I've had three tough fights with mites- and I've always listened to the advice from everyone here. I won two of those three battles! There was a fourth- but I just tossed it out- getting rid of mites takes diligence I feel and I just didn't care too much for that particular plant. Now, I just do a preventative spray of neem oil and water- maybe 2 or 3 times a week (depending on how gung ho I'm feeling) and a weekly shower. In the winter, I try to mist almost every day due to the dryness inside and try to shower more than once a week if I can (mostly I can't be bothered though). Don't give up- I had really really bad mites on a plant- and I refused to give it up. I eventually did use chemicals (yes, I admit I did)- but only a couple of times- out of sheer exhasperation. The plant is so beautiful and healthy now, makes me feel proud that I didn't toss it out. It's hard work but it's worth it! Once you get rid of the mites, I think taking a precautionary action is probably good. I think there are quite a few different ones out there that we Houseplant-ers follow- mine is the neem spray. Try what you think will work for you and what will be easier for you to keep up with.

Spider mites create very fine webbing beneath leaves, often no obviouos. Spiders create all manner of webbing, almost always obvious and almost always everywhere besides beaneath leaves. Spider mites cause tiniest spots of non-colored leaf tissue (from sucking out the chlorophyll). Spiders do not cause such damage; as they feed on insects (and sometimes spider mites). Joe

Oh whew...I am so relieved to read that nobody thinks they are spider mite webs. Whew, whew!! Is there some definitive way to determine mite webs vs spider webs? Thanks TJ. You are right. And I haven't sprayed a thing, good or bad, in the last 15 years with the mentality of "come what may" but this yard has been trying. I have never seen so many good and bad bugs in my life...and in the last month resorted to BT to kill the hornworms that are decimating my tomatoes and since I'm spraying anyway, I bought the neem which I'd read up on here. It appeared to be pretty innocuous overall, so that I used along one fence where most of my succulents live in light shade and dappled sun--that's the area where both of these photos were taken. None of it was sprayed on my edible or flowering plants, as I read that neem can damage blossoms... The only thing I have consistently used except when I lived in SF was snail bait and they seem to be having quite the blast anyway this year. Jean, we sure do! I can't confirm my neighbor ID'd what she saw correctly but upon hearing that and about two minutes before I ordered neem, lol, I did google it and Japanese Beetles were spotted in the Sacramento area, right above me, per the CA Dept of Ag. I only read one article but that was close enough for me! Ken, my spiders are year round, I'm afraid. January has much less than the other months but there is no month where I can't find spiders crawling on my plants or webbing here and there. Come spring, there's virtually no plant I can't find a spider on or at least evidence of some spider having been on it. That said, I still find it really bizarre that at this yard, for the first time ever in my gardening life, I have not seen ONE aphid. Spiders are not predators of aphids, are they? I've never seen a ladybug here either..probably because there are no aphids. Not complaining but I find it so bizarre! Thanks again, folks!

Susanne - Do the leaves look like this? The brown speck is dirt. I noticed that a few of the leaves have a light white dusting. Not sure if it's just dust or something else. I also noticed this morning that there were spider webs. The last several months I've had problems with house spiders so initially I thought it was just my usual spider problem, but now I am wondering if it's a case of spider mites. Here are photos of the webs on the key lime. I've been having problems with the key lime plants. The lemons are fine, but I'm not sure if it's because they are are so much larger than the key limes.