Came back from vacation to find these webbings set up along a bunch of my indoor fern fronds crawling with little beige guys. They’re to small to look at but big enough to see moving. I’m guessing nymphs of some sort of mite?? Anything you guys recommend doing? I don’t see any plant damage besides the expected little bit of thirsty plant stuff from me being gone. I figure to have reproduced so much anything harmful would have already shown signs of damaging the plant itself. Thoughts? Leave them be or do something? I’m all for letting nature run wild with natives but this plant is far from native and stays indoors year round so uh, yeah I’m not opposed to purging anything on it lol. The photo shows maybe 1/2 the total webbing and tiny guys I’ve found on it so far. Doesn’t seem to have spread to nearby plants but it could also just be this is a species that only makes webbing when reproducing.
Extremely harmful. Spider mites. Yes, there is plenty of damage that you cannot see. You will be able to see more damage after you rinse the leaves really well with water.
Yes get rid of these ASAP. Get it away from any other plants, and check them as well. These are very harmful, definitely spider mites.
Edit: Dont get rid of the plants, get rid of the mites. Plants are def salvagable.
Edit 2: I used rose shield on mine. Wipe the leaves down, then spray heavy. Make sure to get under the leaves and down into the stems. Let it sit for a couple days, rinse off, let the plant rest for a couple days then retreat. Treat any of your other plants at first sign. Dont let them sit in heavy sun with rose shield on, it can burn the leaves. If they persist treat the soil with systemic granuals.
I’m sorry, discard. Your other plant may be salvageable, spray every other day, thoroughly.
Yes this plant is done for. Get rid of it and avoid the headache.
Y’all are dramatic. That’s not the worst case of spider mites I’ve ever seen. Spray it with Captain Jacks Dead Bug Brew a few times and they’ll be under control.
I recently faced off against spider mites and they were non stop. I started off by using Captain Jacks Dead Bug Brew, and when they came back I applied Azamax, I repeated that process every week for about a month and they were still there. After that I just rinsed them with water and wiped them down everyday while my predatory mites were being delivered. The predatory mites finally took them out for me but it was such a headache.
Predatory more - I've only recently heard of this from someone I follow on social media. How does this work - are they literally a different bug that just eats the bag bugs that are destroying the plant? And they don't harm the plant or get out of control?
They’re little mite predators that mainly feed on spider mites and their eggs. They don’t harm the plant and die off once their source of food is gone. You can barely see them with the naked eye. I took a picture of one of the predatory mites as it was wandering around, spider mites are a lot smaller.
https://preview.redd.it/kwnxjp3xn1dg1.jpeg?width=1685&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc6a824ec21221f14b46b95db1cdb6c67d3f5879
Wow, this is just wild to me! Thank you for the knowledge!
Imidacloprid (the typical systemic insecticide granules available) is not effective against spider mites because they are an arachnid and not an insect. For some reason, the chemical actually makes them breed faster and can cause a secondary infestation after primary treatment. There are other plant safe pesticides that are effective against spider mites (I dont know the names off the top of my head right now, they're typically right near the systemic granules and have the word mite in the name). I just found spider mite webbing on a few of my plants (lord knows how they got in, its winter and I haven't bought any new plants in ages) and ive started spraying them down daily with isopropyl alcohol, which kills mites on contact.
Word of caution for isopropyl alcohol: spray when it's dark out / have your grow lights off.
The granules were a suggestion from the nursery after one of my plants had a continued mites infestation. Honestly the only thing that ended up working for that plant was to put it outside for a few months, let nature do its thing. That was summer though, cant do that right now.
There ARE systemic acaricides, so using one of those would be helpful against spider mites. Bonide systemic granules are imidacloprid which is an insecticide and would not be effective against spider mites (arachnids) and actually increase their life cycle and would make the problem worse.
Spider mites are troublesome because they can develop resistance to control measures. That's why I prefer to use alcohol as they cannot develop a resistance to that. But there are many ways to successfully treat them. I just wanted to note specifically that imidacloprid is not one of them for anyone reading. (For what its worth, I also prefer my first line of pest treatment to be putting the plants outside and letting the local predators have a go)Clemens?
