I summered my house plants outside, and have noticed this winter that many of the plants are infested with insects. I want to identify them; what are the insects most likely to attack house plants?
Plants summered outside benefit from natural predators that keep pests under control outside; once back inside, pest populations can build up over the winter months. The common pests on house plants include two-spotted spider mites, scale insects, aphids, mealybugs and fungus gnats. All but fungus gnats feed by sucking sap from plant cells, causing foliar discoloration, leaf drop, stunting, distortion, and even plant death. Learning to identify these pests and how to reduce their numbers is important for successful indoor gardening. Spider mites are not true insects. Two-spotted spider mites attack foliage plants inside. Mites are difficult to detect, being about one-fiftieth of an inch long, and are light in color with two dark spots on the back. Spider mites suck the contents from leaf cells, causing white or yellow speckles; as feeding continues the speckling coalesces and leaves become yellowish in color and may drop. Populations of spider mites build up rapidly under warm conditio
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