Indoor Plant Pests

Whether your plants are outdoors or indoors, there are several varieties of bugs that can attack them. Therefore, if your plants’ growth rate has reduced or stopped entirely; there are color changes or bugs can be seen on it, there is a need to take urgent action if you still cherish your potted plant.

Because many bugs rely on plants for their basic needs of food and shelter, plants naturally harbor bugs. Timely and thorough inspection of your plants will help ensure an outbreak is curtailed as soon as it starts. In this article, we discuss how to ensure your cherished potted plants are not infested and also highlight the examples of bugs usually found in plants. 

Typical house plant bugs.

You might be unsure of the type of bug you are dealing with when your potted plants become infected with one. We have therefore compiled a list of the plant's bugs that are usually seen and will help you know the exact type of bug bothering your potted plants and how to kill aphids and other pests.

Aphids

This is frequently located on indoor plants. They can hinder the growth of the plant by taking out sap from the plants. While the colony of aphids keeps growing, they rob plans of the crucial nutrients. Indoor plants with critical aphids’ infestation tend to get sticky as a result of the honeydew secreted by the bug.

This bug can have the same color of your plant and can usually be found underneath the leaves in a group. The best means of eradicating these is to bring in ladybugs.

Spider Mites

To observe the signs of spider mites, you may be required to use a magnifying glass. This is because these bugs are quite tiny. Plants with spider mites tend to turn dull brown as opposed to bright green.

Chronic infestations will come alongside webbings underneath the leaves and it then becomes tedious to get rid of the mites. Insecticides will be unable to get rid of these mites due to the fact that they are not insects.

How to deal with a spider mite infestation:

• Separate the infected plant:

Utilize water and spray on the plant regularly. Note that spider mites tend to reproduce rapidly. This is each 3-7 days. If you can, place the plant that has been infested in a humid location as spider mites breeding is encouraged by dry air.

Mealybugs

These bugs are quite determined and would crop up over and over again. To note a mealy bug infestation on your plant, you would spot a cotton-like fluff growing on it. The white is partially a waxy substance secreted by the bug and also the mealybug itself. The wax functions to safeguard them from getting sprayed.

To kill these bugs, spread a Q-tip doused with alcohol. You may also want to douse the plant with water continuously to get the mealy bugs loos. Next, apply neem oil generously on the plants so the bugs don’t have the capacity to return.