Field Notes: A Tale of Two Mites (Patreon)

We’ve got more episodes coming your way with our new season of Deep Look, and a video about mites is crawling onto your screens next Tuesday!

That’s a twospotted spider mite in the above image. It may be small –– just the size of a grain of sand –– but their oversized appetites have made them one of the world’s biggest agricultural pests, particularly in strawberry fields throughout California.

Deep Look’s lead producer and cinematographer, Josh Cassidy, filmed them at Christian Nansen’s lab at University of California, Davis. Here’s his macro set up:

Credit: Josh Cassidy/KQED

Josh also worked with Parabug, a biological pest control company in Salinas, California. Parabug works with growers to release beneficial insects via drone to help them manage pests like twospotted spider mites. Here’s Josh filming pilot Kevin Hill loading predatory mites into a drone.

Credit: Jacklyn Bennett/Parabug

This episode premieres Tuesday, January 26, but Patreon supporters will get a sneak peek this Friday!