My guess would be too hot and too sunny for cyclamen.And then you probably overwatered it. You need to read more about the culture of cyclamens if you insist on growing them. I would never ever bring a cyclamen home for the reasons of mites. Cyclamen mites feed on cyclamens for million years - and plants developed resistance - so they tolerate these mites and do not collapse. AVs get poisoned by the mite saliva when the pests feed - and they get distorted and look awful and eventuallsy collapse and die. You do not know if you get the infection or not. You can wait and watch your violets - they either develop symptoms - then you need to spray them - or not. I would get rid of cyclamen plant right now - and next time if you acquire it - keep it at work, do not bring it home. Do not stress yourself -it is doable to get rid of the pests. Just extra work you do not need. I,

Hi Fred I was thinking that my vermiculite was too fine. This is the only kind I have found in the last years, but years ago I remember it was much more coarse. I even used the mica that had been insulation in an old house for the purpose of vermiculite. Am wondering if this fine type would actually be holding too much water. Vermiculite for holding moisture and perlite for drainage, right? I went to Bismarck and got the Ph tester but when I got home discovered it was for aquariums and had a suction on it to hold to the edge of the aquariums. Have to bring it back and get something different. I really am encouraged thinking that this may not be mites but just poor conditions. Another thing is that I have not fed my violets in many years. They were potted in the vermiculite, perlite, and violet soil combination and have probably run out of nutrients long ago. Guess I just took them for granted for too long. Now they are coming into bloom and look very stunted and blooms stunted. My Pixie Trail is still alive. Not blooming yet. Old family ones from the 1950's and 1960's I still have the two varieties for sure and maybe the one more if the color comes back the way I think it should. That means I haven't lost any of the originals. That is good. Did you ever here of one called Pansy trail? The flower was a two tone kind of darker and lighter lavender. Thanks for thoughts. Sherry

They are opportunistic. If there is no champaine and caviar, they will settle for McDonald's. May be they won't flourish - but they stay alive to relocate back to tastier meal when you brush against their plant with your elbow... and carry them back to AVs. I read somewhere - that a male mite will pick a baby female mite - and carry it to the new location - so they can start a new colony on a new plant ...several days later... do not need to wait until she is 18.

If you have only one infected room and haven't moved plants from there into your other rooms, those plants may be ok. I know one can always carry mites on one's hands & clothes but I think close plant contact is the spreader. If you already have found mites in other rooms then you may have to take action and treat or at least watch carefully and toss as needed. As for taking untreated leaves, I would suggest that older leaves may be best. True, they may take longer to root but mites are less likely because their mouth pieces are only able to chew on tender growth, at least I think that is true. I've also read that since mites don't like tough plant parts, if you seal your leaf ( maybe even a younger one in this case) in a plastic baggie, any attached mites may die from starvation before baby plantlets appear. This sounds reasonable but I haven't tested it. Perhaps someone else will chime in to offer advice. An odd note: I recall a shelf upon which all the plants had mites except for one. I could never find a mite on it nor did it ever develop symptoms. Perhaps it just tasted bad or had some type of immunity! Terri