Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Beltsville, Maryland and their colleagues have discovered why a mite is causing extensive damages to the nation’s $250-million-a-year rose industry and why it’s so hard to detect and control. It seems the mite hides deep in the flower’s internal organs.
The rose bud mite (Phyllocoptes fructiphilus) is about half the size of a grain of salt, but it spreads rose rosette virus (RRV), which is responsible for an incurable rose disease found in 30 states.
A study by researchers at the ARS Electron and Confocal Microscopy Unit and their colleagues produced stunning, high-resolution images that, for the first time, identified the mite’s “hiding spots” deep within rose flowers and leaf buds. The images showed the mite at the base of the rose’s glandular hairs on the sepals, which are tiny leaf-like appendages in the base of the flower. By imbedding itself so deeply among the inner floral parts, the rose bud mite can avoid sprays or other treatments applied as controls.
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