HI guys! I just discovered this on my Night Blooming Jasmine plant. The photo above is an exact match to how it looks on the leaves. The dots seem to wilt the leaves. I tried to push them around with a q-tip to see if they were insects and none of them seemed 'alive.'

Did anyone come to a consensus on if this was fungus or actually a pest? Did you guys do anything that worked to remove them from the plants?

Thanks!

I know this is old but so was just searching after picking about 6 or so black dots off my new monstera. They don’t appear to be alive. Flat on bottom where it was attached and slightly raised on top. I’ve only ever owned a handful of plants over the years and never dealt with any pests. My first thought was scale but I don’t think that’s it. It doesn’t seem to be a problem for any of the leaves. My monstera came from an online nursery.

Following for an answer also. I had some on a variegated lemon tree that I'd bought,. The black dots never "hatched", so not a bug egg? I just scraped them off, but, would be good to know for sure what they are.

I'm having the same problem around my succulent cacti. Saw one day there little black, seed-like balls on the wall and on the floor. Upon closer inspection, I found some on the ceiling, a few on the curtain right next to the plants, and even one on the bedroom door ACROSS the room!

As previously described, they're hard, don't squish like a bug would, but instead flatten out or roll up like clay. They leave behind a ticky-tacky spot that's difficult to clean.

I've sprayed bug spray on the wall, moved the succulents outside and doused them with soapy water and oil. At this point, I'm more concerned about ridding myself of the spots in the house vs. keeping the plants.

This is a fungus called artillary fungus. comes from infected wood mulch which can contaminate pot soil if repotting. If you get it in house plants soil you get these pinhead spores splattered about the room as they are ejected out over a few feet! They are easily wiped off with a warm soapy wipe. You can try treating pot soil with a very mild bleach solution however not sure how you can irradicate it from large soil areas.

Jennie's photo looks exactly like what is on my plants. They are actually spherical- not flattened on the back where it adheres, so I maybe question artillery fungus. They're sort of glued onto to the leaf, but because of their shape, easy to roll them off.

This is an interesting thread. I have these on an indoor plant. I wonder if they are some sort of tiny snail. I rubbed them off the leaves in the spot that the plant was standing, then in a few days they were all up the wall. I brushed them down, then a few days passed and they were up the wall again. I have repotted the plant and treated it as if they are a snail with a homeopathic dose x 3 of Helix Tosta. So far there are fewer of them. Will keep an eye on the plant going forward.

I'm looking for an answer too. Occasionally on the under Leaf of a dumb cane there will be tiny black spots that looks like miniature coffee grounds or dirt lightly dusting the leaf. I've wiped them off with my hand but a week later the same plant on a different leaf has them again. I was looking for a relationship with flying fungus gnats since they are all indoor plants. I know gnats have maggots but I don't know what their little eggs look like so I ran across you guys. I'll Stick Around in case anybody has a suggestion for me

I just discovered these under my Gloriosu. I keep spraying and cleaning but somehow keep coming back. I’m going to add peroxide to the soil if that lessens it Or stops. I want to as much as possible not touch the gloriosum roots.

So has anyone come to a conclusion on this? I have them on a windowsill and plants are right below the window. They look like poppyseeds, and they do stick to vertical surfaces. Would love to know how to get rid of these!

I was looking for a solution for all these raised black spots on one leaf of my bird of paradise. I decided after reading this thread to clean them off. I used a lil dish detergent to make some soapy water and I literally gently scrubbed them off with a sponge and worked the leaf over again with paper towel. The leaf is clean and doesn’t appear any worse for wear tho it felt weird using a lil soapy water to clean a plant. But it worked and looks fresh And I removed all the raised weird black and brown spots. The spots didn’t spread to other leaves so I’ll keep an eye on it and hope for the best. Im a newbie and never tried Neem but I may buy some just in case. Just my $.02 and I’d do it again. It worked—so far.

