“The biggest thing in biological pest control since chemical resistance.”
Anystis baccarum, or The Crazee Mite (also known as the Whirligig Mite) is a cosmopolitan (world wide distribution) predatory mite and an impressive destroyer of common greenhouse, ornamental and agricultural pests.
The Crazee Mite is known for controlling aphids, thrips, spider mites, whitefly, and endless others, while notably not interfering with most traditional beneficial insects or mites. It has finally been commercially produced and is now available.
Crazee Mites are currently sold exclusively by Applied Bio-Nomics Ltd. through their distributors and retailers. Quantities are sold as 250 or 1000 adults or 250 eggs. All of these mites are females, active predators, and quick to lay eggs for their 3-5 week adult life span.
From egg to egg-laying-adult is about a month, but all nymph stages are also predatory. And predatory indeed! Anystis has been found to consume over 100 prey per day!
While sold in those large volumes it must be noted that they immediately spread-out. Because they eat so much, it is their habit not to remain close together unless food is plentiful. So, while the application of Crazee Mites can be to knock-down an infestation, it can also be used preventatively for season-long predation of almost all pests.
It is a truly remarkable product and a massive game-changer for the industry of Bio-Control, particularly to fill the notable gaps in thrips control, and pesky situations, like (for example) cool season fox-glove aphid on calibrachoa.
While the package amounts may seem like overkill for the average hobbyist at home, they can easily be spread between indoor plants and outdoor, since single adults may be able to completely knock-down some isolated pest populations.
As a gardener, you’re likely familiar with these already. They are classically found in orchards, and cereal crops, but most are familiar seeing them run crazily along hot surfaces in the summer time. However, they are notoriously hard to find. After commercial releases they remain in high numbers as long as there is food. (They trialed famously in hops and citrus outdoors) But after that, all growers reported a continually low-pest pressure, but only one or two Crazee Mites were ever seen. One grower even started referring to them as their “little garden ninjas.”
Of course, with world-wide distribution, they have lots of nick-names. “Crazee Mite,” is the commercial name, provided by top Anystis Researchers at Vineland Research in Ontario, due to its crazy speed and erratic movement pattern but also because of their ability to find and destroy pests.
Whatever plants or pests you have, you need to try these mites and see just how “Crazee” they are.
Click here to find a distributor of Crazee Mites.
Or buy now. (Canada only)
Read more about Crazee Mites here: (in the Bio-Control Handbook)
Read more about controlling the following (but keep in mind, Anystis changes this as they eat them all):
