Competition between Two Species of Mites. I. Experimental Results

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Abstract
Two principal pests of apple and peach trees in southwestern Ontario are the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus telarius (L.). Usually only P. ulmi is present on the trees in large numbers during the spring and early summer, at which time T. telarius lives predominantly on the ground cover. In August, many T. telarius move from the ground cover to the trees, and large numbers of both species may then be present. In mite control investigations in an apple orchard at the Harrow Research Station, T. telarius moved onto the trees, especially in the central plots, regardless of the acaricides previously applied or the numbers of P. ulmi that were or had been present. This phenomenon posed the question of whether the residual effects of acaricides applied to the trees were mainly responsible for the size of P. ulmi populations in the central plots, or whether competition resulting from the ingress of T. telarius was partially responsible.