Edit: I realize you never specified bonide, again just wanted to note that not all systemics are the same and this one specifically would not work here
Harmful and very difficult to eradicate. Years ago I ended up losing all my plants to them, and now I'm a lot more careful.
Recently I had a scare on my snake plant that I'm pretty sure was just a regular house spider of some sort, but I still left it outside on the patio for a month to be sure.
The best way to get rid of them is predatory mites. That's had the longest term success for me. And any time I get a new plant that gets mites, it doesn't spread to other plants that were previously treated with predators
Oh that's cool. Thanks for the tip! The total loss was years before you could order that sort of thing, and I just hosed the snake plant down with soapy water and didn't think about checking into predators.
I've had fantastic luck with the mosquito bits on my house plants, also green lacewings and predatory nematodes in my garden. One of my kids even joked that I was using bio-weapons.
SPIDER MITES! Bad bad bad bad.
God speed.
I listened to the audio book for Project Hail Mary recently and definitely heard this comment in Rocky's voice 😂
Me too!!
r/houseplantscirclejerk would have loved this.
100% it will be top of that sub later today.
I was really hoping that was where this was posted 🥲
My first thought when I saw this lmao
I seriously thought I was already there
It's nice having a heads up on my afternoon. I expect several of my minutes will be spent reading another post over there.
There’s still time!
Spider Mites. Can be wipe off with a warm wet washcloth. They thrive in low humidity. They will eventually kill what ever plant they infest.
they thrive in all humidities, fwiw. personal experience ;)
Seconded as a person who lives between multiple Great Lakes and deals with these in my outdoor garden every freaking season without fail.
The real truth.
Wiping them off is a temporary measure at best
Even if I have gotten some predatory mites to deal with them? I caught them early (I hope)
https://preview.redd.it/wt1wwhenrxcg1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd37fcd0f3af4596dc64e0cf87bb35033086119e
https://preview.redd.it/jrpjp7a78zcg1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ac701b3ab2ddc8bdeb363d6d1ddd5a494020e28
😂
Ooooofffff. You have a plant emergency on your hands right here. That is a bad spider mite infestation. You need to check all of your plants. Isolate everything with even a little bit of webbing on it. Hose them all off and treat everything with a pesticide. Personally, with how bad this plant is, I'd be treating everything whether I found mites on it or not.
Tbh the longer I look at this picture the more I think I would probably just toss this whole plant 😅 I'm just a quitter though lmao I'd rather buy a new one than go through the trouble of trying to eliminate an infestation at this level.
As many others have stated, spider mites.
spider mites. bad infestation. get to work immediately, or plant's dead.
oh okay cool lol, I see. Nothing scarier then opening my phone to 70+ reddit comment notifications 😭
Those are spider mites and they are rapidly killing your plant. Immediately isolate your plant, remove them and start treating your plant. Spider mites are the only pest that have successfully killed my plants before.
Yeah spider mites :/ You can get rid of them though! First of all isolate it and inspect your other plants for them too. They can be hard to see but have a look. Especially at the base of the leaves and the underside.
I wrap the pot with plastic Wrap and the fill the sink with lukewarm water and a few pumps of dawn dish soap. Hold the pot and drown the bitches. Gently swish the leaves around and rub them under water for five minutes. If you can’t get all the leaves in at once rotate the plant and go again for another fives minutes. This isn’t harmful to the plant so don’t worry about that. Don’t rinse the soap bubbles off. Let it air dry with no direct sunlight
Repeat that every 3-5 days for 3 treatments total I also recommend captain jacks dead bug spray, it’s cheap and you can get it on Amazon. Spray after the plant has finished air drying
Also I just started watering with SNS-209 to theoretically help prevent reinfestations bc it makes the plant taste awful to the bugs. And it’s non toxic to people and pets so i feel okay using it indoors
SNS-209 is rosemary oil (10%)with some emulsifiers that allow the oil to be “dissolved” in water. Rosemary oil does work as a contact pesticide, but there is no evidence that plants can absorb essential oils through their roots and transport them in their vascular system. The product manufacturer is claiming exemption from EPA regulation and “systemic” does not mean the same thing as for a regulated pesticide. It’s basically just marketing speak. I would be very skeptical that this product has any effect at all. Biologically there is no way for the rosemary oil to get into the plant, and even if it could, there is no evidence that it would deter feeding. BTW, ~90% of what is in the bottle is water.
