Spider mites vs. spider
Hello! I just got my monstera albo out to send a pic to a friend and noticed a web where the petiole of the newest leaf meets the stem. How do I know what caused it?? I see no damage from spider mites. I looked under a microscope and see no mites as well. It kind of looks like there are dead springtails caught in the web. There are no webs anywhere else. I didn’t take a before pic of the web 🙈 but I’ll include a pic of the web on a black piece of paper. The first 4 pics are under a microscope and last pic is the whole plant. Thanks! #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #PestControl #Monstera #MonsteraMob #spidermites #pestID #PlantAddict #
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Best Answer
The pic's from the microscope is soo cool! #underthelens (I really love your Monstera too🪴🪴).
You are right they look like springtails 🙈 So I would say it is probably a "normal" spider-web🤔 But you might as well go ahead and treat your leaves with some neem-oil or soapy water just to be sure😅🕷🕸
You are right they look like springtails 🙈 So I would say it is probably a "normal" spider-web🤔 But you might as well go ahead and treat your leaves with some neem-oil or soapy water just to be sure😅🕷🕸
@MockingJay thanks!! I just sprayed it down in the shower and was starting to spray jacks on the leaves and the spider popped out 😂
@MockingJay I know… I felt bad. I already sprayed him with stuff so I had my husband put him out of his misery 😬
Oh no, the poor spider 😞 I actually am thinking about going spider hunting outside and was delighted, when my mail today had one. Put it right on my pest infected plants 😀 for next time: spider mite webbing is so very delicate it does not even look like a real spider web. Sometimes it's just strands connecting different leaves like a highway. But where a spider web like this would be one or two threads, when you look closer is several tightly woven very, very thin threads. Same goes for the webbing e.g. between the leaf joints: it is soo very thin and close together, it almost looks compacted. I do not know how to better describe it. When I imagine a normal spider web, I imagine single threads spaced out. At least "my" spider mites' webs appear more delicate and at the same time more dense.
@MusicalRedmint that’s exactly why I questioned it. The web almost looked soft. Idk how else to describe it either 😂 but not like a normal web.
@MusicalRedmint 😂😂😂 right?! Like we could have avoided this. Idk if it depends on the type of spider or what but he was pretty tiny. Maybe he was too small to make a real web lol
😅 don't mock the dead spider 😀 or do. this is what this platform really is. A safe space to diss various insects and spiders and post an occasional picture .
Since the one I just placed on my plants was also tiny, I will remember your experience and put it under advisement. Not that I freak out in a week or two that spidermites have appeared additionally to the other mites on those plants to form an unholy union and create super mi(gh)ty mites.
Since the one I just placed on my plants was also tiny, I will remember your experience and put it under advisement. Not that I freak out in a week or two that spidermites have appeared additionally to the other mites on those plants to form an unholy union and create super mi(gh)ty mites.
@ParagonofPeony @MusicalRedmint I’m literally cracking up over this thread 😂😂 you guys are hilarious
@ParagonofPeony I am working on getting certified as a master naturalist and I def want to go bug insect specialist. Often spiders are beneficial if they are the kind that hunt houseplant pests. Some don’t. Some make webs some don’t. It stresses me out having ti make the call …parasitic wasp? Lacewing ? Ladybug? Wtf kind of spider? lol.
@TexanExpat apparently this one like springtails 😂 and I hate trying to identify pests and figure out what to do too lol. Can’t I just grow my plants in peace!
@ParagonofPeony there is an app for this called picture insect. It is nascent technology but it is worth paying for at least for me. I could go on a rant about all the cheap junk microscopes and magnifying glasses I have bought and returned on Amazon (still looking for good ones), but I had moment the other day that I had this scope plugged into my phone and I could see on mh screen what the scope was looking—-I don’t know what kind of bug it was but I literally almost jumped out of my skin when I went face to face with monstrous looking bug that was down among the crown area of the plant and ever since I’m a little timid to …touch my plants without peeking to see if the coast is clear first lol