If you have suddenly found yourself in a situation where you’re wondering how to get rid of bugs on your Snake plant, then you’ve come to the right place.
We all don’t like these annoying pests that interfere with our plant care efforts, especially when you’re doing the best you can and they just show up.
It’s super annoying.
Thankfully I’ve got you covered here and this will be a pretty comprehensive piece on the signs of bugs, types you may be dealing with, how to get rid of them and prevention tips.
If you already know the symptoms or kind of pest you have then you can scroll towards the end to find your options on how to get rid of bugs on your Snake plant.
So let’s get into what you will need to know to eradicate these pests and bugs for good.
Signs of bugs on Snake plants
Other than being able to spot the pests themselves, often times you will notice the signs of an infestation before the bugs, especially if the kind of pest you have is super small, or hiding under the leaves.
So a lot of the time you’ll have to rely on the signs and symptoms to let you know you’ve got a pest problem going on.
Here are some signs and symptoms that you have a potential pest infestation on your Snake plant.
- Your Snake plant is drooping
- Your Snake plant leaves have turned yellow
- There are holes in the leaves
- The leaves are curling
- Brown leaf tips
- The leaves have turned white or pale
- The leaves are sticky (left behind honeydew)
- Stunted growth
- Small bumps on the leaf surface
- Cotton like ovals (Mealybugs)
- Webbing like material (Spider mites)
- Your Snake plant looks dehydrated and overall unhealthy
Keep in mind that while most of these signs point to a pest problem on your snake plant, it’s still entirely possible something else is going on.
This is especially true if you look very close and there are no bugs.
With that said, you should always investigate to ensure your Snake plant doesn’t have bugs before ruling it out as you don’t want these pests doing further damage or spreading around.
Types of bugs on Snake plants
Unfortunately, there are many types of bugs that can latch onto Snake plants and range in size and color.
Thankfully most of them can be gotten rid of with the same type of treatments so you can target them all at once.
With that said, here are most of the bugs you may encounter with Snake plants and how you can identify them or what to look for.
Spider mites
Spider mites are one of the smallest types of pest you will ever encounter on a Snake plant as they are usually (1/50 inch) in size.
They can also range in color from yellow, red, green or gray, but the tell tale sign of spider mites is the webbing they leave behind.
Make no mistake, although these bugs are super small, they can cause a lot of damage to plants and even kill your Snake plant if left untreated.
Spider mites go to work by eating away at your plants cells and draining the sap from the leaves which in turn causes nutrient loss in your Snake plants.
If you ever notice either the silk like webbing, or very tiny holes in the leaves, you most likely have spider mites.
Another way to tell is by placing a sheet of paper under a leaf and then tapping the leaf to see if you hear or see any of the mites hit the paper.
It’s honestly pretty crazy how bugs so small can cause a tremendous amount of damage.
Mealybugs
Mealybugs are another common pest that can invade Snake plants and cause issues.
These bugs range in size but you can expect on average they will be around (1/10 inch) in size and their color is usually pink or white when covered in their wax.
The tell tale sign you have mealybugs on a Snake plant is if you see small cotton like ovals with a tail moving around.
Once again, mealybugs will feed on your Snake plants leaves sap and take nutrients along with them.
This can cause the leaves to droop from nutrient loss or the leaves can begin to curl up in response.
Mealybugs also secrete a honeydew substance after feeding which turns into sooty mold soon enough.
Yuck.
Aphids
Aphids are super annoying and creepy looking bugs that can affect plants of all varieties and unfortunately, your Snake plant is not exempt.
These bugs have pear shaped bodies that are around (1/10 inch) in size but they can be smaller and range in color from red, green to black.
Although Aphids may not actually affect the health of your Snake plant(Thankfully), they can cause things like stunted growth, curling leaves and yellowing of the plant.
These symptoms can get pretty bad when they form in large numbers though.
Once again aphids too will feed on the sap of your Snake plant leaves, causing nutrient loss and they also leave behind that sticky honeydew substance.
Super annoying.
Thrips
Thrips are another type of pest that you may run into when growing Snake plants.
These bugs are also quite small (1-2mm) and are usually somewhere between yellow and brown in color.
They can also have wings which personally freaks me out.
