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5d โ€ข Pests & Plant Drama
๐Ÿ•ท๏ธโ„๏ธ Holiday Houseguests? Not Those! How to Spot Spider Mites on Overwintering Plants
The holidays bring plenty of guests with family, friends, neighbors, the UPS driver who now knows your dog by nameโ€ฆ
But the last guests you want showing up this December?
๐’๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ.
These tiny winter party crashers LOVE to move indoors when your plants do. And because spider mites thrive in dry, heated homes (a.k.a. every home in winter), December is prime time for surprise infestations on overwintering plants.
The good news?
If you know what to look for, you can catch spider mites early, before they turn your favorite plants into their personal holiday buffet.
Letโ€™s make sure the only guests staying with you this season are the ones you invited.
๐Ÿงญ ๐Ÿ. ๐…๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐Š๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐‡๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐’๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ๐ฌ
Spider mites settle in wherever itโ€™s warm, cozy, and leafy.
Common overwintering victims:
* Rosemary
* Indoor herbs
* Citrus trees
* Spider plants
* Houseplants moved in from summer
* Ivy
* Ferns
* Ficus
* Anything with tender new growth
If you brought it indoors before frost, give it a quick winter pest check.
๐Ÿ” ๐Ÿ. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐„๐š๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐–๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐’๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ฌ (๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐’๐ž๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Œ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ)
Spider mites are tiny like dust specks.
Most gardeners spot the damage before the bugs.
Watch for:
โœ” ๐“๐ข๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐š๐ฅ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ฌ (โ€œ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ โ€) ๐จ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ
This is the very first symptom where mites have sucked out plant juices.
โœ” ๐‹๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ž
If the plant looks โ€œtired,โ€ check underneath the leaves.
โœ” ๐‹๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ
Often misdiagnosed as underwatering or nutrient deficiency.
โœ” ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ
Spider mites often attack from the bottom up.
Early detection saves the plant and saves you the trouble of treating your whole indoor collection.
๐Ÿ•ธ๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐“๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ-๐“๐š๐ฅ๐ž ๐’๐ข๐ ๐ง: ๐…๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐–๐ž๐›๐›๐ข๐ง๐ 
If you see tiny silky threads, especially:
* between leaf joints
* along stems
* under leaves
* at the tip of branches
โ€ฆthatโ€™s the spider mite calling card.
The webbing is delicate, like the worldโ€™s smallest Halloween decoration making it easy to miss unless you look closely.
๐๐ซ๐จ ๐“๐ข๐ฉ:
Spider mites make ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’ silky threads.
Regular spiders make thicker, visible webs.
Big difference!
๐Ÿงช ๐Ÿ’. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐–๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐๐š๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ ๐“๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ (๐’๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ ๐’๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž!)
This quick trick confirms a spider mite infestation:
1. Hold a sheet of white paper under a leaf.
2. Gently tap the leaf.
3. Look for tiny reddish or brownish specks on the paper.
4. Take a finger and smear them lightly.
๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐ โ†’ ๐’๐๐ˆ๐ƒ๐„๐‘ ๐Œ๐ˆ๐“๐„๐’.
If they donโ€™t smear โ†’ probably dust or soil particles.
Garden detectives rejoice!
๐Ÿงผ ๐Ÿ“. ๐–๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ (๐’๐จ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐‚๐š๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ ๐˜๐ž๐š๐ซ)
Spider mites sneak indoors by:
* hitching a ride on outdoor plants
* blowing in through open windows
* transferring from nursery plants
* thriving in dry heated air
* multiplying unnoticed during the holidays
๐Š๐ž๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ:
They LOVE dry homes.
Keeping indoor humidity up is one of your best defenses.
(Check out the post How to Keep Indoor Humidity Up Without Buying a Humidifier for some tips!)
๐Ÿงด ๐Ÿ”. ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐’๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฆ, ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง
๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐Ÿ: ๐๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ
Move it away from other plants as spider mites spread FAST.
๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐Ÿ: ๐†๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐š ๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ
Rinse leaves front and back.
They HATE water.
๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐Ÿ‘: ๐–๐ข๐ฉ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฌ๐จ๐š๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ
๐Œ๐ข๐ฑ:
* 1 quart warm water
* A few drops of mild dish soap
* Wipe every leaf, top and bottom.
๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐Ÿ’: ๐’๐ฉ๐ซ๐š๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐จ๐š๐ฉ
* Use once a week for 3 weeks.
* This breaks the mite life cycle.
๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐Ÿ“: ๐๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ
Spider mites struggle to reproduce in humid conditions.
๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐Ÿ”: ๐‚๐ก๐ž๐œ๐ค ๐ง๐ž๐š๐ซ๐›๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ
They almost never travel alone.
๐ŸŒก๏ธ ๐Ÿ•. ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง ๐ƒ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ & ๐‰๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ
โœ” ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ
Winter = rapid mite reproduction.
โœ” ๐ƒ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ
Dusty leaves attract mites.
โœ” ๐Œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ-๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ (๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ)
They thrive less in humid air.
โœ” ๐”๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐›๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ
Added moisture protects tender leaves.
โœ” ๐Š๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ
Hot, dry air is a spider mite paradise.
โœ” ๐ˆ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐š๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ
Poinsettias, herbs, and gift plants often come with hitchhikers.
๐Ÿชด ๐Ÿ–. ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐’๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ž๐ซ ๐Œ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ
If you struggle with mites every winter, choose tougher indoor plants like:
* Snake plants
* ZZ plants
* Peace lilies
* Cast iron plants
* Pothos
* Philodendron
* Jade (with good humidity)
Herbs like rosemary and basil are especially susceptible. Be sure to check them often.
Have you dealt with spider mites on your winter plants?
Share a photo or tell us which plant they tried to invade. We can help you treat it before it spreads! ๐Ÿ•ธ๏ธ๐ŸŒฟ
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Donna Scarborough
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๐Ÿ•ท๏ธโ„๏ธ Holiday Houseguests? Not Those! How to Spot Spider Mites on Overwintering Plants
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