Red spider mites

Mark Aronson <mark.aronson [at] yale__edu> writes

>We have a situation in our ancient art gallery involving an annual
>summer invasion of red spider mites.

Do you have an Integrated Pest Management program in the gallery and
the building in which it is housed?  If the answer is "no", then one
is needed.  Contact a state-licensed pest control operator (PCO) for
information.  If the company doesn't know what IPM is, hang up and
keep calling firms until you find one that does.

The term "red spider mite" is not listed in any of the pest control
references that I have, so you might want to find a non-smushed one
and get it identified.  That's always the first step to control-
know the critter. Mites are in the class of Arachnida (spiders) and
are sub-grouped with ticks as Acarina.  They also have eight legs
and are usually less than 5 mm in length.  Mites, chiggers and ticks
usually stay in foliage or ground cover, so that might not be what
you have.  It sounds to me that some sort of baiting method along
with a structural repair approach might be what is needed here. Once
you know what they are, what their life-cycle and food sources are,
and where they are coming from, then you can design an effective
control program. Good luck,

Paul S. Storch
Senior Objects Conservator/Section Head/Internal Unit Preparation
    Specialist
Daniels Objects Conservation Laboratory (DOCL)
B-109.1, Minnesota History Center
345 Kellogg Blvd. West
St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
651-297-5774
Fax: 651-297-2967


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:1
                   Distributed: Friday, June 14, 2002
                        Message Id: cdl-16-1-008
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