[Strawbale] straw itch mite

Thu Feb 15 23:41:26 CET 2007

Hi Amit,
I have had psocids is my house too, in Flanders.  The seemed to have a 
noticible preference for the white painted ceilings.  I moved into it July 
2004 and it took me some 2 years to get rid of them.  Each late autumn their 
number sized down drastically, I suppose had to do with that the heating had 
been switched on.
To my experience the only harm they can do is psychologic.  After weeks of 
daily vacuuming for an hour without visible results, I stopped the vacuum 
cleaning and decided to ignore them, which did not result in increasing 
their number.
The psocids I had when young are white, almost transparent, when older they 
grow a little darker.  Here are some photo's.
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=psocids&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

Good luck.
Lieve

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:38:12 +0100
From: "Amit Kvint" <amitkvint at gmail...>
Subject: [Strawbale] straw itch mite
To: "European strawbale building discussions"
<strawbale at amper....muni.cz>
Message-ID:
<e94ba85e0702140838o609a1b3dw740cca2bf0e18e42 at mail....com>
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Hi there,

I have built my SB home & moved in last June.

The house is amazing and we are very happy.

Since we have moved in I noticed there are these small bugs that you see
once in a while tiny ones, can hardly be seen, and usually in groups. I have
looked these last few days on the net and am quite sure now that they are
"straw itch mite", does anyone know anything about this mite? the effect it
might have on the bales etc...? any info will be appreciated.

Regard,

Amit
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:19:01 +0100
From: Andr? de Bouter <forum at lamaisonenpaille...>
Subject: Re: [Strawbale] straw itch mite
To: European strawbale building discussions
<strawbale at amper....muni.cz>
Message-ID: <45D35295.8060807 at lamaisonenpaille...>
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Dear Amit,

They probably are what we call plaster beatles. They live on the fungus
that is created behind the plaster. When the plaster dries they stop as
there is no more moisture for the fungus. If they keep on coming out of
your wall for more than 2 months you probably have a moisture problem in
your wall (and should say 'thank you' to the beatles for letting you
know). For now the thing to do is to vacume often. They are not harmful.
Look where they come out and fill up those holes (once all is over)
because these spots are air leaks (and say 'thank you' again). Also
check if there is a certain wall/area is affected as it might be a
moisture problem.

Best regards,

André de Bouter
La Maison en Paille

Amit Kvint a écrit :
> Hi there,
>
> I have built my SB home & moved in last June.
>
> The house is amazing and we are very happy.
>
> Since we have moved in I noticed there are these small bugs that you
> see once in a while tiny ones, can hardly be seen, and usually in
> groups. I have looked these last few days on the net and am quite sure
> now that they are "straw itch mite", does anyone know anything about
> this mite? the effect it might have on the bales etc...? any info will
> be appreciated.
>
> Regard,
>
> Amit
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ____________________________________________________
>     European strawbale building discussion list
>
> Send all messages to:
> Strawbale at amper....muni.cz
>
> Archives, subscription options, etc:
> http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale
> ____________________________________________________
>
>
>

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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:48:35 -0500
From: "Rob Tom" <ArchiLogic at yahoo...>
Subject: [Strawbale] Re:  straw itch mite
To: strawbale at amper....muni.cz
Message-ID: <op.tnq469geffylj4 at edg-d0726062bd2>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes;
charset=iso-8859-15

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:38:12 -0500, Amit Kvint <amitkvint at gmail...> wrote:

> Since we have moved in I noticed there are these small bugs that you see
> once in a while tiny ones, can hardly be seen, and usually in groups.

Amit;

You may want to have a look at the files that are in the
"Bugs-r-Us" folder at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SB-r-us/files/

One of them is a file entitled:

     Bugs in Wet Conditions.pdf
     Bugs that occur in building materials with elevated moisture levels

and it will contain line drawings and IIRC, some photos, as well as
descriptions of the conditions that create habitat for a number of bugs
that are likely to be found in wet straw.

You will need to become a member in order to take advantage of the
file-sharing capabilities that Yahoogroups offers to the group but you can
opt out of getting List mail sent to your mailbox simply by selecting the
"No Mail" option (as I do) when you set your preferences and simply
unsubscribe once you've gotten what you need.

Generally-speaking , there are often elevated moisture levels in the straw
during the first year or so following plastering operations, as a result
of moisture from the wet-applied plaster migrating into the straw and that
high humidity and warm temperatures within the straw create the conditions
which are amenable to numerous small insects.

As the walls dry out and if no further moisture loading occurs (ie
rain-wetted plaster, leaks) then suitable habitat for the insects will
cease to exist and as a result so will they.

This phenomenon of elevated moisture levels during the first year of
occupancy of new buildings is not unique to buildings with straw in the
walls nor is the presence of tiny insects.

In fact the presence of such insects is sp common that one of the
colloquial names for one such insect is "Plaster beetle".

One that seems to be common in SB buildings is mild climates like that of
Europe are Psocids (order Psocoptera).

=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
<A r c h i L o g i c   at  c h a f f y a h o o   dot   c a >
winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply

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