Anyone who has every noticed some rather wispy white substance underneath the leaves of house or garden plants will surely have spider mites in residence. A spider mite just loves very dry conditions and will weave its home beneath leaves where it can do its damage without being spotted.

What these creatures do is to tap into the 'veins' of the plant and such all the goodness out. Although one or two will not do so much harm, when the plant becomes infested with them, it does not stand a chance. This would be very much like a human being having many creatures sucking out their lifeblood on a daily basis. Pretty soon, even we would start to wilt a little!

With the advent of central heating, and air conditioning, many houseplants will develop brown and unsightly spots on them. Since there is little moisture in the air, this is what attracts these creatures. One method of preserving a much-loved house plant is to stand a bowl of water next to it, or under it, so that when it evaporates it creates a moist atmosphere around the plant itself. Of course, this can only be done with individual plants so this method is not suitable for the garden etc.

Here, in the garden, some plants will be absolutely inundated with these sucking creatures. If the plant is precious to the owner, the web like substance can just be wiped off before the insects have chance to invade the leaves. This could get a little tedious of course, but this is just the first step in the ongoing fight.

Secondly, when watering the plants, try watering from beneath so that the underneath part of the leaves get wet. These creatures just hate water so this will keep them off for a day or two until some other method can be found to keep them at bay.

Neem oil is a favorite amongst nature lovers but spreading this on every leaf could get a little tedious. This may work for houseplants though since there are never very many of them around.

If garden plants start to look the worse for wear, it may be time to dispose of them to carry away some of the creatures. Uproot the whole plant and take them far away from the rest of the garden. Burn them if possible so that any eggs and adults are killed off since these will just start-up another infestation wherever they have been dumped.

Many other so-called 'pests' which do not harm the garden actually eat these creatures so it may be wise to look into getting a host of lady bugs, for example, to reside in the garden. Although this method of control takes some time to sort our, it does give the gardener the opportunity to lay off damaging chemicals to try to control whatever is eating the plants.

Sometimes all it takes is to make sure that the sprinklers are turned on every night to keep some of the garden pests away. Since most do not like a cool and damp atmosphere, this may be all it takes.