Brown wheat mite spends the summer in the soil as a white egg resistant to hot, dry conditions. In the fall, as cooler, wetter conditions return, these eggs start to develop and hatch after a 10-day incubation. Males have not been observed in this species. As summer conditions return, white oversummering eggs are produced. Both red and white eggs are placed on soil particles adjacent to wheat plants.
Brown wheat mites feed on plant sap during the day and spend the night in the soil.
Damage from brown wheat mite has been reported from a wide variety of cultivated plants, including sorghum, onions, fruit trees, carrots, cotton, lettuce, iris, alfalfa and clover. In Colorado, this mite is considered to be a pest primarily of drought-stressed winter wheat and Kentucky bluegrass turf. Brown wheat mite is a pest of small grains in most small grain-producing areas of the world. In Colorado, it is most common on drought-stressed winter wheat on the eastern plains. Scouting and Treatment.