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Hi all - thanks for taking the time to look at this post. Hopefully you guys can help me find a solution for the issue I am having with a number of my ornamental plants. Essentially I think I have two types of problems going on with my cacti. 1# Scale bugs and #2 - Mites. Please see attached images. (Thousand words). #1 Scale #2 Mites?? (Patient Zero?) As you can see, it's a cactastrophy. I have left it for a few years, hoping that the problem would go away - but now it has shifted into the next gear and I'm worried that I might lose my entire collection. These plants have never been treated with any form of insecticide, and I hesitated to do that for obvious reasons, but now I'm prepared to pull out the big guns if need be, use systemics etc, and even cull / sell infected stock to any interested buyers. These guys have been a part of my life, and I feel like I have let them down. If possible I would really like to rescue this collection and keep the genetics for the long haul. Help please! Kind regards, tedzr

The big ones are two years old and the littles are less than a year. All of my new growth is coming out shrunken, dry, and brittle. In the past I have had mite problems with these results, but they have cleared with insecticidal soap/ neem oil spray. These plants have been getting treatments weekly and yet they still are ailing. Healthier looking leaves do sprout sometimes but they are misshapen and often speckled yellow. I'm out of ideas... Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

so a forum search for brevipalpus turned no results so hopefully this is helpful for others also in the future. if anyone can offer tips for wiping these guys out or confirm the ID it would be appreciated. they are not spider mites and I have already released phytoseiulus persimilis into the nursery with no effect. I have another general predatory mite on the way which may or may not help. once I've finished doing h2o2 flushes for fungus gnat larvae I can find out! aaargh pests are ruining my life! in a not depressing but comedic tragedy kind if way.

hey guys looking for a bit of help here this loph has slowly gotten more and more covered in this slightly orangish skin condition as far as i can tell from my experience with orange rot that doesnt seem to be what this is (however im no expert) with a little bit of research im starting to think it may be mites hopefully someone can confirm this for me or if it is some kind of fungal infection it seems to be only on the skin i have noticed the skin has become very weak aswell with som very very light touching and attempting to see if i could rub lightly scratch any of it of the surface when i did this i noticed the skin split straight away this was about 2 days ago within only a few hours the split had dried out and looks fine really you should be able to see in one of the pics anyway wat are your thoughts guys mites or fungal infection ? thanks in advance for any help guys i love having such knowledgable people around to help with these things heres the pics