I’m seeing the same thing on my ZZ plant! I’ve not noticed it on any walls or the floor, but these dots are on quite a few leaves. They honestly don’t seem to be damaging the leaves or leaving marks, and they move around if I push them with a Qtip very easily, so my guess is maybe not artillery fungus (since I read that they are very hard to remove—though I may be wrong). I’m planning on wiping them all off, but very interested in knowing what these are (and if I should be concerned)

Had this on an indoor potted calathea. Put into a clear plastic bag and never saw an insect but daily/hourly would see more of these brownish spheres stuck to the inside of the bag. From others here looked up artillery fungus and this seems to be the case. Can even see the fungus pods on the soil.

I’m having the same issue with my sage plant! I just got it last weekend and all of a sudden these things went from the window in front of my sink (about 6 feet away) to the plant. There’s also some bite marks on the sage plant, but I’m also dealing with a fungus gnats issue so I think that’s what may be eating the sage leaves (They haven’t eaten anything else in my apartment yet).

I saw on another forum that they are most likely wood sorrel seeds. Apparently they have pods that explode and disperse seeds everywhere. I’ve found them all over a certain spot where I keep many of my houseplants. The only thing I can’t figure out is where they’re coming from because I don’t have any sorrel growing anywhere in my house let alone in that area. Maybe another plant explodes seed in this way too??

I have no idea- it’s weird cause the black spots started on my windowsill very far away from my plants, and since I brought home my sage plant they’re all over it. Also, something keeps chewing on my sage leaves and I’ve got no idea what it is- I only have a few fungus gnats that are on their way out, but could they cause massive leaf damage?

I had the same problem with little black specs stuck to my walls, etc. After some research I think they could be oxalis seed pods. These little dots are right next to my oxalis and don't seem to be causing any problems to other plants I've found them on. Anyone else have a similar experience?

I have the same issue, but it is in my vegetable garden. I have morning glories in there as well and they are covered. I assumed it was some type of insect egg and sprayed with soap and baking soda solution. We have had so much rain that I don't think it would have helped anyway. They are hard, seem to stick to the leaves but are easy to take off. There are just so many now! As stated above, they look like poppy seeds. I'm hoping that one theory that it is a harmless seed is true. I'll keep checking back. Thank you for any advice. I'd be heart broken to lose my veggies!!

I have the same issue on my Monstera Deliciosa but it also has little small holes where they once were. The holes look like munch holes. It looks as though it it spreading to a nearby heartleaf philo. I've searched the entire internet for answers and this is the best thread so far. My plants are otherwise healthy, growing rapidly and putting out multiple new leaves every week.

Help has anyone came up or truely found out what these are??? i have a fig tree that very dear to me, it was my moms and she adored it and had since passed away and i would be broken if i lost this fig tree…..i dont have any idea what these little black seed Looking things are aand they are randomly all over the leaves of this potted Fig Tree. The Fig tree was looking gorgeous with all new leaves popping in every where and getting nice and bushy, i go out and i first saw a few here and there, then i started checking and more and more, i would rub my finger over it and they are like sorta stuck to the leafs but you could scrape them off nail or something, So i started picking the leaves that had a lot of them on it and throw them away, but other leaves would get them, and some of the leaves ONES WITH NO SEED LOOKING THINGS ON THEM are randomly getting yellow and brown looking and kinda burnt crumbling edges like, so i would pick all the leaves that were damaged off …..ITS DRIVING ME NUTS TO KNOW WHAT THESE ARE, guess i will spray something on it

Hi everyone! I am new to the plant world but my monstera had these little spherical black rounds on them, and then my fig tree started to get them. It looks like the fecal deposit of hawthorn lace bugs based on my research. I will attach a photo. I don't know how to get rid of them *yet* but if anyone has a solution, let's get to the bottom of this!

I just found these under my lady palm leaves. There were few of them but I'm not sure if they came like that from the place I bought them. I also found a dead bug under another leaf, I'm wondering if it could be eggs or poop indeed?

