# Fine pale stippling (tiny white or yellow dots) on leaf tops: likely causes and fixes

> Fine pale stippling (tiny white or yellow dots) on leaf tops on cannabis is most often Twospotted spider mites, Thrips or Whiteflies. How to tell them apart, the fix for each and what recovery looks like.

Also called: tiny white dots on leaves, speckled leaves, stippling, pinprick dots, leaves look dusty with dots.

Run the checker with this sign: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnose/?at=whole&s=stippling

## Likely causes, most likely first

### Twospotted spider mites (Likely)

- Kind: Pest; urgency: Act within a day or two
- Fix: Act now: they breed fastest hot and dry. Remove the worst leaves into a sealed bag, cool the room and raise RH a little (in veg), release predatory mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis for hot spots, Neoseiulus californicus as a preventive) before numbers explode. Soaps or horticultural oils only in veg, never on buds. Quarantine new clones.
- Recovery: No new stippling on new leaves and no live mites at 10-20x after 7-14 days.
- Confirm: Magnifier check of leaf undersides and new growth: Use a 10-20x loupe for spider mites, thrips, aphids and whiteflies, and a 30-60x lens or clip-on phone macro for broad and russet mites. Check the undersides of 10 affected leaves across several plants and the newest shoot tips, in white light. Look for moving dots, eggs, shed skins, webbing, slender insects with black specks, and glassy specks on new growth.
- Confirm: Tap a branch over white paper: Hold white paper under a branch or bud and tap it sharply 3-4 times. Watch the paper for 30 seconds: moving specks are mites or thrips (smear them; spider mites leave red-brown or green streaks), larger fliers are whiteflies. A quick whole-room screen before the magnifier.
- Article: [Spider mites on cannabis: life tables, ID and IPM](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/pests/spider-mites.md)

### Thrips (Possible)

- Kind: Pest; urgency: Deal with it this week
- Fix: Two levels: predatory mites (Neoseiulus cucumeris, Amblyseius swirskii) or Orius on the foliage, plus soil predators (Stratiolaelaps scimitus) or Steinernema nematodes in the medium where they pupate. Blue or yellow cards to monitor. Sprays only in veg.
- Recovery: Card counts fall and no new silvering on new leaves within 2-3 weeks.
- Confirm: Magnifier check of leaf undersides and new growth: Use a 10-20x loupe for spider mites, thrips, aphids and whiteflies, and a 30-60x lens or clip-on phone macro for broad and russet mites. Check the undersides of 10 affected leaves across several plants and the newest shoot tips, in white light. Look for moving dots, eggs, shed skins, webbing, slender insects with black specks, and glassy specks on new growth.
- Confirm: Tap a branch over white paper: Hold white paper under a branch or bud and tap it sharply 3-4 times. Watch the paper for 30 seconds: moving specks are mites or thrips (smear them; spider mites leave red-brown or green streaks), larger fliers are whiteflies. A quick whole-room screen before the magnifier.
- Confirm: Sticky cards for 1-2 weeks: Hang yellow cards at canopy height and lay one flat on the medium surface; add blue cards for thrips. Count catches every 3-4 days. Rising counts of small dark flies at the medium mean fungus gnats; slender insects mean thrips; white wedge-shaped fliers mean whiteflies; winged aphids mean a colony nearby.
- Article: [Thrips on cannabis: life table, temperature, scouting and biological control](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/pests/thrips.md)

### Whiteflies (Less likely)

- Kind: Pest; urgency: Deal with it this week
- Fix: Yellow cards; identify the species; release Encarsia formosa (greenhouse whitefly) or Eretmocerus (warmer rooms, silverleaf whitefly) plus predatory mites; keep sprays out of flower.
- Recovery: Card counts fall within 3-4 weeks; parasitised black nymphs appear.
- Confirm: Sticky cards for 1-2 weeks: Hang yellow cards at canopy height and lay one flat on the medium surface; add blue cards for thrips. Count catches every 3-4 days. Rising counts of small dark flies at the medium mean fungus gnats; slender insects mean thrips; white wedge-shaped fliers mean whiteflies; winged aphids mean a colony nearby.
- Confirm: Magnifier check of leaf undersides and new growth: Use a 10-20x loupe for spider mites, thrips, aphids and whiteflies, and a 30-60x lens or clip-on phone macro for broad and russet mites. Check the undersides of 10 affected leaves across several plants and the newest shoot tips, in white light. Look for moving dots, eggs, shed skins, webbing, slender insects with black specks, and glassy specks on new growth.
- Article: [Whiteflies on cannabis: life table, temperature, parasitoids and IPM](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/pests/whiteflies.md)

## Note

Guidance, not a guarantee. The checker weighs common causes against what you tell it; confirm with the tests before you treat, change one thing at a time and watch the new growth.