Can Spider Mites Live Without Plants? (Find Out Now!)

If you have houseplants, it’s a common worry that your home may be infested with spider mites. These small creatures are often seen swarming around indoor plants, in the soil and across the leaves. Though, they can wreak havoc on both your houseplants and even plants in your garden. What begins as small yellow spots on leaves can transform to complete decimation of a plant if you have a large population of spider mites.

This brings us to the question at hand: “Can spider mites live without plants?” Fortunately, spider mites cannot survive without plants. If you were to remove their food source, spider mites will only last about eleven days. Whereas, if you don’t have any live plants at all, you won’t get spider mites in your home.

Overall, the healthier your plants are, the less likely they are to get infested by spider mites. However, getting rid of spider mites can be difficult, as they have very unique survival instincts. Continue reading to learn more about these pesky creatures, including the most common signs of infestation, how to get rid of them, and prevent spider mites from returning.

Spiders mites below to the arachnid family, which encompasses a number of insects, including scorpions, ticks, and spiders. These small, white arachnids are commonly compared to spiders since they spin silk webs that allow them to attach to plants. They are incredibly tiny and you’ll often need a magnifying glass to get a good look. If you have a spider mite infestation, the underside of your plant’s leaves will appear dusty or fuzzy but, upon closer inspection, the dust will be moving.

They are so tiny that they would probably go unnoticed if it weren’t for the webs they produce. In fact, it is nearly impossible to see spider mites with the naked eye. Spider mites go through five distinct stages of life: egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph, and finally adult. Female spider mites have an approximate lifespan of a month and lay about a hundred eggs at a time. With so many babies, it’s easy to see how quickly your plants can become infested.

So, if spider mites feed on plant tissues and sap, can they survive without plants? Fortunately, spider mites will not survive if they do not have a live host plant to feed off of. These mites also need a very specific environment in order to thrive. Spider mites grow most rapidly when they’re in hot, dry conditions.

While they can survive in humid environments, dry conditions seem to yield more egg fertility. It has also been shown that spider mites can be problematic for plants in dusty environments. Spider mites can be transported unknowingly around your home and yard by people and pets. Though, they will only survive for about eleven days with the shelter and nutrients they get from plants.

Spider mites are a hardy species, which have evolved to have some protection from the elements. Their eggs consist of a protein layer for protection and helps them stay alive even in the harshest conditions. Like the adult mites, their eggs are microscopic and can also stay alive even if they’re not attached to a plant. However, once the arachnid hatches, it will need to feed on plant matter and won’t survive if it cannot.

Both spider mites and their eggs may lie dormant during winter months, surviving even the coldest outdoor temperatures. Without food, adult spider mites can live for around three to eleven days. Females will survive a lot longer than males, who tend to die after just a couple days.

Ideally, you should be checking your outdoor garden plants for any of the above signs about every other week or so. For houseplants, however, you should inspect them more frequently. Since the conditions indoors are more stable than outside, houseplants tend to collect dust much faster.

Pro Tip: Pay close attention to fruit-bearing plants and vegetables, as spider mites tend to prefer them over other types of plants.

Fortunately, light to moderate spider mite infestations are pretty easy to treat. When you have a pretty heavy infestation, though, control is much more difficult. Not to mention, heavy infestations put all your other plants at risk.

Natural predators, like thrips, lacewings, ladybugs, and predatory mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis) do an excellent job at keeping spider mite populations under control. Avoid pesticides to prevent killing these beneficial insects off. For outdoor mite infestations, you also want to water regularly, and mulch your flower and garden beds.

Predatory mites and insects can be purchased online for your indoor plants. Simply release them into your pots and they will consume around hundred mites a day. As an added bonus, these predatory mites and insects do not pose any threat to people, pets, and the plants themselves.

In most cases, you should avoid using pesticides as they can kill beneficial insects. However, insecticidal soap or horticultural oil is effective at killing only spider mites and nothing else. Use either to cover both sides of the leaves. This option typically works best for houseplants, as indoor environments are climate-controlled.

Diatomaceous earth is an organic pesticide made from the fossils of aquatic organisms. It is lethal to arachnids, without posing any threat to humans. Simply sprinkle the food-grade variety on your infested plants and soil and it will dehydrate the spider mites’ exoskeletons, eventually killing them.