BUGS AND PESTS

There’s no guarantee you’ll own any plant without it being infected at one point in your home. due to stable temperature/conditions. Plants are easily infected if not being supervised. depending on the severity of the infestation or your attachment to the plant, its up to you what the best solution is. The faster the decision, the better it is for the rest of the plants in your collection.

The best means of preventing any infestation is to properly check the plants you’re buying not just for pests but also for eggs lying dormant waiting waiting to run riot in your home. It’s advisable to take care of infestations outside, away from other plants.

Common indoor plants pest

• Fungus gnats

• Mealy bug

• Aphids

• Spider Mites

• Thrips

• Scales

Fungus Gnats

They’re noticed when you disturb a plant. Business of flies hover around but does no specific damage. Gnats are just nuisance in your space. They’re best controlled by using sticky traps and their eggs, mostly in soil, should be removed by scooping out your top soil and replacing it with peat and perlite.

gnats on sticky trap

Aphids

Cousins to mealy bugs but with different colours. They are mostly white, green, yellow, and black. As much as they can multiply easily, they’re also easy to get rid of. Though, these little insects are persistent and try as much as possible to stay alive, you have to be consistent with insecticidal spray or a mixture of Dr. Bronners peppermint soap with water. A teaspoon of soap in 8oz of water.

Aphids sucking life off a plant

Mealy bugs

They appear as white tiny cottons mostly found on plant stems. They suck the juice out of plants, weakening and eventually killing it. Mealy bug easily spread if not noticed early and are easy to spot due to their white colour. When noticed, spray a cotton swab with alcohol and wipe off the bug with it. if infestation is severe, its best to get rid of the plant.

mealy bugs

Spider Mites

Spider mites are tiny yellowish or lightbrown almost microscopic insects. they leave webbings around plant joints and suck sap rapidly mostly from new growths in plants where they’re mostly populated. Larger portion of the plant will have to be pruned then sprayed with neem oil or castille soap and distilled water. These procedures must be repeated over twice a day for a week to kill off the eggs.

nuisance to plants = spider mites

Thrips

These darkbrown destructive insects are devils incarnate. They not only kill plants off but also spread at a faster rate to other plants. They leave a signature disease and discolored patches before moving onto other plants. They’ve proven to withstand some insecticides so ladybugs are best when considering treating infected plants. They’re natural predators for most plant pests.

Aphids

Scales

I call these the cancer of plants. Once they get to a plant, the probability of the plant surviving is almost 3%. Young scales can be seen walking with tiny legs but adult scales set up a pop up shop with a protective hard umbrella over it. These umbrellas, almost a dome, makes them hard to get rid of because insecticides can’t penetrate them. It’ll be best to get rid of the plant infected but if you’re attached to the plant, you can invest in Capt Jacks spray with some picks to poke at the spots before spraying.

scales on a leaf