Diseases and Pests of Garlic 10/12 Bulb Mites

Hidden Garlic Pest Identification & Control Guide

Bulb mites are a stealthy garlic pest that most growers fail to spot without careful observation or professional lab bulb inspection. These tiny pests lead to poor seedling emergence, weak garlic growth, and a sharp rise in rot diseases during storage.
Bulb mites feed on many plants but inflict the worst damage on garlic and onions. The two most widespread parasitic species are Rhizoglyphus root mites and Aceria dry bulb mites.

Pest Habits & Damages

Bulb mites overwinter in farm soil and can also live inside stored garlic bulbs. They harm garlic both in the field and storage, with far worse losses occurring after harvest.
  • In fields: Mites mainly eat garlic roots and the bulb base plate, rarely entering cloves.
  • In storage: They burrow deep inside garlic bulbs.

    Their feeding creates tiny open wounds and dries out garlic tissue. These openings let harmful fungi and bacteria (Fusarium, Penicillium) invade, triggering bulb rot.

    The mites survive year-round in soil as long as decaying allium crop debris remains, which acts as their food source.

Bulb mites

How to Tell the Two Mites Apart

You can see both types with a simple hand lens; their bodies range from off-white to pale yellow:
  1. Rhizoglyphus mites: 0.3–1.0 mm long, cigar or round bulb shape, with 2 or 4 pairs of legs.
  2. Aceria dry bulb mites: Distinct small banana-shaped bodies.

Practical Control Solutions

The most reliable long-term control: Fully decompose all leftover plant waste from the previous harvest before replanting garlic or onions, removing the mites’ food source entirely.

Extra effective management methods:

  1. Flood the field with heavy irrigation or rely on heavy winter rainfall to cut down mite numbers.
  2. Hot water seed garlic treatment (highly effective but may slightly lower germination rate):

    Soak cloves in 130°F water for 10–20 minutes, or 140°F water for 10–15 minutes.

  3. Pre-plant seed soak: Submerge garlic cloves for 24 hours in a mixture of 2% pure plant soap (not laundry detergent) + 2% mineral oil.
  4. Coat seed bulbs with sulfur powder before planting.

Farm Tip

Pair these mite prevention steps with our garlic splitting, sorting and processing machines to filter out weak, damaged bulbs and avoid carrying mite-infested cloves to next season’s planting.

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