pests This pest - how do I protect my habs and get rid of it?

C

crow

I'm not sure what kind of pest is this, i guess some kind of red mites. They remind me of red spider mites, probably they are.  My cell phone camera is quite bad, so the image is blurry. It's very hard to see these bugs Sorry for that. 
 
I live in Europe, Croatia. There isnt really a lot of "enough hot" peppers to choose from here, and i love spicy food.
 
I decided to grow some myself, and first time doing this. I grew 20 habs from seeds indoors under the CFL, and repotted them from solo cups into pots less than a week ago, after a week of hardening them. They are so beautiful now!
 
It's nice and sunny, and after a while habs will go into large containers and stay outside.
 
Moment ago, I noticed that on 4 plants there are small red bugs all over it. I think they came today, and I want to get rid of them asap, so they dont do damage. What is the best way to get rid of these??
 
2qk2yvo.jpg

 
 
Thanks!
 
I think those are too large to be spider mites. Some quick googling makes me think they could be young clover mites. I have a few similar looking ones on my plants for over a week since they've been outdoors. I've not seen any ill effects from them though.
 
They may seem  large because the image is bad and I was holding camera too close. They are actually bright red, and very tiny (1 mm or less in legnth). They left nice red stain when i squished them.
 
I got Actara (some Swiss anti mite), which supposedly gets rid of any mite type. Syngenta is producer
 
Q: If these are spider mites, should I spray peppers right away and move them from sun, or is it OK if I wait the evening and spray them then. Can mites do a lot of damage by then?
 
Edit: They are most certainly spider mites, they look like this:
 
spider-mites1.jpg

 
Unfortunately, i can't see any natural predators, like ladybugs etc., so I'm gonna have to use the chemical treatment.
 
crow said:
They may seem  large because the image is bad and I was holding camera too close. They are actually bright red, and very tiny (1 mm or less in legnth), I squashed few of them with my finger, and they painted leafs red there where i pressed them.
 
I got Actara (some Swiss anti mite), which supposedly gets rid of any mite type. Syngenta is producer
 
Q: If these are spider mites, should I spray peppers right away and move them from sun, or is it OK if I wait the evening and spray them then. Can mites do a lot of damage by then?
 
Edit: They are most certainly spider mites, they look like this:
 
spider-mites1.jpg

 
Unfortunately, i can't see any natural predators, like ladybugs etc., so I'm gonna have to use the chemical treatment.
Click to expand...
 
I'm still not convinced they are spider mites.  Spider mites are really only visible with magnification.  Those shown in the picture are simply too large.  Juvenile clover mites are also red like that, but are much larger than a spider mite.
 
crow said:
Could be that you're right, won't disagree! Are these harmful to peppers?
Click to expand...
 
To be honest, I'm not sure.  They seem to be most closely associated with grasses.  Like I said before, the ones I have on my plants have been there for over a week now.  I've not seen any damage done to my plants.  Not sure what could happen if their numbers increase though...
 
Yeah. it must be it! Yesterday, I've moved my pots closer to the lawn as there's better exposure to the sun. They must have come  from the grass, as i noticed them just now. 
 
i will, for now, keep an eye on the plants and restrain from using any chemicals, unless I notice any damage. The one I got is a selective insecticide, works mostly on mites and red spiders. Still won't use it for now, could be overreaction.
 
ps. could be young red aphids. Will use soap and water for a week and post results.
 
I would suggest a mild soap solution applied via a fine mist sprayer, repeat once in 2-3 days and see if that discourages them.
 
Clover mites are in the same family as spider mites and suck sap from leaf cells. They are generally considered not to be excessively harmful to plants other than grasses. However, in sucking out the cell contents they remove chlorophyll, so impact a plant's photosynthesis. This can cause slow development, particularly of seedlings. I would suggest using a miticide, not just on the chile plants, but also on the yard.
 
     They look like red velvet mites or clover mites to me. They're probably not a problem unless you're seeing huge numbers of them on your plants. I think it's only the first juvenile instars that feed on plants, so even if they are a problem it will go away on its own. 
     I see those crawling around on my plants every year when I put them outside to start hardening. They never cause damage and I've never thought twice about them. If I were you I'd only start spraying insecticides only if I started seeing damage on my plants that I knew was caused by them (even then It's self limiting - only one generation per year).
     Good luck!
 
crow said:
They may seem  large because the image is bad and I was holding camera too close. They are actually bright red, and very tiny (1 mm or less in legnth). They left nice red stain when i squished them.
 
I got Actara (some Swiss anti mite), which supposedly gets rid of any mite type. Syngenta is producer
 
Q: If these are spider mites, should I spray peppers right away and move them from sun, or is it OK if I wait the evening and spray them then. Can mites do a lot of damage by then?
 
Edit: They are most certainly spider mites, they look like this:
 
spider-mites1.jpg

 
Unfortunately, i can't see any natural predators, like ladybugs etc., so I'm gonna have to use the chemical treatment.
Click to expand...
liquid ladybug works everytime. Ecoorganics.com
 
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