I have an answer! For MY plant anyways. I found 4 green inch worms on my plants. It took so long to find any kind of insect. I finally shined my flash light and saw the worm. It was dropping the poppyseed type balls and sometimes even bigger ones as it ate the leaves. The poop would smear green or purple on a paper towel when I wiped it up because the leaves it was eating were green on one side and purple on the other. These two plants I have rooting in water over the winter. They are outside in pots in the summer. I just brought them in a couple weeks ago and noticed the black balls falling off all the time. I think they're all gone now!!🙏🏽

I found these all over my dwarf lemon tree that I keep outside for the summer. If they are caused from an insect, I HAVE to get rid of it before I bring it in for the winter. There were also several leaves that were eaten. I did find a caterpillar in the pot, which would definitely account for the eaten leaves. I also found a caterpillar in my spider plant that I was keeping outside. It also had eaten leaves, but no black dots. Miriam Bart’s comment makes sense, because I did find some things that looked like the picture. But only a couple on the entire tree. I also think the artillery fungus theory sounds definitely plausible. I do know a bit about artillery fungus and have dealt with it a lot. I used to have a white suv, and regularly put mulch around my plant beds. I started finding the spores all over the front of my car and house. They love shooting their spores at light colored things, which was my house and car. This year I decided to throw a handful of mulch in my lemon tree pot when I took in outside to help retain moisture. 🤦🏽‍♀️ The inside of the pot which is white is also covered in the black dots. So, it makes perfect sense. Except, when I had to remove them from my house and car, they DID NOT remove easily. I had to practically sand them off. These are definitely easier to remove. Soooo , I’m still not sure what to believe. I’ve never had them on any other potted plants until this year.
I am think I am going to go with the artillery fungus idea. I removed the mulch from the pot and I’m going to remove the top several inches of soil and replace. I will probably go ahead and add a little fungicide just to be safe. Then I’m going to spray down ALL of my plants and wash them before I bring them in. Just in case there are any bugs.

Gagagel2 I would maybe try the Seven Dust or diatomaceous earth stuff. Sprinkle it on the plant leaves and let it sit for a couple days. That also kills any insects. Turned out mine had 6 green inch worm/caterpillar-like things total between the 2 plants. They were very hard to find. They blend in well with the plant. I picked them off and put them ousted. No more black balls on my plants anymore 🥰

I will try that. Thank you.

I found two small green worms on my indoor fern while I was looking to see why the lower part of the leaves were dying and now I have these black seed like things on my glass table. I clean them up and then more of them appear. I think I’m going to have to throw the fern away tomorrow 😔

if you found the worms.. why throw the plant away now... look for more.. and watch for more refuse ...

or just be done with it.. lifes too short ...

ken

Grace, did you put your plant outside for a while, or just get it? It sounds like eggs were laid on it. Once they finish hatching, that should be the end of the caterpillars, unless you get moths inside.

I have the same things all over my outdoor plants. They are even on our cars.

I was told they are aphid eggs.

I am currently using a name oil mixture on them. We will see if it helps.

I think they’re due to either spider mites or thrips, but I never see the actual bugs, only the little black excrament balls and there are sometimes fine webs at the base of my plant. My indoor palm plant gets them occasionally…they’re pretty easy to get rid of, as long as you catch it early and you’re willing to spend some extra time with your plant. I start by spraying all the leaves (tops & underneath) then go leaf to leaf (including stems) picking off all the black balls. It’s gross but also kinda satisfying :) Then, using the hose (or shower) I SPRAY & SPRAY the leaves with water. The mite/thrips dont like moisture, so I usually spray them with water a couple times a day. Repeat this whole process every 1-2 days for about a week, and theyll be gone!

Here’s some info i found on thrips:

Thrips

Thrips are actually very similar in appearance to spider mites. They are very small, and have a silver colored body. Thrips will cause damage similar to spider mites, too. Thrips leave behind black droppings all over the plant, and their damage can cause your houseplants to wilt or even die. To spot thrips, try the paper towel technique we talked about above! Shake each leaf and branch to see if any black markings fall off—it could be thrips!

