Regardless of the season, filling your indoor space with houseplants is a great way to bring nature inside and intake garden treatments with the warmth and comfort of your home. Putting plants in your home feels refreshing and cozy…yak! Pest invasion is fairly common, but today we learn how to prevent, identify and remove pests in houseplants before they cause too much damage.
Our plants are our little green children. And when our kids hurt, we get hurt too! There’s nothing worse than seeing a sudden pest invasion on your beloved houseplant. At one moment they’re fine, the next time there’s a cloud of white fly!
Luckily, when pests come in, everything is not lost. When you love bugs outside, there are no natural predators in your home to take care of the population. So it’s up to me to control the pest population and save the beauty of the indoors.
This guide will introduce some tips and pointers from the expert David Squire and his book The Houseplant Handbook: Basic Growing Techniques and the 300 everyday houseplant directory. Be sure to check it out for more information on how to stop those pests from entering your home!
I’ll cover this post…
Reprinted with permission from Houseplant Handbook: Directory of 300 Houseplants with Basic Growth Techniques by David Squire © 2017. Published by FoxChapelPublishing. Photo courtesy of Fox Chapel Publishing.
Common plant insects
The first step to getting rid of pests in houseplants is to know who you are fighting! Below are some tips on how to identify pests and how they can damage them.
Aphid
On the outside and inside, there are aphids. They can be identified by small, green or black bodies and the sticky honeydew they excrete. Ants are attracted to this honeydew and can also invite soot types, a fungal disease. You will find aphids sucking sap from your plants and their soft leaves and invade all kinds of flowers.
Meer Bug
Small, flat, waxy creatures look like small cotton spots. You may find meeliver in your ferns, hip strums, azaleas and palms. Like aphids, they can inhale the sap, distort the leaves, turn yellow, and lose “pep.” They also drain honeydew.
Cyclamen mite
These small bugs may be mistaken for water droplets at first. Their clean or slightly brown-colored bodies have a waxy appearance. They gather under the leaves and suck up the sap.
This will cause them to be wrinkled and dark, and some flowering buds will also be distorted and fall off. They are named after the cyclamen plant, but also affect pelargonium, African violets and busy Lizzie.
Fungal batter
If you see a small flies tired by your plants, they are probably fungal batsmen. They like to invade soil and potted mixtures, and moist soil lays eggs. The larvae feed on the fungi in the soil and can even bite the roots.
whitefly
Like small moths, whitefries are small insects with powdery coverings. These insect clouds will suddenly be released, so you will notice them when you are intruding the plants. Their powder can be found under the leaves as they inhale the sap and inhale the excrement.
Red spider mites
These small red insects have eight legs, like spiders. They are the worst when they are hot and dry, as they want moisture from the plants. Their suction causes arguments and sometimes the web in bad cases. At this point they are difficult to remove and can reduce the air circulation of the plants.
Scale insects
Another supucker, scale insects love warm, dry climates, making certain houseplants an ideal home. They have a small, flat, oval body that looks like a waxy brown disc.
Thrips
Fly-like insects, these dark brown and small insects roam between the plants. With their unique, asymmetrical mouths, they thrust through leaves and flowers and suck on sap. As a result, the plant becomes silvery spots and stripes, and the leaves develop small red spheres beneath the leaves, eventually turning black.
Grape weevil
One of the worst pests on this list can cause serious damage as both adults and larvae. When adults, they look like beetles in every part of the plant and eat feasts. The larvae are fat, brown-headed white, and legsless. They live in compost and chew on the roots of plants.
How to prevent bugs in houseplants
Perhaps your plants will suffer from pests at some point while caring for you. However, the best fight against pests in houseplants is to avoid them in the first place.
Here are some prevention tips, David’s tribute.
Buy plants from reputable sources. Please inspect the plants before purchasing. Check for intrusions regularly. Do not use garden soil in place of compost compost as it may contain weed seeds, pests, or diseases. Avoid leaving around dead flowers and plants. Check the root balls of soil pests when the plants are planted. Do not use infected plants as propagation materials.
Non-chemical control of pests and diseases
Healthy plants are less susceptible to pests and diseases. The right amount of water, sunlight, air and food make them a much greater opportunity to fight pests. If you spot these pests, don’t panic. There are so many things you can do to get rid of them in a natural way!
Here’s how David suggests taking care of houseplant pests in your home:
A misty plant containing clean water with the risk (or presence) of red spider mites. Remove dead leaves and flowers regularly. Investigate biological controls. This means using other insects and mites to control pests. Aphids, caterpillars, meely bugs, soft-scale insects, red spider mites, thrips, grape weevil larvae, and white biological controls are present. Seek the Garden Center for advice.
Frequently Asked Questions about Ornamental Plant Pests
When looking at which pests affect houseplants, first check to see if they can physically see the pest. Some are better hidden than others (check under the leaves or in the soil). Pay attention to their colour and body shape. Some fly, others fly to the cra.
Next, look at the damage caused to the plant. For example, some pests leave honeydew, while others webbing. The type of damage that occurs can help identify the plant.
Some of the worst houseplant pests include grape weevils, red spider mites, aphids and meelbags. However, House pests can be bad if they are uncontrolled. If left, they spread to other houseplants and ultimately can kill their host plants if they are uninhabited. Always try to isolate infected plants and remove pests as soon as possible.
If you are still struggling to identify pests in your controversy, please let me know in the comments below, and I will do my best to lend you a hand!
