So for those of you have read my last Cyclamen post you might be interested to know that I've found a serious infestation of Cyclamen mites on my Cyclamen graecum. I seriously want access to a photomicroscope right now so I can take pictures of these things. Stenotarsonemus pallidus are tiny brown to clear Arachnids. They're sucking 'insects' so they remove sap and nutrients from the plant. They can cause all sorts of problems for cyclamens, begonias, and african violets. They generally cause curling of leaves, stop flowering and create weak plants. I've seen damage on african violets before, but I hadn't seen serious damage on cyclamens.
I'll be honest. I hate mites. I hate spidermites more specifically. I've gotten to the point with spidermites where I go out of my way not to have plants that are prone to them. ...Well, maybe that is not entirely true I still have a Chamaedorea elegans that I got from one of my floral classes. My Schefflera elegantissima kicked it on my vacation so I should be fairly spider mite free this winter. I just have little hope of getting rid of the things these days. I've sprayed everything under the sun, added kept things more humid, sprayed alcohol etc. Nothing ever seems to do the trick. I just end up throwing the plant out after all the leaves are bleached and the plant is on its last leg.
I'm going to try a repot and soap this time and see where it goes. Else, I'll be down to one cyclamen.
Seeing how it looked before, I'm not entirely sure its going to be salvageable anyway.
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