Hello,

I am new to these forums, and this is my first post. For the past few weeks, I have been noticing my plants do not look as healthy as they should and have in the recent past. I keep a variety of houseplants in a closet (I use grow lights and a fan.) I do this because I have limited space, as I am a college student.

I cannot pin down exactly how long I have been having problems, but the first thing I noticed was deformed leaves on my two year old bell pepper plant. Then I saw dying leaves on my strawberry plant. Not long after, I found webs on a few leaves on the strawberry plant. Of course, I assumed spider mites. I will post pictures of some damage to plant foliage. The catnip, hardy as it is, also has some specks of damage on some leaves. My polka dot plant also has some curling leaves, as do a couple new basil plants. Just yesterday, my miniature rose suddenly seemed to die all at once; it looked great a week ago. I just now removed the pea gravel I use as mulch and found webs on the soil surrounding the stems of the rose plant. I have never seen anything like it.

My first question is: Does this seem like mites? When I first saw the webs on the strawberry plant, I saw tan-ish colored dots moving in the web. I thought spider mites were too small to see, though I have good vision. Also, when I uncovered the gravel in the rose's pot, the first thhing I saw was a small fly with a dark body and gray/white wings. I have seen several of these about my closet. If not mites, what else makes webs? Could it be mites AND another pest?

The main actions I have taken are clearing any bits of webs I see and spraying the plants with soapy water weekly or so. This seems not to be working, as the rose was cruelly stricken down in a matter of days. I am considering finding some lady bugs to put in my closet to eat them.

It may be worth mentioning that I bought the miniature rose at... Walmart after Valentine's day. Until somewhere around that time, I had no similar problems. I just searched under the gravel in all pots and found similar webs only on the lemon thyme soil, and that plant has been struggling over the winter.

I will attach some pictures of what I mentioned. Please help identify the pest and suggest actions to properly ruin their day.

Mini rose

Closet garden, minus the quarantined plants

Bell pepper leaf damage (oddly enough the younger, year old bell pepper plant leaves seem untouched.)

Strawberry plant

Polka dot plant curled leaves