Check the undersides

After this you will find pests where they actually hide, before an infestation.

Here is the part almost everyone skips: turn the leaves over. The common houseplant pests — spider mites, mealybugs, scale, aphids — live and breed on the undersides of leaves and tucked into the joints where leaf meets stem. By the time you can see damage on the top of a leaf, they have often been at it for a while.

What to look for underneath

Fine webbing between leaves or in the joints — spider mites
Small white cottony blobs in the leaf joints — mealybugs
Little brown or tan bumps along the stems and veins that do not wipe off easily — scale
Tiny clustered insects and a sticky residue on the leaves below — aphids
A fine speckled, dusty look on the top of a leaf — mites feeding from underneath

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