The plant version of bed bugs. Rest in peace.
Guys, a plant at my local dispensary is so frosted and webbed with spider mites I gasped. They have a reception area full of other beautiful plants too!
When I pointed it out, dude said "yeah we're aware".
WHAAT!?
That’s interesting, I imagine they would remove the infected plant immediately!
You rn apparently 🥲
I call those “vacation mites” because when I went on vacation for 3 days they killed one of my large bushes. It was wild. They work super fast. Spider mites SUCK!!
Currently fighting these fuckers. Same issue as you, left for 3 days, came back to my monstera adonsii being nearly dead, dropped about half of its leaves and a nasty infestation over all my other plants on that nearby shelf. No idea where they came from, just popped up one day.
Sprayed it down with blasting water, wiped all leaves, then sprayed it down with neem oil multiple times.. no luck, in fact they came back with a vengeance.
I ended up purchasing 1,000 predatory mites (p.persimilis) and they seem to be doing a great job, plus its fun to watch them absolutely murder the spider mites. Created a whole foods chain on my plants lol. I hear that next up it may be good to purchase Neoseiulus californicus to finish the job (i have problems with low humidity in the house). Definitely recommend this route for anyone struggling. It was expensive since you have to pay for overnight shipping for these bad boys but sometimes you gotta send in the soldiers to not post your plants. Its only been 5 days and ive already noticed a major drop in spider mites
Nope nope nope. It will suck the hell out of your plants life. Shower them every day.
If you have other plants there's a high likelihood that they're also infested. And make no mistake, this is a bad infestation and will 100% kill the plant. It will take consistent treatment to rid yourself of them. Good luck.
Definitely spider mites…had them like that on my Croton plant not too long ago. Took the plant into my shower and rinsed them off with the detachable shower head. Then treated every other day with a 60/40 alcohol and water solution for 2 1/2 weeks. Successfully got rid of them but they definitely did some damage before finding them.
The plant is beneficial to your spider mite colony. You're gunna need more plants to feed such a robust, large colony though. They go through them fast when there is that many of them. 🤭 Best of luck OP.
Lol
Doesn’t hurt to check!
If it’s that bad most of your plant in that room are infested
I have never successfully treated spider mites. They are always back in 2 weeks. This is harsh, but once I see spider mites, I toss that plant
In what world would this be beneficial
My plants are covered in webs, but could that be good? 😭
ecologist here; yeah, it can very much so be beneficial in natural settings.
My uncertainty was cause houseplants aren’t exactly part of any ecosystem. In my outdoor natives I’ve had great success just letting nature do what it does. Webbing can mean predacious species that control damaging critters.
Pest is just a human label, just killing everything that isn’t aesthetic isn’t a one size fits all solution.
Harmful.
Flamethrower time.
Failing that look up "phytoseiulus persimilis", worked an absolute treat for me.
who has the barbie meme 😭 bc that was my face when i saw this
https://preview.redd.it/8xjclmlttxcg1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1016e1015eb26c2ec9a3950e48694729b7d2b219
https://preview.redd.it/nd7tgw80txcg1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=dffd3c3e950e61bb7147f8098cd63ba6bb7dff09
Spider mites homie!!
Despite how bad it is for the plant, the webs are strangely beautiful!
Spider mites. Put that palm in the shower, spray with an insecticidal soap (I like bonide, live in the USA) let it set for a bit and then hose the plant off in the shower. I would also use bonide systemic granules in the soil, and repot the plant in soil. Inspect all of your plants thoroughly for spider mites. If you don't see active webbing, check the backs of the leaves, that's where they hang out. Treat all of your other plants with the systemic granules as well. I use them in all of my plants regardless of infestation. I mix it into the top inch of soil and water thoroughly. I haven't had a bad infestation in any of my plants since I started doing this. Works well with fungus gnats too!
