mites on newly planted bare root raspberry

To get free shipping on the purchase of a persimmon tree from Stark Bros, I added 3 bare root Allen raspberry plants to my order.

I planted all 3 in containers, one in a big one that contained some fill material from the persimmon tree hole (mostly clay), some home made compost, coconut coir, re-used potting medium w/ lots of perlite, and pine bark fines.

the second one was in a smaller container with re-used potting medium, pine bark fines, coconut coir. The third was in smallest pot with new Miracle Gro medium.

Only the one in Miracle Gro has started to leaf out at the base. It is in front of the house, far from the other two in the back yard.

The one in the largest container has little mites all over it despite not having any leaves or showing any signs of life.

Should I give up on the two plants that look dead? Should I try to kill all the mites so they don't spread? If so, how? I don't know where the mites came from since I have not grown any brambles & my neighbors don't have any either. Could they have come with the plants?

The persimmon tree is leafing out and looks happy. :)

Hopefully someone with much more 1st hand knowledge comes along to help you.

1st, Stark is not known for its healthy plants. https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/189/

Are you sure the bugs you have are mites? I have only seen and heard of mites sucking the life out of leaves not stems. They are usually tiny too so hard to see. Are you sure you do not have aphids? If the plant is dead, just bag it up to dispose of it bugs and all.

On the dead looking ones, take your fingernail and scrape the bark of a stem down by the root. If you see green, it is still alive. If no green and it is brittle, it is already dead.

Are you sure your 2 bigger pots are retaining enough water to keep the roots moist? Just adding everything you have to your soil is not always conducive to good root growth. Also potting soil that has already been used might have used up all its nutrients. Lots of perlite is not necessarily good. Is your soil heavy? Are you afraid of rotting your roots?

Does your 3rd pot with the miracle grow have fertilizer added to it? I bet it is holding more moisture so the roots are getting to grow. If you lift the 2 plants that are not doing well, check the roots. They should be putting out new white feeder roots if alive and happy in your soil.

Good luck. Though to be successful, you need healthy starter plants and I am not sure you got that from Stark.

Thanks for replying!

That's a shame about Stark Bros. I thought I had read some good things about them, but there do seem to be a lot of recent negative reviews. Do you think they went downhill, or have they always been bad? Do you have an online nursery you can recommend?

I check the pots daily for moisture, so I don't think that's it. The mites have disappeared - I think they hatched out & starved.

Do you think symphylids/symphylans could kill a bare root shrub? I've heard they can be a problem with vegetable seedlings. There were symphylids in my home made compost, as well as pill bugs. I think I used the compost in the second container, as well. However, I also I used the compost when I planted the persimmon in ground & it seems quite happy.

This message was edited May 15, 2023 1:53 PM