Houseplant Bugs: Identification and Control

Table Of Content

• How To Get Rid of Bugs on Indoor Houseplants and Keep Them Gone
• Aphid Control: How to Get Rid of Aphids Effectively at Home
• How to Save a Dying Houseplant: A Beginner's Guide
• Preventing houseplant pest infestations
• – Apple Cider Vinegar is Effective at Killing Adult Gnats – Stopping Reproduction
• Fruit Flies

Be sure to clean and dry the shop vac after they have been suctioned from the area. Springtails are wingless and mimic fleas, so inspect the area post-cleanup to ensure they did not jump out of the way. Keep the infestation site dry post-removal so they do not return. Adding a houseplant to your home does more than enhance décor. Houseplants can improve air quality, reduce stress, boost your mood, and are great to give as gifts.

How To Get Rid of Bugs on Indoor Houseplants and Keep Them Gone

You can mistake them for mold or pollen on the roots and stems of plants. To move around, russet mites can attach themselves to the bodies of other pests. A simple liquid soap solution could help get rid of them. You can also make use of insecticidal soap or try poking them off with a stick. The foliage of the affected plant could also develop yellow patches. This could affect the overall growth of the indoor houseplant.

Aphid Control: How to Get Rid of Aphids Effectively at Home

How to Get Rid of Gnats on Houseplants—and Prevent Them From Coming Back - Martha Stewart

How to Get Rid of Gnats on Houseplants—and Prevent Them From Coming Back.

Posted: Thu, 05 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Liquid soap or insecticidal soap can also be useful for these plant insects. Pour the solution into a spray bottle and spray on the affected plant. The most obvious symptom would be the tiny white webbings they leave on the plant. Another would be the tiny brown spots or holes they leave on the plant’s foliage.

How to Save a Dying Houseplant: A Beginner's Guide

The most common reason for bugs affecting potting soil is to do with moisture. Common houseplants hate sitting in waterlogged, soggy soil. The dampness not only leads to root rot and weak plant growth, but it also attracts various types of bugs such as fungus gnats. Fungus gnats are certainly one of the most annoying of all the common houseplant pests. These small pests fly around your houseplants, laying eggs in moist soil to reproduce. Spider mites are among the most common houseplant pests in warm and dry indoor environments.

Finally, you can use hydrogen peroxide as a DIY houseplant bug spray ingredient. Mix one teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide per every cup of water in an empty spray bottle. Research has proven tea tree oil to be an effective pesticide against aphids, with 80 percent of pest mortality evaluated after use. For those looking for an easy, natural solution, Acree’s tea tree oil bug spray may be worth the try. Identifying the type of plant pest you’re dealing with is the first step to getting rid of them for good. The adults do not feed on houseplants but can be a nuisance to people.

10 Common Houseplant Pests—and How to Eradicate Them - Real Simple

10 Common Houseplant Pests—and How to Eradicate Them.

Posted: Mon, 15 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Spicy herbs are potent, and when mixed like this, it’s unpleasant on your throat, and certainly don’t touch your eyes after handling these. For every quart of water, use one to two cups of alcohol. Not like your old-style country western movie antiseptic used for cleaning gunshot wounds with whisky. All you do is put stale beer in a shallow dish and put it where your slug problem is, indoors or out. This spray is not family or pet-friendly, so always use it carefully, especially when putting it in unlabeled spray bottles.

– Apple Cider Vinegar is Effective at Killing Adult Gnats – Stopping Reproduction

In addition to that, getting rid of thrips can be very difficult. It is also recommended that you dispose of plants with severe thrip infestation. You can control the nasty infestation by applying heat to the plant. They can be used as beneficial pests and introduced to the plant. Chemical products like neem oil also work on root aphids. But if you find them too annoying, you can get rid of them by reducing how often you water the plant.

Want to Get Rid of Bugs? Try One of These Common Houseplants

Hydrogen peroxide can be used to kill fungus gnats and other common bugs that plague houseplants, as well. When used sparingly, it can help plants grow by giving the roots added oxygen, too. Just be sure to dilute it—mix one teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide per cup of water in an empty spray bottle. When infestation is light, use your hand or an old toothbrush to rub off these houseplant pests or use a cotton swab soaked in 70 percent isopropyl alcohol. Prune infested plant stems as soon as possible to avoid a recurrence of bugs.

Really appreciate how you want to help all the gardeners. Regularly using a nontoxic, organic pesticide such as neem oil on your plants can also prevent infestations from getting out of hand. Layer a thin coverage of earth along the top of your houseplant soil as well as on the drainage tray to catch any bugs as they crawl or wash out of your houseplant pot. Using diatomaceous earth alongside the hydrogen peroxide solution is a great way to flush out an infestation. Diatomaceous earth is a finely ground powder made from fossilized algae.

Natural remedies such as neem oil, diatomaceous earth, or a mixture of water and mild soap can help you get rid of houseplant pests. As the name suggests, drain flies are often a nuisance near sinks where the flies, eggs, and larvae live in built-up slime in drains. The trash-loving fuzzy flying bugs are easy to mistake for fungus gnats or fruit flies.

Small house bugs are annoying pests, many of which bite humans, spread disease, or contaminate foodstuffs. It’s vital to identify the types of bugs you find in your house to know the best ways to get rid of them. Pillbugs are small house bugs that have a distinctive segmented brown or gray body, making them look like a tiny armadillo. In addition, the small, brown hard-shelled critters have a unique habit of rolling into a ball for protection. These small beetle-like bugs have 14 legs and measure between 0.25” and 0.5” (6 – 12 mm) long. Springtails are small wingless, insect-like creatures that thrive in moist soil.

For example, suppose you have noticed tiny brown crawling creatures, flying brown or black insects, or bugs with long legs scurrying over floors in your home. In that case, you can learn about the creepy-crawly’s identifying features in this article. When plants are clustered together with some overlap, it's easy for pests to spread. Pests can crawl, jump, bounce, and fly onto neighboring houseplants easily. That's why it's important to quarantine infected or new plants so pests can't spread.