Spider Mites

Nearly invisible specks, tan to red, on the undersides of leaves that have gone dusty-pale with pinprick stippling. The giveaway is fine silk webbing along stems and leaf joints when the infestation is established — worst on indoor plants and in hot, dry spells.

Pest53 plants we cover get spider mitesmostly houseplants

Pest checklist

Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.

Leaves gone dusty-pale with pinprick speckling
Fine silk webbing at stem and leaf joints
Specks on the leaf undersides that move
Worst indoors and in hot, dry spells

What gets rid of them

Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.

1Raise the humidity, wash the leaves
Mites thrive dry. A hard rinse top and bottom of every leaf, repeated for a week, breaks the cycle on houseplants.
Try this first
2Insecticidal soap
Contact kill; hit the leaf undersides and repeat per the label, since eggs survive the first pass.
insecticidal soap spray
3Horticultural oil
Smothers adults and eggs both; useful on woody plants and heavier outbreaks.
horticultural oil spray

As an Amazon Associate, Story Thyme Farms earns from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.

Which plants get spider mites

Every plant we cover that gets spider mites, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same pest can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.

trees10

shrubs5

vines5

perennials4

annuals4

bulbs5

succulent1

Ponytail PalmBeaucarnea recurvata

houseplants19

Plant families hit hardest

Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Araceae, with 6 of the 53 affected plants.

Araceae6 plants
Pinaceae4 plants
Rutaceae4 plants
Asparagaceae3 plants
Asteraceae3 plants
Moraceae3 plants
Acanthaceae2 plants
Araliaceae2 plants

When to treat

Treat as soon as you see the stippling. They build fastest in hot, dry spells.

Timing only — the label is the law

This page tells you when to watch for spider mites and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.

Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.