[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Here are a few methods of checking for mites:

1) Wipe the under side of leaves with a white tissue or cloth. If the cloth comes away with a rust color, you would have red mites or flat mites.

2) Feel the leaves for stickiness over an area. A few drops of honeydew at joints, especially on flowers, is normal, but over a large surface area is abnormal.

3) A silvery look to leaves. This is because mites are chlorophyll eaters. Sometimes it looks like a sandy white edging to the leaves. Any sprinkled white pin point spots should be suspected as mites. Severe scaring is late stage damage.

4) Look for near microscopic webs. A very light misting and good light sometimes helps to find them, and a magnifying glass helps. If you find super fine webs, and you see a tiny bit of dust on the web that slowly moves, that is a mite.

5) Hold the plant over a white piece of paper, and tap the plant. Never having done this one, I'm not sure what kind of tapping is in order. Look at any dark specks on the paper for movement.

6) Best of all is to look at the underside of leaves with a microscope. Seven power (.7X10) is good for scanning, but you will need something like 30 power to actually see the shape of the mites, tho red mites are quite a bit larger than spider mites. For a simpler, but very effective, way to go, use a hand lens or jeweler's loupe. Try to find a 4-5 power loupe, or as close as you can get. Start with the oldest leaves and look very carefully at the underside.


Flat/false mites generally are very slow moving and find a good location and stay there, kind of look like parked cars under a microscope. They do not make webs, and are red in my experience. These give you a rust color when you wipe the underside with a white cloth, but a 30 power pencil type hand held microscope should be used to verify the slow movement if these are suspected. Spider mites are pale green and red mites are reddish, but both are very active. There is an in-between sized mite I have seen that is green and a moderately slow mover. If it looks like mites, the best thing to use is Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 with the word 'mites' on the front of the label. Repeat treatment in 7-10 days for spider mites and 3 to 4 weeks for flat mites. Don't use Neem Oil, as I am finding too much damage from this oil.