Red spider mite

Link here for you about red spider mite. Glasshouse red spider mite / Royal Horticultural Society

you ended up with red spider mite in your polytunnel from entering a show? How did that happen?

You even certain it is spider mite?

The worst pest leek exhibitors have to cope with is thrip. An almost invisible sap sucking insect and I would not be surprised if that is what your leeks have been affected with.

Shows should not accept entries of thrip affected leeks. It really isn't fair on the other exhibitors as it is hell and all to get rid of.

I once had thrip on leeks I bought from a reputable supplier. Leeks were expensive, I wasn't charged for the thrip. Got rid eventually using a product I can't name because it should not be available to the amateur grower. That product cost just short of £100 and is also effective against red spider mite.

Rusty's link above leeds to good info.

Learn a lesson from your experience as well though. Do not return leeks you have had at a show to your tunnel. If they have come home with thrip, that is the last place you want them to be

Lightbulb moment You don't mean leek rust, do you?

yups I do mean that

Wait a cotton picking moment. I didn't mention rust on this thread. you on the tangentising juice?

No AP - just drinking tea this morning, and I didn't mean that you meant leek rust. I was wondering if the original poster had leek rust not red spider mite.

ah, had me going anyways. My head is all over the place today. Nothing makes sense.

No it was red spider on the top of the leek are a build up of mite and end up with a big red ball at the top and kills the leek i tryed dersban wich is for thrips

Well there are some sort of spider which make damages to that plant or at that thing where you see them... If it is a dangerous spider and you know that it will damage your thing then you can use a spider killer for it...

try either dynamec or oberon.

both are for red spider and dynamec also does thrip.

I have had problems with red spider mite here in SA as well. I have used all affordable, available sprays that I could buy in small quantities and nothing solved the problem. In the end the infestation was so big that my cucumbers and tomatoes died.

Then I discovered an organic spray (Ludwig's Insect spray), a 200 ml bottle with Canola oil and Garlic as the main ingredients. There is another ingredient, that is extracted from some kind of flower, but I do not have the info. I considered this as an expensive spray at the time as you used 40 ml per spray so I could used the bottle only 5 times. It worked. I had to do a follow-up at intervals before I got the population of mites under control. I visited a seed company one day and mentioned it to the sale's rep and he sold me another product, Pygar where I paid the same amount for a liter and it's ingredients were the same.

I must say that I also came to the conclusion that one of the biggest contributors to the ideal climate for these little critters is dryness when hot. I have now changed over to raised bed with a 75% compost and 25% soil mix. The soil mix stays damp and there are no signs of wilting, even at 43C / 109.4F degrees (it got this hot on the 14th of February). So I am very convinced that the circumstances are not so ideal anymore for these critters, and there are still no sign of them.

So I will monitor until our season gets cooler before I state it as a fact, but I will monitor it. The spray is organically, sticks like nothing you want to encounter and it works.

Raise the humidity, stand a bucket of water in there and/or water the floor if it's concrete . . . Red Spider mite like it dry.