Topic: What I can spray to kill Berry-Bugs / Chiggers ??

[gavinjconway]

Hi All - my arms and legs get bitten by berry-bugs / chiggers every time I pick berries on my plot. I have 30 rasp plants, 6 currant bushes and a damson at the bottom of my plot and whenever I work in the area or pick berries I get eaten alive..

I want to spray them before they get a chance to hibernate in the ground for winter.   I assume I need to spray with an insecticide of some sort but dont know what class or type of bug they are. No info on any bottles in our GC's have berry-bugs mentioned..

Any suggestions out there?

[chriscross1966]

THey're probably horseflies attracted by manure... certainly none of the UK fruit-flies can bite you...

[gavinjconway]

No Chris - they are defo berry bug bites - I know horse flies.. These are tiny minute little tick like items.. and the bites come up in an oozing swelling itchy blister... then turn a bit septic and take about a month or more to go!!

[Jayb]

Blimey they sound nasty things 
I'd not heard of them before, sorry can't help with your problem, but hope you get it sorted.

[pumkinlover]

I thought this post must have been put up by someone abroad as I've never heard of either of these. There are enough biting midges on my plot so sorry Gavin but please do not send any this way!

[goodlife]

Do you mean harvest mites ?... http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th5i.htm

[Uncle Ted]

Have a look at this;
                              http://www.ehow.com/info_10065676_homemade-chigger-killer.html

[Unwashed]

See the wikipedia entry for chiggers/harvest mites/berry bugs here.

My dog Clover is mildly allergic to them - the only one of our girls who has been - and in the summer when they're about in the grass we need to spray her feet every other day with Frontline Spray (the frontline drops that guard against fleas and ticks is ineffective against harhest mites).

I'm not sure there is anything you can get to spray on the raspberries to kill chiggers in the wild.  Time was you'd have nuked the area with DDT or some such, but direct pesticide control is not sustainable as it poisons benign wildlife, disturbs the natural balance leaving a niche for other pests to establish, and creates the evolutionary pressure for the emergence of pesticide-resistent strains of pests.  Maybe some kind of topical repellant will work, like Avon's Skin so Soft?

If they jump on you right away I'd also wonder if they're actually midges - it's not  just Highland Scotland that has biting midges, there are plenty of other species around the UK that are nasty biters.  How big are your chiggers?  Can you see wings?

[chriscross1966]

No Chris - they are defo berry bug bites - I know horse flies.. These are tiny minute little tick like items.. and the bites come up in an oozing swelling itchy blister... then turn a bit septic and take about a month or more to go!!

Ahh... now I think I know the thing you mean.... we get them in Oxford  and they've been spreading through the country.... don't know of anything targetted for them and anythgin general is going to get the nice things too... from memory they only fly  at certain times of day and the trick is to avoid the times, wear repellent and cover  arms and legs... so full length trousers tucked into wellies, long-sleeve shirts.... horrible things and they've hospitalised people if you get too many bites adn go into toxic shock... the fly is tiny  but it avoids heads as far as I know...

[gavinjconway]

Do you mean harvest mites ?... http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th5i.htm

Noo not these... see the wiki here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombiculidae

[gavinjconway]

Have a look at this;
                              http://www.ehow.com/info_10065676_homemade-chigger-killer.html

Thanks uncle ted for the link... The info about getting them off you is actually a myth as by the time you see them or feel the itch they have done the deed - sucked your blood and deposited the poison!!

I really need a spray to enable me to spray the whole plot to keep control of and eventually get rid of them and find the USA sites have sprays but none available or licensed here..  ..

[goodlife]

Gavin..'Harvest mites' are same as your 'Chiggers'..if you look at the link I sent there is info about harvest mites and some 'methods' to to do something with the buggers.
You could try 'trapping' them on black boards and spraying the boards with the insecticide...it is not 'getting rid of them' method but more of 'reducing' them. If you were to do total 'all over spray' you propably would kill more beneficial insect than actually target the blood suckers...that would cause trouble for your crops other ways.

[gavinjconway]

Gavin..'Harvest mites' are same as your 'Chiggers'..if you look at the link I sent there is info about harvest mites and some 'methods' to to do something with the buggers.
You could try 'trapping' them on black boards and spraying the boards with the insecticide...it is not 'getting rid of them' method but more of 'reducing' them. If you were to do total 'all over spray' you propably would kill more beneficial insect than actually target the blood suckers...that would cause trouble for your crops other ways.

Hi Goodlife - my apologies.. sorry I do realise my mistake as they definitely are the same little bugg..s .. I will look into the ways of keeping them down.. I really have to do something as they get me every time I work in the bottom section of the plot   

[pumkinlover]

So that's what been biting me!!! I've been blaming the chickens, dogs, cats  (even patients!!) .
 Thanks to you guys on A4A I now know what they are. Earlier this year I had about 20 odd and it was driving me mad I felt really poorly and went  crackers  checking the house for bed bugs.

[Morris]

I REALLY wish I hadn't read this or links, but I couldn't help myself!

I am allergic to wasps & need to carry an epipen, and I react badly to mosquitos and lots of other bites. Lots of plants also make me swell up and itch following contact. I don't like the sound of these mites one little bit, I'd never heard of them and hope I never do.

Unfortunately, I'm not far from Newbury, so they may find me... 

[chriscross1966]

Ah... now I understadn.... any chance of a decent acaricide killing them?... and not any of the insects?

[goodlife]

So that's what been biting me!!! I've been blaming the chickens, dogs, cats  (even patients!!) .
 Thanks to you guys on A4A I now know what they are. Earlier this year I had about 20 odd and it was driving me mad I felt really poorly and went  crackers  checking the house for bed bugs.

Yes..I think I went through similar phase couple of years ago...dog kept getting flea drops and everytime I visited chickens I finished getting new bites and often around waist or arms under the sleeves and yet I couldn't find anything.
'Funnnily' enough...once I started 'splashing' about with diatomeceous earth inside the chicken coop, in very generous measure and regularly, and even I still use straw in outside run the 'bitings' have ceased.
There is so many bugs on plot that 'bite' me that I cannot always tell them apart..but the mysterious and very itchy 'nibbles' have disappeared. Now I just wonder if the culprit were chiggers.
BTW!!!! Diatomeceous earth powder can be used on fruit tree trunks against unwanted crawlies and as it can be use on dogs and cats againts fleas...It propably is good idea to use for dusting around trouble areas during dry weather periods against chiggers and as it is not chemical, it doesn't harm crops and pollute the soil.