Identify the 8 Most Common Houseplant Pests

Houseplant pests are almost always hitchhikers from new plants or fresh potting soil. Once one plant is infested, spread happens fast — quarantine every new plant for two weeks and inspect the undersides of leaves weekly.

1. Spider mites

Tiny yellow-white specks on leaves, fine webbing under leaves and between stems. Loves hot, dry air. Rinse the plant in the shower, then spray weekly with neem or insecticidal soap for three weeks. Raise humidity above 50%.

2. Mealybugs

White cottony fluff in leaf joints and stem crooks. Adults are the size of a grain of rice. Dab each one with a cotton bud dipped in 70% isopropyl alcohol, then spray weekly with neem.

3. Scale

Brown or tan bumps stuck to stems and leaf veins. They don't move, so people mistake them for part of the plant. Scrape off with a fingernail or old toothbrush, then treat with systemic pesticide or repeated neem.

4. Thrips

Silvery streaks and tiny black poop dots on the tops of leaves. The insects themselves are 1 mm long, slender, and hop. Blue sticky traps + weekly spinosad spray. Thrips are the pest most likely to require multiple treatments.

5. Aphids

Clusters of small green, black, or pink insects on new soft growth. Rinse them off with a strong jet of water; spray with insecticidal soap; check for ants (which farm aphids).

6. Fungus gnats

Tiny black flies that hop up when you disturb the soil. Larvae live in the top 2 cm of wet soil. Bottom water only for a month, top the pot with 1 cm of coarse sand, use yellow sticky traps.

7. Whiteflies

Small white moth-like insects that fly up in a cloud when you touch the plant. Yellow sticky traps + weekly neem.

8. Springtails

Tiny hopping insects in wet soil. Harmless — actually good for terrariums as decomposers. Only intervene if soil is chronically waterlogged; fix the moisture and they leave.

Quarantine and prevention

• Isolate every new plant for 14 days in a separate room.
• Inspect leaf undersides and stem joints weekly with your phone flash.
• Wipe leaves monthly — dust harbours mites.
• Never reuse infested potting soil.

PlantMe's pest ID feature identifies the species from a close-up photo and returns the correct treatment — many pests look similar but need very different sprays.