The 9 Tiny Bugs in Houseplants: Detect them Easily.

Thrips, Whiteflies, Aphids, Mites, Scales, Fungus gnats, Earwigs, Springtails (Snow fleas), and Isopods are nine common tiny bugs in houseplants that annoy you by getting a party in your indoor plant, Do you want to get rid of them? The first stage is detecting them correctly.

Every pest has its specific controlling methods. Hence, to control every tiny bug in indoor plants, first, you must detect the culprits exactly. Here, I make it easy for you by explaining their appearance and helping you to identify them by their images.

I also speak with you about their habit and finally, after you detect the tiny bug in your houseplant, direct you to valuable sources to get rid of them. let’s get going.

You can hear the audio version of this article too:

What are tiny bugs in houseplants?

There are nine common groups of tiny bugs that you may spot in your houseplant. Some live on leaves and stems and others live inside the soil. In the following, you can see a list of them.

• Thrips
• Whiteflies
• Aphids
• Mites
• Scales
• Fungus gnats
• Earwigs
• Springtails (Snow flea)
• Isopods

As mentioned above, if you want to get rid of them first you must detect your annoying guest. Every pest has its habit and its specific remedy. Hence, in the following, you will get familiar with them through their pictures. Please grab your magnifying glass too.

Plant protection is my academic major and I love houseplants. I walk with you through this article, feel free to ask your questions below this page.

1-Thrips on houseplants

A common tiny bug in your houseplant feeds from the leaves by puncturing the outer layer of leaves and sucking out the cell contents. In the following, you can see the Thrips damage on a houseplant.

As you can see in the above picture, the Thrips cause white or brown spots on your houseplant leaves. You may see the dark dots on spots that are the excrements of the Thrips. In extensive damage, you may see a silvery sheen on leaves.

Their appearance:

You need a magnifying glass to see their body. you can see bugs like the following picture under your magnifying glass. The color of adults is brown to yellow but immature thrips (nymphs) are yellow or white.

Adults have weak wings but immature thrips are wingless, although they are fast-moving.  If Thrips is your annoying guest, read “How to get rid of thrips indoors”.

2- Whiteflies on houseplants

If you saw tiny colourless spots on the leaves of your houseplant (especially its newly grown leaves) along with yellowing, wilting and tiny hole symptoms on leaves, most likely white flies have feasted behind the leaves of your indoor plant.

Although the white flies are very tiny bugs in houseplants you cannot see them to the naked eye. They hide behind the leaves to stay safe from the sun and hunters. They suck the sap of your houseplant and cause the above symptom on them.

Through feeding your houseplant’s leaves, white fliers produce a clear sticky substance –honeydew– on the leaves that attracts ants and saprophytic fungi such as black mould to your houseplant.

Their appearance:

If you spot the behind the leaves (especially newly grown leaves) with a magnifying glass, you can see very light-yellow triangle bugs with white wings like the above picture.

in the below video, you will learn pro tips to get rid of whiteflies, watch it:

3- Aphids in houseplants

Another common tiny bug in indoor and outdoor plants is that usually hangs out of young leaves and stems. They can feed off the leaves, stems, flowers, and even roots of your houseplants. The common symptoms of aphid damage are decreasing plant growth, twisting the leaves and branches, wilting and yellowing.

They usually produce honeydew – a clear sticky substance- on your plant that attracts ants and saprophytic fungi like black mould to your houseplant.

If your houseplant has the symptoms of nutrition shortage but you cannot improve its growth by fertilization, it my infected by root aphids. In this situation, you have to consider the roots. Click here to learn more about “Root aphids and how to get rid of them”.

 The Aphids’ appearance

You can spot them behind the young leaves with pear-like bodies in various colours such as green, yellow, white, brown, black and even red. The appearance of some of the aphids is woolly, waxy and fluffy. Most aphids are wingless and some of them are winged.  If aphids are your annoying guests,  a hoemamde neem oil plant spary can bea good idea to get rid of them.