A tell tale sign you have a thrips infestation is streaks of silver on the leaves after they have done their feeding.
Just like spider mites, you can also see if you have thrips by placing a sheet of paper under a leaf and then tapping said leaf to see if any bugs fall onto it.
Pro tip: Thrips are attracted to the colors blue and yellow source so you can place blue or yellow sticky traps nearby to see if you have any Thrips on your Snake plant.
Whiteflies
Whiteflies are average sized pests (1/16-1/10 inch) that have a yellow upper body and white wings.
So their name largely checks out.
These pests can feed on the undersides of the leaves on your Snake plant and take nutrients just as easily as the other bugs mentioned.
This can cause the leaves to droop, stunted growth, yellowing and even cause the leaves to fall off if it goes on long enough.
The tell tale sign of whiteflies, is having bugs that look like well, white flies.
Once again not a fan of bugs that can fly and I know there are plenty of you out there that feel the same way.
Pro tip: Whiteflies are another type of pest that are attracted to the color yellow so yellow sticky traps can work quite well at either seeing if you have them or by removing them from your Snake plant!
Fungus Gnats
Fungus Gnats are small(1/16-1/8 inch) flies that primarily reside in the soil of potted plants such as your Snake plant unfortunately.
These bugs are usually gray or black in color and are attracted to the moisture in soil which is why it’s very important not to overwater your Snake plant!
These bugs can and will also lay their eggs in the soil and the larvae has the potential to stunt plant growth and damage the roots.
Pro tip: If you notice these small flies, you should assume your snake plant soil is already infested with the larvae. From here you can either fill the soil with neem oil, or you should replace the soil and do a solid repot.
How to get rid of the bugs
For the vast majority of these bugs, unless otherwise mentioned, can be dealt with using a few different methods.
These are some tried and true ways to get rid of bugs or pests on Snake plants and you can pick which one works best for you depending on what you have on hand.
So here are a few different options.
Water and pressure
If you don’t have any pest control products on hand, you can simply try using some water with light pressure applied to spray the bugs off your Snake plant.
This can work for many types of pests, but keep in mind for best results, this will be the least effective option to go with out of the others mentioned.
Just be sure when spraying that the pressure isn’t so high that it will damage the leaves or cause tearing.
Other than that just spray all over your plant to remove as many bugs as possible.
Insecticidal soap
Insecticidal soap is a great way to get rid of bugs on Snake plants because this stuff kills the bugs on contact just by spraying your plant.
Insecticidal soap is also safe for Snake plants and can actually be made with household materials if you don’t feel like buying it premade.
To make sure own you can combine the following.
- 2 tablespoons of pure liquid soap
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- Dilute into 1 gallon of distilled water
- Add this to a spray bottle and spray your plant
Keep in mind for best results, you should spray your plant more than once to ensure you get all the bugs.
Overall I highly recommend this as an option.
Neem oil
Neem oil is arguably one of the best pest control products out there as it works super well on most types of bugs.
All you have to do is spray your Snake plant once or twice and the bugs will be gone.
It works pretty similar to insecticidal soap but neem oil also acts as a pest repellant and a fungicide as well.
Just be sure to only spray when your plant is in shade as it has a tendency to burn leaves when left out in the sun before it has a chance to dry.
It works super well, even on fungus gnat larvae!
If you’re looking to try some neem oil then you can get some here.
This is my go to method for getting rid of bugs and pests.
Prevention
Prevention is key to not getting pests on your Snake plant, but they can still show up at random, it’s just not as likely as them appearing when there’s already problems going on.
So here are a few tips you can implement to reduce the chances or frequency of bugs appearing on your Snake plants.
- Maintain a clean growing environment
- Keep humidity levels in check
- Don’t overwater your Snake plant
- Maintain good airflow, especially indoors
- Regularly check up on your plant for issues
- Isolate any infested plants from others to reduce the spread of them
- Prune back unhealthy parts of the plant
Closing thoughts
If you have made it this far, you now know just about everything when it comes to identifying bugs and how to get rid of bugs on your Snake plant.
Pests and bugs can be annoying, but once you know what to do, everything gets much easier.
So as always, have fun caring for your Snake plant and enjoy the experience!