Tiny brown spiders in greenhouse

13Kent

We have a big web with lots of tiny brownish spiders on it in the greenhouse spun between the bench and our peppers. I am presuming these are a pest as some of the pepper leaves have been chomped.How do we get rid of them please?

zaax

These are baby spiders, the will be doing more good than harm, they don't eat plants. Look for something else - slugs?

13Kent

The leaves that have been eaten seem to be the top leaves nearest to the web

DaftyDuck

Is THIS GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH what you've got?

Red spider mite. You can use various sprays, and they'll work (but aren't usually that effective), but raising the humidity, and getting natural predators to do the work can be better. Hose plants down, use a watering can if no hose, stick plenty of containers of water around the plants....

The hose will literally wash the mite off. Keeping the humidity up prevents them taking hold again, and encourages all the bug-eaters into the greenhouse.

Edit: Oh, if the pants are in pots, stick them outside if you are getting downpours like I am.... lucky if the greenhouse stays standing at this rate!

Edit the edit... PLANTS, not pants.

Davesnave

I bow to the wisdom of my learned friend above, but....red spider mites do not chomp leaves; they 'just' suck the life out of them. So, if there's visible damage involving chomping, it's not them, m'lud.

It's also unlikely that red spider mites would construct a web between the bench and peppers, and certainly not a BIG one at this time of year. They do make small webs between leaves, but this is far more likely to be the handiwork of 8 Legs Larry and his wife, who, despite their scary appearance, are usually benign. :A

I agree entirely with the advice to up the humidity now we are getting some more warm weather (?) as prevention is far better than cure where RSM are concerned. Speaking of pants, the cures available really are!

How do I know? In a deep recess, concealed from DEFRA hit squads, I still have a bottle of an acaricide banned way back in the mists of time, not because it was particularly evil (it was used on English strawberries) but because the manufacturer couldn't afford to have it tested & approved. I haven't used any in years, but like weapons of mass destruction, it's always there as a last resort......total annihilation guaranteed! :eek:

13Kent

Eeek!!! Will have to sit in the greenhouse and monitor them I think!!