Yes, Tiffany, unfortunately, I am sure it is Galium aparine. It is as clingy and nasty as it could be. I have had a heck of a time getting it out of the ground covers. And I am amazed at the strength of those little tiny roots!
I agree with you, Nick, I love my spiders (especially the Argiopes!), and Harvestmen, and do not use insecticides, just try to promote the frogs, snakes, and natural predators. I do remember being shocked when my Entomology professor told us that aphids are born pregnant. Who knew? More reason to hate them.
Thank you for jumping in, Lucy. I think I did not phrase the question as clearly as I should have. It wasn't meant to be a woe is me, or I need help fixing this, it was more of sheesh, this is not good, am I the only one seeing this sort of thing? And you said you are seeing it, too. I think we are in for a different way of managing gardening problems.
And yes we learned that dusty = mites and such. An example was that almond trees on the edge of the orchard where the dirt road was would have a much higher incidence of spider mites than the rest of the orchard. Luckily for them, the solution was as simple as hosing down the trees with water to get the dust off. So apparently that is a help. It has not helped me so far, but there you go. I will keep trying!
