Symptoms and treatments of the white spider

Known as the white spider, this is an animal that usually affects any type of horticultural crop, causing irreparable damage to plant productivity.

Once present in the crops, the white spider produces dwarfism in the most severe cases and causes visible damage to the plants, for example in the leaves and shoots the nerves will be curly. Even when it attacks crops in general, it prefers peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, aubergines and beans.

Index

  • 1 Symptoms of the white spider?
  • 2 How to prevent the presence of white spider mite in crops?

Symptoms of the white spider?

White mite causes damage to plants

Image – http://www.agric.wa.gov.au

The white spider, whose scientific name is Polyphagotarsonemus latus , is usually found in any part of the world, both in temperate and subtropical zones; in the latter they are able to subsist in the open air while in the temperate ones they prefer crops that are protected from the outside environment.

In females, the life cycle begins early, later to get a plant to settle, a cycle that encompasses the stage of egg, larva, larval pulp and adult .

Once on the plant, the female has an average lifespan of 12 days and will be able to lay up to seven eggs a day if conditions are very good. The larvae emerge from the eggs in two or three days of incubation , these larval pulps are collected by the males and carried to other plants; a very efficient way to spread this pest.

It is worth remembering that these larval pulps will give rise to new female white spiders and the unfertilized eggs will become males.

What follows is a total invasion of the plants that are in this cultivation area given the constant repetition of this reproduction process, as long as the climate and the food source allow it; In this way, the arachnid settles and begins to damage crops.

These white spiders can survive temperatures as low as five degrees centigrade, but the ideal environment for them to reproduce and develop has to be between 20 and 25 degrees centigrade, preferably in shaded crops where they are protected from death by excess light or heat.

In fact, and in times of great drought, it usually migrates to other plants , making use of the contact between the plants to be able to move horizontally, this being the ideal season to attack crops, however, they protect themselves from the heat on the back of the leaves. where they are installed

The plants are harmed both by the presence of the larvae and the adult white spiders, these suck the sap from the plant affecting it in the different organs, for example if it attacks the flower abortions will occur, if the fruit is attacked it will have visible deformations , in the leaf it deforms them pronouncing the curvatures, it bulges them and curls the nerves in the upper ones, when it is present in the whole plant it produces dwarfism and a greener coloration than normal and when they are present in the stem it causes the abortion of the shoots axillary and terminal .

How to prevent the presence of white spider mite in crops?

Competition between plants can cause their stems to bend
  • Protect the lateral accesses, the upper ones and the doors of the greenhouses by placing meshes and constantly monitor their conditions.
  • Check that the plastics are not in poor condition.
  • Keep crops free of weeds.
  • Avoid grouping different crops in the same area.
  • Protect the doors of greenhouses with double doors, the mesh must be 10 x 20 threads per square centimeter.
  • Wait a while to start a new crop.
  • Do not neglect the crop when the cycle ends.

Take the necessary precautions to prevent the pest from being transferred to the crop on work tools, clothing, etc. and it is that this small spider that seems harmless, can end everything in a very short time , since the plague appears in a few days.

Symptoms and treatments of the white spider

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