What are spider mites? Spider mites are other pest names that live in agricultural areas and get inside the house worldwide. They can lay dozens of eggs under the leaves and stems on their webs.
Those spider webs are easy to identify, and the worst thing you need to know is that distinguish web-spinning mites can disturb the plants. The spider mites infest your houseplant, such as palms.
But you are not alone. Here is how to eliminate them from your palms, trees, and even furniture where the spider mites are spinning.
Spider Mites Classification
Every insect has their classification and place to live and thrive. Spiders Mites are classified by their names; two-spotted spider mites, southern red mites, and spruce mites.
Their favorite plants are palms, strawberries, and melons, that rich in carbohydrates, nitrogen, and phosphorous.
Two-spotted spider mites
This spider comes from Europe and Asia, quickly spreading due to shipping containers worldwide. It is a spider mite with a tiny body with two ranges of color from dark to light green and looks similar to leaf color.
Two dark spots cover its body, and the size can be oval-shaped; they love everything from leaves to vegetables.
Southern red mites
These spider mites with bulbous-shaped bodies in red always attack big leaf plants, even inside fruits, shrubs, and botanical gardens. These red spider mites thrive starting in cool weather until fall; then, they are gone in summer.
Spruce Mites
These mites live and eat the leaved conifers on tree farms. Their body color is lighter green; when they mature, their body turns darker. Spruce mites survive in winter before they lay their eggs in cooler weather.
What is the first sign of spider mites?
This super tiny creature cannot be seen without a magnifying glass. At first glance, you might not think the spider mites live and make their web indoors, especially around your palm.
If you see a bit closer at the leaf surface, you realize the tiny dots or spider mites colony are moving around the leaf surface.
These invasive pests are not easy to see from their appearance in more detail, but you can identify the color change of the plant leaf.
Their webs are also not so wide. It is enough to trap some natural predators such as Pyhtoline P, Amblyline cu, Underline aa, and Exhibitlines sf.
The damage to leaf by spider mites look like
Twospotted spider mites are commonly found in houseplant leaves. Some cases mentioned that the damage to leaves could cause plants loos nutrition and sooner die.
These spider mites use piercing-sucking mouthparts to suck the underside of the leaves and needles. It injures the leaf’s surface, turns them into bronzed looks like tiny white or yellow spots, and stipples on leaves and needles.
As you see, the leaves might drop. It can be assumed that spider mites have been infesting and damaging plants. Before this annoys you deeper, you need to overcome the problem.
Some plants that are infested by spider mites also azalea,
How do spider mites get on indoor plants?
The life cycle of spider mites can take a few days after the larvae grow up about one week to be adult spiders. The spider mites come from nowhere; they may have thrived around your tree farm or garden.
These pets might also travel to infest plant material, or it might come from workers’ or farmers’ shoes or clothes when working.
Even the wind can blow them and perch on trees, brush, and flowers. The palm can also attract them due to the palm oil smell.
When you put a tiny palm at the corner or near the window seal, the spiders can crawl the wall and get inside your house from windows or ventilation.
How do I get rid of spider mites indoors?
Spider mites are tiny and fast physically. You don’t need extra remover tools to get rid of the spiders. The things that you can do, for example:
1. Isolate the palm from other plants and shower them
When the spider mites are detected by seeing the symptoms of leaves turning to bronze, you should move away from the palms first, or you need to isolate them.
Wash the palms starting from the leaves with a good hose or sprayer with medium pressure.
2. Spray Diluted Dish Soap
Bugs, spiders, ants, and pests are literary insects, but not all of them can damage plants. Spider mites like to sip the leaves with their mouth. Prevent it by spraying dish soap on the whole parts of a plant.
3. Wipe the palm with rubbing alcohol
You can get the best and fast result in removing the spider mites from your plant by rubbing 50% alcohol and 50% water on the palm leaf and stem with a dump or cloth. Leave the plants for about one week to investigate the signs of spider mites.