Densities of some phytoseiids are positively correlated with the abundance of leaf trichomes. These leaf structures have been shown to afford protection from predators and to increase capture of pollen. We determined whether the presence of artificial leaf trichomes would influence the short-term retention and ovipostion by phytoseiids with different levels of diet specialization. We found that very modest levels of leaf trichomes greatly increased retention and oviposition by generalist feeders, but had less or no influence on more specialist predators. We also explored how the distribution of leaf trichomes influenced phytoseiid retention. Incorporation of prey availability with the trichomes led to complex patterns of retention for the specialist predators. We hypothesize that dispersal patterns in relation to trichome abundance is the likely proximal cause for differences in phytoseiid abundance among plants with different levels of leaf trichomes.