Mites in Hay Bales

[Wordforworld]

Hi everyone!
I’m trying out hay bale gardening for the first time this year (Oakland,CA) and I’ve run in to a bit of a snag. The conditioning of the bales went smoothly and I’ve got a few plants in them but I’ve recently noticed that my bales are swarming with tiny red mites! I haven’t had any issues with them biting me as I’ve been really quick to brush them off me but I’m worried that they’ll start to harm my plants.

Does anyone know what they might be and an organic solution to getting rid of them?

 

[Chuck]

It will be just about impossible to get rid of them if they are in fact mites. Google straw itch mites and see if they are what you have

 

[Wordforworld]

I don’t think they’re itch mites, as they’re very small and I still haven’t had any issues with bites. I was thinking that maybe they were spider mites and bought some neem oil today. We’ll see if it clears them up any.

Here’s a couple pictures I managed to get of those extremely quick and tiny buggers (the tiny dot closest to my finger is the mite):