Handling Spider Mites

Shelby Mendoza,  Assistant Manager for the OSU Student Farm

August 2026

If you are seeing a lot of webbing on your plants - indoors or outdoors, one possible culprit is spider mites. These tiny pests are difficult to see with the naked eye and look like tiny specks of sawdust caught in webbing. With many natural predators, such as lacewings and minute pirate bugs, their populations can be kept in check outdoors. However, when populations become too high, spider mites can cause significant damage.

Spider mites feed using piercing-sucking mouthparts on plant leaves, causing stippling (tiny yellow or white spots) that can lead to chlorosis, causing leaves to turn yellow and in extreme cases, to drop. In Oklahoma, we tend to see twospotted spider mites outdoors from June through September because they thrive in hot, dry conditions.

If left untreated or if natural predator populations are low, spider mites can quickly take over. Each female lives for about 30 days but can lay more than 70 eggs, which hatch in about 5-7 days, allowing multiple generations to occur in a year.

You can manage spider mites in several ways. One of the easiest methods is to knock them off plants with a strong stream of water. If populations continue to be a problem, you can use insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. These products need to come into direct contact with the mites to be effective, so thorough coverage of the tops and undersides of the leaves is essential. Always follow label directions to maximize effectiveness and reduce the risk of plant injury.