Come from freshly made up soil. It looks like red/2-spotted spider-mite female or nymph. But it looks more like phytoseiulus persimilis, which is predator to spider-mite.

It is very resistant to Pist-Off.

[attachmentid=61593]

SB

Well I reckon it looks too big for a SpiderMite. But others who know their bugs will be along soon no doubt......
Looks a bit like a sheep-tick

Thanks for tryin' AL, it is no more than a millimeter in size.

Not sure what it is but it dont look like a spider mite,mites heads dont go into a point like on the pic

Have had a look through my pest book and it looks like some sort of aphid

Owd

Looks like a soil mite.

[attachmentid=61601]

Had spidernite last year they seemed a lot smaller and lighter nearly white
hope this helps

The ones I had were sort of dark reddish.

Thx for the responses.

Guess it's not spider-mite then. I think it is phytoseiulus persimilis, can anyone second it?

Webby, where is you?

This is a phytoseiulus persimilis:

[attachmentid=61603]

Yeah, it has the same colour. All the pics that I've browsed, points to phytoseiulus persimilis.

Yes SB, that's a predatory mite, either Phytoseiulus persimilis or Amblyseius californicus.... Look after it mate, it's worth a fortune!

Erm, downed by friendly fire !!!

Thanks for confirming, will know next time

SB

Definitely not spider mite, the body is too round. Not aphid , either - they only have six legs.

Hi there,

That mite you have is not either Phytoseiulus persimilis or Amblyseius californicus.

It is known as Hypoaspis miles and is a predatory mite that lives in upper layers of soil. Its very effective at controlling scarid fly larvae and eggs, spring tails, nematodes, storage mites and thrip larvae/pupae. They are very ravenous and if you have a large population they will resort to cannibalism. These mites can also live in hydroponic media such as rockwool, coco, perlite etc.

Hope that clears things up.

cheech

Hmmm, I've used hypoaspis before. I can't say they look similar

SB

Here's a Hypoaspis miles.

[attachmentid=64139]

Not very often i quote billi but if there is one thing he does know about its bugs and preds

Owd

that is a hypoaspis at an earlier life stage. note the leg number and the jaws?

Blimey! Owd must like me!

what ever bug it is m8 u need to get it gone or you could end up with out a grow and ya buds will be worth nowt m8 had it once and it took over the top bud made a real mess to it

Its a predator mite mate so you could do with more

Owd

not experienced these before
there may be a natural predator out there if you faancy natures way
there should be some biological alternatives via a horti-wholesaler but these products can be aggressive
torq and intercept are often used for spider-mites but i am no match for the insect specialists on here this evening ...they should be able to point you in the right direction
good luck
a.l

Thanks everyone,

Pretty certain it was a Phytoseiulus persimilis. The starch-based pesticide had minimal effect, but it seems to have ridded a thrip I couldn't catch

A few weeks have past now, and no further signs of any infestations.

SB