How do cucumbers infected with spider mites look? - briefly
Infested cucumbers show a stippled, yellow‑to‑bronze discoloration on the skin, often with fine silvery webbing covering the fruit and surrounding foliage. Leaves exhibit tiny, pale feeding spots, and the fruit may appear mottled and uneven.
How do cucumbers infected with spider mites look? - in detail
Cucumbers attacked by spider mites display a distinct set of visual symptoms on both foliage and fruit.
Leaves become speckled with tiny, pale or yellowish spots where the mites have pierced cells. As feeding continues, the chlorophyll in the affected area breaks down, producing a bronzed or stippled appearance. The damage often spreads outward from the leaf margins, creating a mosaic of light‑colored patches that may coalesce into larger necrotic zones. Fine, silvery webbing can be observed on the undersides of leaves and along stems, especially in heavily infested plants.
Fruit surfaces exhibit subtle but recognizable changes. The skin may develop a mottled pattern of light‑colored blotches that mirror the leaf stippling. In severe cases, the epidermis becomes thin and translucent, allowing underlying tissue to appear dull or slightly brownish. Small, irregular spots may be present where the mite’s saliva has caused localized cell death. The fruit’s texture can become softer in the affected areas, and a faint, powdery residue—remnants of the spider mite web—may be visible on the rind.
These characteristics—leaf bronzing, stippled discoloration, webbing, and mottled fruit lesions—together confirm the presence of spider mite infestation on cucumber crops.