Question
Our upper deck (20 ft above ground) is infested with tiny brown mite-like insects.  I leaned on the railing the other day and must have found over 10 of them crawling on my.  My son walked out on the deck yesterday (barefoot)and had numerous mites on the tops of his feet.  I have two pots of pansies on the deck and a custioned swing.  Could they be coming from either of these?  How do we get rid of them?  I won't let our dog on the deck for fear that he will bring them in with him.  They don't bite and are easy to kill.  Can you help?

Answer
Kathy,

These may be psocids (barklice) or clover mites. With a magnifying glass look carefully at the front end of one of these, you may see a pair of long legs that look like antennae. This would be a clover mite. If the critter looks more like a tiny termite (see http://www.livingwithbugs.com/termite.html for a picture of a termite) then it is a psocid. (These are NOT termites, psocids only resemble tiny termites). Tell me what you find.

Jack DeAngelis
http://www.livingwithbugs.com