What are Red Spider mites?
They are tiny, crawling, wingless, insects (well actually they are arachnids for those who like to be pedantic about semantics) that have 6 or 8 legs depending on the stage of the development. Juvenile mites have 6 legs and the adult 8. They are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye, and a magnifying glass is needed to see them. If you imagine the full stop that I have just used they are more difficult to see than that. The BIG question… what colour are they? Most people would say RED of course. Some say they are black, some say green. Therefore if you are checking your plants you will know what you are looking for… or will you? This has got to be one of the biggest misnomers guaranteed to mislead the unwary. A RED SPIDER MITE is only RED at a certain stage of the year, after hibernation and in the springtime. The newly hatched mite is almost white (off white/buff coloured); the adult can be almost white (but in varying degrees through to green) with two spots on its back,