Heads up- I’ve read that bonide can actually worsen a spider mite infection
I cleared mine up by wiping the plant with a diluted alcohol and water solution then spraying neem oil clean and placed in a sealed plastic trash bag for a few days .
all you need to do is coat the plant completely w/ either alcohol/water, insecticidal soap/water, or any combo of the above. every 4-5 days as the eggs hatch out. rinse and repeat. from leaf tips (back and front) to soil. it's a pita, but effective treatment.
i use a makeup brush, make up a gallon of mix of 1 part 70% isopropyl to 2-3 parts water, some dashes of safer's soap) dip the brush in, and just lather the bejeesus out of the plant. every nook and cranny. then either rinse and repeat, as above, for a month or so, or start using an alternate, like sulfur dust, etc. . every plant in the house.
no guarantee they won't pop back up-they're ubiquitous. can come in from outside, and they can travel quite far like a baby spider using webbing as a 'sail'.
the most common bane of plant heads ;)
Could you not dunk the whole plant in a bucket containing said mix of 'alcohol/water, insecticidal soap/water, or any combo of the above'? Seems less labour intensive and more likely to not miss anything? Could also remove most of the infected potting soil using this method too.
people have done this. successfully.
and not necessarily less labor intensive. one attempt to lift a plant and wrangle it over a bathtub full of alcohol or soap and my back will put me in bed for a month. 'painting' i can do all day ;)
Sad to say, but you figured as wrong as you possibly could lol
Other than thrips, spider mites are about as bad as it gets for plant pests. They're absolutely awful, and they -will- wreck all your other plants if you don't isolate that one immediately.
https://preview.redd.it/iqvt7i39xxcg1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=47bec46cf454d1cff798859397d34a2b5a93d5b0
Wipe off those webs and get predatory mites ASAP!
once you clean them off I recommend getting beneficial mites that will hunt down and kill the rest - Neoseiulus californicus
Girl, you're lucky if the damage hasn't already been enough to kill the plant.
Burn your house down
idk that might violate my lease but i’ll check with the property owner if I can XD
As someone who has been battling treatment-resistant spider mites for YEARS…the only successful way I’ve fully eradicated them was to release predatory mites in my home.
Once you have an infestation this bad…you need to take extreme measures if you want to save your plant, I’m sorry to say.
I thought this was a post on r/plantcirclejerk lmaooooo
Also, sorry about your loss!
it is beneficial to throw away that plant as those are spider mites and they’re damn harmful LOL
My bad, and my apologies. I admit I didn’t read the story, I just saw cobwebs. I completely own that, I was a dick
The worst
Really bad! Get rid of them and make sure you isolate that plant from any other ones before it spreads.
Hose that fucker down
Cooked.
If you have plants around it becareful. Also I would steam clean the area around there.
Move out. Burn the whole place down.
Definitely not beneficial
I had these on a plant once. I never got rid of them unfortunately.
Look into some cannabis cultivation threads for info on how to treat. They love cannabis plants. They are a whole b*tch to eradicate. I would toss this plant. Treat the other plants around it with lost coast spray weekly
Harmful. After getting those gone you should Buy some Lost Coast Plant Therapy: plant wash and use it weekly as a preventative
Yikes
Those bastards took out my favorite plant. One day she was fine the next day I look over and see the same shit you showed in the pic. I freaked out and immediately threw it in the tub. I drowned the crap out of it and treated it with some spray I have. I cut off all the leaves that they were trying to kill as well. One new leaf has emerged from it now and I’m still not convinced enough to put it back with the rest of the plants. Now it sits with it single leaf in the bathroom, in solitary confinement.
I can't keep palms because no matter what I do, this happens to them. Literally none of my other plants ever get mites, but the palms always do. I feel your pain, but I would burn it with fire.
🥺😢
https://preview.redd.it/0w58c2zzc1dg1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2378d978fa1c1dcc59791c167f21f101cc3514b
EEEEEEEEEEEK!
It appears this season I've finally eradicated my indoor spider mites. Outside is still a quarantine zone and I'll probably be getting rid of all remaining potting soil and disinfecting all containers including the empty ones and the surrounding area before putting anything new in there. That's what it takes.
This is not a drill. I repeat: Not a drill. If this plant has no sentimental value consider tossing it to keep any of your other plants from getting infected. If you're gonna try to save it go all in. Most importantly: Get that plant away from any others and don't touch any other plants after you've handled this one or even touched the pot/soil. Even if you don't see any more mites treat this plant as if it is still infected.
