Brown wheat mite has also been detected in some fields. This mite spends the summer in the soil as a white egg. In the fall, as temperature and moisture conditions improve, these eggs start to develop and hatch. The females that hatch then lay red eggs which give rise to one or two fall generations and two or three spring generations. Then as summer conditions return, a generation of females is produced that lay only the white over-summering egg.
Chemical control is the only effective management practice.
The economic threshold for this pest is not well defined, but it is at least several hundred mites per row-foot in the early spring. The decision to treat is difficult since the mite is associated with drought stress. If it rains, mite levels will be significantly reduced regardless of the use of insecticides. Also if white eggs are present and red eggs are mostly hatched the population is in a natural state of decline. Thus treatment is generally used to allow additional time for moisture to occur if the field is in a drought stress condition.