Garlic Mite

Catalogue Type

Plant Pests Catalogue

Scientific Name

Aceria tulipae

Family

Eriophyidae

Distinguishing Characters

This mite is known as the dry bulb mite. This is not the same as the wheat curl mite, which infects cereals
and other grasses. Eriophyid mites are tiny banana-shaped mites that are too small to see without
magnification.

Host Crop

Garlic

Order

Trombidiformes

Photo of Insect

Photo of Damaged Crop

Description

Bulbs infested with bulb mites may rot and fail to produce new growth, or new growth may be off
color, stunted, and distorted.
Once the mites are inside the bulb, they rapidly turn the bulbs into rotten pulp.
Apparently bulb mites can attack healthy new roots and corms, especially in greenhouses. The
mites may penetrate into lily stems which become brittle. Infested lilies are often dwarfed,
distorted, and the stem roots are suppressed.
Bulb mites may enter prematurely opened tulip buds and cause bud necrosis.