One of the keys to integrated mite control was that the western predatory mite Typhlodromus occidentalis could effectively control spider mites under certain conditions. In the picture, a “typh” attacks the larger European red mite. PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH BEERS, WSU By the late 1950s, mite outbreaks had reached a crisis stage in Washington’s apple orchards. New miticides were introduced regularly, but mites (the most important of which at that time was McDaniel mite) became resistant, sometimes within a few years. Despite four to six miticide applications, damage still occurred. Dr. Stan Hoyt, entomologist with Washington State University in Wenatchee, […]