Cyclamen mite
A microscopic mite, about 1/100 inch (0.2–0.25 mm) long, that lives in the crowns, buds and still-folded young leaves of strawberry, African violet, cyclamen, begonia, gerbera and many bedding plants. New leaves come out cupped, thickened, crinkled and undersized, flower buds wither, and strawberry berries stay small and seedy. It thrives in cool, humid conditions and arrives on infested plants. In strawberry beds, clean planting stock and early predatory mite releases are the controls. A badly affected pot plant is usually best thrown away.
Stunted, crinkled centre leaves on a strawberry crown infested with Phytonemus pallidus. Photo: pending.
Identification
You will not see the mite with the naked eye. Adults are about 1/100 inch (0.2–0.25 mm) long, oblong, shiny and pale — UC IPM describes them as pale yellowish brown on ornamentals and pinkish orange on strawberry. The female's hind legs are reduced to thin threads; the smaller male's hind legs are pincer-like, and he carries immature females on his back. Eggs are clear, smooth ovals about half the adult's length. Larvae are white, with three pairs of legs.
The damage is how you find it. The mites hide in crevices of buds, the tips of soft shoots and the youngest folded leaflets, and a plant with a crinkled, bunched centre and normal older leaves is the pattern. Its close relative the broad mite causes similar distortion; under a microscope, cyclamen mite has nearly parallel sides and smooth eggs, while broad mite eggs carry rows of white, peg-like bumps.
Easily confused with
- Broad miteAlso a pestUnder a microscope, cyclamen mite's body sides are nearly parallel and its eggs are smooth, pale ovals. Broad mite tapers sharply and its eggs carry rows of pegs.
- Herbicide or nutrient damageHarmlessHerbicide injury, boron or zinc deficiency and poor growing conditions cause similar distorted growth. Only mites found on the buds confirm cyclamen mite.
- Two-spotted spider miteAlso a pestSpider mites are about four times larger, can be seen without a lens and spin webbing. Cyclamen mites need magnification and hide in buds.
Damage symptoms
The mite sucks sap from tissue that has not yet unfolded, so the injury shows as the leaf expands. Koppert notes that even a light infestation can do a lot of damage. On strawberry, UC IPM warns that an uncontrolled population can stop plants from fruiting.
- New leaves cupped, thickened, crinkled and smaller than normal
- A dense, bunched centre where the stems between leaves stay short
- Leaves that turn stiff and bronzed, or brown and yellow in patches
- Flower buds that deform, discolour or drop; flowers that wither
- Small, seedy strawberries on stunted plants
Lifecycle & degree days
The mite passes through egg, larva, a resting stage and adult. It does best in cool, humid conditions, which is why it is a greenhouse and houseplant pest as much as a field one. Adult females spend the winter in strawberry crowns and infestations travel on transplants. The sources differ on how many eggs a female lays: UC IPM gives 12–20 on ornamentals and about 90 on strawberry, while two laboratory life-table studies report no more than about 12.
- Generation
- 1–3 weeks; within 2 weeks in summer
- Favoured by
- 60–80 °F (16–27 °C), 80–90% humidity
- Eggs / female
- Up to ~12 (lab studies) or 12–20 (UC); UC strawberry: ~90
- Overwinters
- Adult females, in strawberry crowns
Host crops
UC IPM's host lists run to about 30 plants. Besides those above, they include alyssum, azalea, dahlia, fuchsia, ivy, larkspur, rhododendron, schefflera and peppers, as well as several weeds. On strawberry, fall-planted and second-year beds suffer most. Pickers, bees and trays can carry the mites between fields.
Monitoring & action thresholds
This is UC IPM's commercial strawberry threshold, counted on newly unfolding leaves. UC IPM gives no numeric threshold for houseplants or bedding plants: on ornamentals the damage itself is the signal, and the advice is to inspect, quarantine and discard, because sprays struggle to reach the mites where they feed.
Check the youngest, still-folded leaves each week, not the old ones. On strawberry, UC IPM samples newly unfolding leaves and looks along the midvein and under the calyx. On ornamentals, the damage is the thing to look for; the mites are too small to see, so send a sample to a diagnostic lab if you are unsure. Inspect every new plant, and keep new stock apart for several weeks before it joins the others.
Biological control
Predatory mites are the only biological option, and the evidence is mixed. In UK glasshouse trials, Neoseiulus cucumeris and N. californicus cut cyclamen mite numbers by 71–81% on potted strawberries. One predator to 10 pest mites worked better than 1:20 or 1:40 (Easterbrook and colleagues, 2001). A later UK study found no predator that reduced the mite on potted plants. UC IPM says early releases of N. californicus may control it on strawberry, but N. cucumeris has not proven effective there. On ornamentals, UC IPM says Neoseiulus releases have greatly reduced damage. Wild predatory mites, pirate bugs and six-spotted thrips also feed on it, but they are not enough on their own.
Cultural controls
UC IPM's advice for ornamentals is to rely mainly on sanitation and heat treatment. Clean stock matters more than anything you release or spray.
- Buy or propagate from mite-free stock; for strawberry, plant uninfested nursery transplants
- Keep new plants apart for several weeks and check the youngest leaves before they join the others
- Discard badly affected pot plants and the plants next to them, in a covered bin
- Heat-treat valuable plants: UC IPM gives 110.3 °F (43.5 °C) water for 30 minutes to kill all stages
- Long-term cold-stored strawberry transplants: 120 °F (49 °C) water for 7 minutes, then very cold water, just before planting (UC IPM)
- Avoid keeping strawberry beds into a second year where the mite has been a problem
- Clean benches and pots, and control weeds that host the mite
Chemical, last resort
- Insecticidal soapREI 12 h
- Horticultural oil (narrow-range)REI 4 h
- Neem oilREI 4 h
- AbamectinREI 12 h
- PyridabenREI 12 h
Sources
UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Strawberry — Cyclamen Mite (Zalom et al., text updated 07/2018)
UC IPM Floriculture & Ornamental Nurseries — Thread-footed (Tarsonemid) Mites (Tjosvold et al., 01/2022)
UC IPM Home and Landscape: Broad Mite and Cyclamen Mite
UC IPM Relative Toxicities of Pesticides Used in Floriculture and Nurseries (01/2022)
Koppert, Cyclamen mite (Phytonemus pallidus) pest page
Easterbrook, Fitzgerald & Solomon 2001, Exp. Appl. Acarol. (Neoseiulus vs P. pallidus and T. urticae)
Fitzgerald et al. 2007, Exp. Appl. Acarol. (phytophagous and predatory mites on UK strawberry)
Soysal & Akyazi 2025, Exp. Appl. Acarol.; Hedayati et al. 2019, Ecotoxicology
Page status
Drafted from the sources below, then checked claim by claim against those sources on 23 September 2026.
Suggest a correction →Cyclamen mite by crop
The same pest behaves differently on different hosts. Each page below gives the host-specific control, rate and threshold.