I have nightmares about these bugs they gross me out so bad
The plant is very helpful to the spider mites, they look very well fed! :)
No but fr, the way that I GASPED when I saw the photo. I usually deal with them by mixing approx two cups of water with a few drops of dish soap and a splash of rubbing alcohol. Soft cloth (paper towels work really well) and wipe down the leaves. I also pour the mixture into the soil, let it sit a second, and then flush it out with fresh water!
https://preview.redd.it/1xh3446l31dg1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3dcba5cd482a09752de8cdb32b9f38bee0f1d789
Very bad infestation of spider mites. I would first isolate the plant, then blast them off with a strong water spray, and follow up with treatments like insecticidal soap, horticultural oils, or neem oil, ensuring you thoroughly cover leaf undersides and repeat applications every few days. Increasing humidity since mites thrive in hot, dry air. You should wipe leaves with alcohol/soap solutions, pruning heavily infested leaves, and introducing beneficial predators also help control infestations
I didnt know dry air attracts them. I am. Currently battling a small infestion of them. Guess its time I buy a humidifier for my room i guess??
Spider mites thrive in hot, dry conditions with low humidity (under 50-60%), as high humidity is detrimental to them, slowing their reproduction.
Ive been hitting them with neem and peppermint oil every few days. Thanks for sharing 50 60 is so wet hahaha i am way below that lile 37. Thanks for helping
50% to 60 is the normal humidity range for a lot of house plants. Especially tropical plants. They enjoy humidity. Unless you're growing cactus plants, this is a good general range. Your welcome
Hell naw
Neem oil spray!
Oh I wish spider mites weren’t so pretty, those are some gorgeous webs
Burn it to the ground. Only option
https://preview.redd.it/1lssh6anrycg1.jpeg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3a562d5d29536a98ad813260d4d2e19d9429b5f
Hahahahahahaha
Burn it
you need to buy the strong stuff. put this in a garbage bag. Go outside and spray the pesticide inside the garbage bag and then leave it for as long as you can outside.
This plant is notorious for them too. Had a beautiful big one that I had to throw away due to the infestation of spider mites.
https://preview.redd.it/99udac2npzcg1.png?width=317&format=png&auto=webp&s=e41f647fcc4123e81b38b46c534a0ac070734dc5
Wtf burn it
KILL IT WITH FIRE
Fire.
There are no beneficial insects that would find their own way to your houseplants. You do not want pests of any variety indoors.
RIP
Oh that's going to be tough to get rid of on a palm. Good luck! I'm rooting for you! Mine had them, I caught them early. That looks pretty advanced. They're prone to them from what I understand.
If you don’t care about that plant tooo muchhh… easiest and best solution would be to throw it away before other plants are also ingested.
LOL RIP - I hope they don’t take your whole lot! God Speed.
edit: I make a “sexy plant juice” spray that I’ve found to be the best solution:
Spray both sides of the fronds thoroughly in the evening and wipe away. Repeat weekly.
I like the flame thrower idea
I literally saw this in my nightmare earlier this week
Last week i cut down 2 of my favorite plants because of a spidermite infestation that i don't have time to deal with. This is worse.
Harmful, very very harmful!
Tell me you're new here without telling me.
new to houseplants maybe. outdoor native plants typically thrive with minimal interference with the critters that start taking up refuge in them. Some exceptions of course but I credit the spiders on my purple heart plant for clearing out any pests from establishing on it thus far.
I thought this was the circlejerk subreddit.
No, OP. Parasites do not benefit the host plant.
very broad statement to make but okay. Wait till you find out about the mycillum sustaining even your indoor potted plants which likely include species that fluctuate to parasitism on the host root system from time to time.
Parasites.
Not symbiotes.
Parasites, by definition, harm the host.
the host maybe, but the broader system as a whole often benefits. Also beyond the nitty gritty, clearly I was unsure what critters these were, and didn’t exactly know they were definitively parasites.
anyways, yeah, this is semantic at this point.
Extremely beneficial. They might even turn your plant into a variegated version!!! /s
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ummmm no.
Spider mites = harmful