth, clear, and elliptical.
