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. This figure will increase with lower wheat prices and decrease with higher wheat prices. It often is difficult to justify a chemical treatment, since brown wheat mite infestations are associated with drought stress. If it does not rain, crop yield may be so reduced by drought as to make chemical treatment uneconomical. Also, if white eggs are present and red eggs are mostly hatched, the population is in natural decline and treatment is not economically justifiable.
Banks grass mite female and eggs.
Banks Grass Mite Field Biology. Fertilized female Banks grass mites move into winter wheat in the fall as their summer hosts, primarily field corn, begin to dry down. Overwintering mites are bright orange. With the onset of winter conditions, the mites move to the crowns of wheat plants, where they feed until spring. Small, pearly white eggs then are laid that mature into pale to bright green male and female adults.