Vector-borne plant viruses facilitate their spread to new hosts by affecting their vectors in multiple ways, including vector’s population growth rate manipulation. It is hypothesized, that viruses which utilize annual host plants, such as grasses, would likely affect vectors’ developmental rates and fecundity to provide higher numbers and population densities of viruliferous dispersers. Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) of Potyviridae family, genus Tritimovirus, is transmitted exclusively by wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella Keifer (Eriophyoidea), a species complex associated with crops worldwide. This virus-vector association was a model to laboratory and greenhouse study on viral effects on population growth of the mite. We tested agriculturally important wheat curl mite genetic lineage MT-1 from Poland (corresponding to North American type-2) population growth rates on bread wheat, Triticum aestivum L. under various infection scenarios. Laboratory assays included settling aviruliferous mites on healthy and mechanically inoculated seedlings and assessing populations weekly for four weeks. Subsequently, greenhouse assays were conducted, which included moving aviruliferous mites to inoculated test plants and viruliferous mites (ca. 3rd and 4th generation fed on infected plants) to healthy test plants for three weeks. We observed less numerous populations with high local densities (up to over 0.3 mite per mm2 of green leaf areas) on mechanically inoculated plants, compared to negative control and assays where WSMV was transmitted via mites. Mite populations were by average ca. 30% higher when viruliferous mites were transferred to healthy plants. The effect was not strong in these experimental settings and differences between laboratory and greenhouse assays hint a role of co-occurring virus-, mechanical- and stress-induced plant responses that affect mite population growth and mite short-distance dispersal over plant specimen. More tests are needed to assess if WSMV affects it’s vector directly or indirectly by plant physiology and the role of mite adaptation to infected host The study was supported by the National Science Centre (NSC), Poland grant no. 2021/43/D/NZ8/01130.