 

4- Spider Mites: the dangerous bugs on houseplants

If you see small brown or yellow spots on leaves with white dots on your houseplant, you must be concerned about the presence of one of the dangerous pests: Spider mites. They are very tiny bugs in houseplants and you cannot see them with the naked eye.

In this situation, you should see behind the leaves, spider mites produce white web-like cocoons for living inside them.

In the extensive attacks, you can find spider mites and their web-like cocoons through all your potted plants and your houseplant will have a dusty appearance.

They suck the sap of your plant and if you don’t treat your houseplant immediately, spider mites will kill it and spread to other indoor plants quickly.

Their appearance:

They are very tiny, hence grab your magnifying glass. You will find them in yellow, red and brown colours. Hence sometimes call them red mites. There are two dots on their body, so sometimes call them Two-spotted mites or two-spotted spider mites (Tetranychus urticae)

If spider mite is the problem of your houseplant, please read “Tiny silver bugs in houseplant soil” to tell you how to get rid of them easily .

5- Mealybugs: harmful tiny bugs in houseplants

From afar you may think someone has spread talcum powder on your houseplant. If you look closer, you can see small mealybugs that congregate around the leaves and stems of your indoor plant. You can find them behind the leaves.

They suck the sap of your houseplant and it gets weak and weak. Mealybugs like the younger part of your plant however they can live through it.

These tiny bugs in houseplants may attack roots too and will kill your potted plant quickly. hence you have to  Get Rid of Root Mealybugs quickly.”

You could see a sticky substance –honeydew– on your plant that attracts ants to it. In addition, the honeydew causes the growth of saprophyte fungi such as black mould on your houseplant.

If Mealybugs are the culprits of the slow growth of your houseplant, don’t waste your time and Get Rid of Tiny white Mealybugs on a houseplant ”.

6- Fungus gnats on houseplant

They are tiny black fliers that fly around your houseplant but never bite you or your pets. Indeed, the adult fliers don’t hit your houseplant but their larvae attack its roots and feed off them. Hence the roots lose their ability to absorb water and nutrition. They cause sudden wilting and yellowing of the leaves. Your indoor plant will lose vigour and show poor growth.

Their appearance:

As you can see in the following picture, they are small fliers that look like tiny mosquitoes with light grey or clear wings, narrow legs and large segmented antennae.

The larva is whitish and about 6mm long. Although its body is semi-transparent and you can see its black content, its head is black.

watch the below video to learn how to get rid of fungus gnats:

7- Earwigs on the houseplant

If you spot that the leaves of your houseplant are jagged and worm-eaten (full of holes), you should suspect Earwigs. If you look at your houseplant accurately, you may find their excrement scattered around your plant like small, black pellets.

They hate of sun and love dark and wet environments, hence, you should seek under plant pots in the saucer. You may see a flattened, elongated insect with a pair of forceps-like pincers on its abdomen like the following picture.

8- Springtails (Snow fleas): friendly tiny bugs in houseplants

If you after watering see a lot of springtails that are crawling on the soil of your houseplant, don’t worry. They are your new friends that help you to have more lush plants. As you can see in the following pictures, they have long spring-like legs that help them to jump quickly, especially once they feel threatened.

Although they are beneficial for your houseplant if you want to get rid of them, read “Tiny white jumping bugs: springtails” to find out more details.

9- Isopods (pill bugs): beneficial tiny bugs in houseplants

You may find them in the soil of your houseplant. Against their ancient and awful look, these tiny bugs in houseplants are your new friends that help your potted plant gain more nutrients from the soil. So, please be kind to them.

Anyway, if you want to get rid of them, click here and read “How to get rid of Pill bugs in house plants”.

Conclusion

Now you can easily detect the tiny bugs in houseplants. They may be Thrips, Whiteflies, Aphids, Mites, Scales, Fungus gnats, Earwigs, Springtails or Isopods. Some of them are very dangerous for your indoor plants such as Fungus gnats and White flies and some are beneficial like Springtails and Isopods.

So before doing everything to get rid of them, first you have to identify the tiny bugs in houseplants accurately. In this article, I tried to help you detect them by picture, but if you have any problem with this issue please ask me your question below or click here.