How to remove thrips

Rinse your houseplants and treat them with insecticidal soap or neem oil for a few weeks to eliminate thrips.

If there is something on your car or outside walls of your home, that may be a shotgun or artillery fungus from the landscaping.

I just purchased a beautiful, very large Boston fern and hung it from the ceiling. It was not long before I noticed little hard black, some pin point, some larger, on the shelving below the plant, on the window sill and flooring beneath the area below the hanging plant. I thought we had mice, went out and purchased various different traps. We did not catch anything. After cleaning up each morning I found new droppings and they were increasing. I moved the plant to another area to support its second watering and misting. The next morning i found the black droppings all around the plant, the plant not hanging but sitting on the surface. I phoned the store yesterday where I purchased it and was told that it was worm castings. I asked if I should throw the plant out and was told that was the sign of a healthy plant. My question is, if there is worm poop flying out of the plant are there actual worms in the basket! And are some of these castings actual eggs? If this is the fertilizer used I think the seller should have a little blurb that goes with the plant to educate people about the fertilizer. I have gone through the expense of multiple types of mouse traps and anxiety and worry over the damage to our health if not dealt with correctly. I also read that cockroaches shed the same little black balls, they can be found on surfaces as well as sticking to walls. I asked an exterminator about that yesterday and he suggested keeping the plant on the floor and spread that sticky tape ( used on mice ) all around the plant. If

there are any roaches in the plant they will stick to the tape if that is their poop. But the plant man at the store did not hesitate to state that it was worm castings. I am going to bring some in to show him for verification. I thought it would be nice to go back to having house plants indoors once again but this has not been worth the exercise!

That sounds like caterpillar activity to me. Do you see any chewed spots on the foliage?

I've had worm in pots many times but haven't seen anything like what you are describing. Worm activity in a pot will cause the excess water dripping out after watering a plant to look like tea, dark brown.

Does that mean that there are caterpillars in the earth that are causing the projectile poop out of the pot? Is that the activity that best signifies caterpillar activity. The plant itself is pretty green and lush, not too much visual chewing destruction.

Worms are not the same as caterpillars. When they're talking about worm castings, they mean earthworms. (I don't know if I buy that explanation, though.)

Cockroaches don't live in ferns. And they have large distinctive poop, as do mice (they're actually really similar).

Why not take a picture? Maybe they're spores. :/

Could be, like a shotgun fungus.

Thank you, Tiffany. You were absolutely right. Along with the poop I found a caterpillar on one of the leaves this morning. Getting rid of plant!

All you have to do is get rid of ALL of the caterpillars and you will have no more black balls falling off. It's not the plant. I picked them off for a couple days until they were all gone. They hide good. Blend with the leaves. But you can usually find them by looking for spots on the leaves that have been eaten. They sit on the leaves. I didn't get them all the first time. The 2nd time I DID and the black balls stopped. Or use Seven Dust to kill them.

Agree that there's no need to get rid of a plant because of caterpillars. Some kind of moth, butterfly, or other flying thing laid eggs on the plant while it was outside. When the eggs are finished hatching, that will be the end of the caterpillars. You might have seen the last one this morning. Caterpillars do not live in the soil. They eat leaves until big enough to pupate then then re-hatch as a flying thing.

There is no need to apply any chemicals because of a caterpillar on an indoor plant. They can't multiply and can be removed manually.

I stumbled upon this post a few weeks back because I too was really puzzled by the appearance of these tiny black dots sprinkled all over my wall paper, monstera plant, the curtains, and my bedding. They looked like poppy seeds but attached/stuck to the plant, wallpaper, and the fabric. After carefully scraping them off with my fingernail and vacuuming the curtains, I would be astonished to find a new set of dots peppering the same wall all over again a few hours later.

