University Journal Prof studies grape vineyard's tiny predators Like the black widow spiders that Dr. Mark Mayse keeps in a jar in his campus lab, spider mites are classified as arachnids, not insects. Mayse and his students are trying to find ecological relationships between spider mite infestation and the health of grapevines. They're small, no bigger than a poppy seed, but Dr. Mark Mayse says they can cause major damage to grape vineyards and are a constant nuisance to farmers. Mayse, an entomologist in the Department of Plant Science at Fresno State, and his students, recently finished a study on spider mites, the tiny arachnids that settle onto the leaves and eat their way to vine destruction. Mayse has field research plots in the Fetzer vineyards of Mendocino County that demonstrate a significant relationship between spider mite infestation and the health of the vine itself.
Evidence clearly suggests that both types of effects are important in vineyards.
The study gives significant insight into ecological interrelationships, Mayse said. The greater our understanding of these complex relationships, the better chance we have to effectively manage the mite populations. Mayse said there is no simple or magic solution to mite infestation problems. Mayse explained that farmers are concerned about a variety of different pests and they cannot simply spray for each kind of bug. Mites are typically associated with vineyards that are stressed - whether it's due to moisture stress or poor fertilizer management.