Silvery or mottled leaf surface

What causes it, and how to tell them apart

Work down the list making the observation under each heading. GrowingHQ will not guess which one you have — the observation is the answer.

1. Thripscommon

   ·source

   Sourced guidancehigh confidence

   • Royal Horticultural Society: Thrips

   Checked 2026-08-13

   How to tell

   Tiny black specks of frass scattered across the silvered area, and slender insects a millimetre long in the flowers. There is no webbing.

   ·source

   Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

   No external citation — see the evidence type above.

   Checked 2026-08-13

   If it is this, do first

   Remove the worst leaves and flowers, and check the flowers of neighbouring plants — thrips move through a collection quickly.

   ·source

   Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

   • Royal Horticultural Society: Thrips — control

   Checked 2026-08-13

2. Red spider mitecommon

   ·source

   Sourced guidancehigh confidence

   • Royal Horticultural Society: Red spider mite

   Checked 2026-08-13

   How to tell

   Fine webbing in the leaf axils and a bronzed cast to the stippling. Mites leave webbing; thrips leave black frass.

   ·source

   Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

   No external citation — see the evidence type above.

   Checked 2026-08-13

   If it is this, do first

   Raise humidity and isolate the plant while you establish which of the two it is.

   ·source

   Sourced guidancehigh confidence

   • Royal Horticultural Society: Red spider mite — control

   Checked 2026-08-13

Where GrowingHQ holds more for one plant

This page lists the causes across every plant. The plants below are the ones where something about that plant changes the answer — different candidates, or a different observation that separates them.

Commonly reported on

• Monstera
• Rose
• Chilli pepper