I got a bit obsessive over the next couple of days as this really bothered/disgusted me (the plant is right next to my bed/pillow), but eventually I found the culprit (actually on several occasions). It turned out to be a moth, or at least that's what I figured once I saw it.

When I researched the internet trying to figure out what these dots/seeds/eggs could be, I passed on the idea of it being moth eggs because in all the photos the eggs were neatly arranged close together, but mine were spread all over the place about 10-50 cms apart 1 egg at a time.

During the day, I typically open the windows to air out, sometimes only a bit, so I guess moths must find their way inside the house and then hide themselves very well. I found one hidden in the folds of the curtain. I found a second moth a few days later again in the very corner of the room hidden by the folds of the curtain. I think these suckers are just very good at hiding & camouflaging because my husband and I were carefully screening the folds and looking all over and didn't notice any the previous days. I even watered the plant daily to ensure there weren't any moths or other culprits hiding in there.

Unfortunately I continue to periodically find these black pin-sized heads on the same wall and curtain, but I'm less freaked out about it now that I know what it is and much more thorough at looking for the culprits. My advice is to make sure you close the windows and really check all the cracks since they're very good at hiding.

When the eggs hatch, if the resulting caterpillar is not on a food source, it won't survive, so it is unlikely that eggs would be laid on any other surface than a plant.

There are moths that eat fabric, so eggs can be laid on things other than plants...

I've been usung the seek app and googling all day to try to figure out what these little black coffee ground like specks are since they were on two of my plants and the wall/curtains near those plants but not on the plants just a few feet away. Seek results included a beetle and later in the day we found a full grown box elder bug so I thought mystery solved even though it didn’t seem totally right. When I was cleaning my plants off I seeked again and got two different moth results so maybe that is correct? I was able to zoom in on another and see what looks like legs though??

Its artillery fungus. and irs harmless to your plants. its the same black dots that you see on patio furniture, vinyl siding, and cars.

These are most likely caused by THRIPS (tiny black bugs with a skinny body and pointy tail). Remove a leaf and look closely at the underside. Younger thrips can be very difficult to see... tiny and green/ yellow.

Don't think they're thrips, at least not the ones folks are describing that are uniform, round dots, raised specks that look like coffee grounds. I had a bf in 2017 that had thrips in his dreadlocks. He scratched his head to loosen them into the sink. I grabbed my ipad & video’d them & took still pics. Then I enlarged both versions to get a better idea what they looked like. I highly recommend doing this! You get such a much better idea as to what you’re dealing with! The thrips reminded me of what ticks look like, before they're engorged with blood. But I digress! ...I‘m sure these are not thrips. I've got the artillary fungus all around my back patio & on plants now 2 summers in a row (bought the house July ’21, so don't know how long its been on this property). This damn property is plagued by other fungi besides, infecting all 4 fruit trees to the max and last year, powdery mildew ruined the beautiful grapes on the lg arbòr. 🥺😩 ...a REAL nightmare! Not at all what I'd thought I was getting in this purchase!

I hope the person who presumes they're moth-related is either wrong or has a different problem than my plant’s mystery black dots. I was plagued 2x in less than a yèar with clothing moths with ALL my best sweaters (and I have A LOT!) stored in my 2 cedar chests (that I too late discovered had splits in the wood joices, giving them entry). Advice: NEVER store away good fibers w/o prior cleaning! (I had a hasty move & didn't have time to do it. Call it 'moth propagation'?) And make sure your old cedar chest is well-sealed, with no cracks!

Discovered that the term for catepillar poop is ”frass” and I think that’s what most people here have been finding.

Different size frass for different size catepillars, and different colour frass for different colour plants.

I had those black dots as well with wilting leaves. In my case it was thrips droppings. Definitely quarantine your plants and look for small longish bugs across the entire plant (they especially love to hang on the underside of leaves).

If they are thrips, the solution is spraying regularly with neem oil or getting some predatory mites like Neoseiulus cucumeris