How to Deal with Bugs in Your Plants
Let’s be honest: being a plant parent is stressful enough when you’re trying to fix root rot, yellowing leaves, brown tips, and plants that don’t seem to perk up despite your best efforts. Add “finding spider mites on your new calathea” into the mix and it might seem like the world is ending. So what can you do?
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Contents:
How to deal with bugs in your plants
How to prevent future pest infestations
At-Home remedies using Hydrogen Peroxide & Isopropyl Alcohol
HOW TO DEAL WITH BUGS IN YOUR PLANTS
1) F̶r̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶.̶ Just kidding. Bugs are a natural and inevitable part of plant-keeping. Just like Meagan (@onceuponaphilodendron) said: “As much as you love your plants, insects do too.” Take a couple deep breaths and get a closer look so you can ID them—the bugs might even be helpful/harmless. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of common crawlies you might find in your collection, click the header for ID photos:
Fungus gnats (kinda HARMFUL): Mosquito-like, with wings & long legs but smaller. Likes to inhabit the top layer of damp soil. Really more annoying than harmful, as adults will fly into any open drink container they find, but it’s the larvae that will do damage by feeding on root hairs.
Spider mites (HARMFUL): Very common. Wingless, beige/brown in color, likes to inhabit and feed of new, young leaves. Creates small, but visible webbing on any part of a leaf, especially noticeable at leaf tips and on the stem.
Scale (HARMFUL): Wingless, usually brown & dark in color, likes to attach to stems. Can be scratched off (that’s how you know it’s not a cosmetic scab that’s part of the plant).
Mealy bugs (HARMFUL): Wingless, white, has antennae. Slow-moving. Groups of them appear like cotton fluff, you might mistake a single one as lint.
Thrips (HARMFUL): Winged, either yellow or black elongated specks. Will jump or fly when disturbed.
Springtails (HELPFUL): Tiny beige or brown specks that bounce around in your soil. “They feed on decaying roots and fungi and do not harm living plants, but if you have a problem with springtails in houseplants, let the soil dry out and water less frequently. Moisture control is the most effective strategy to decrease springtail populations.” (Source: UMN)
House spider (HELPFUL): Often black or brown in color, has eight legs…you get it. If there are only a few webs among your plant leaves and you don’t see any actively crawling specks (spider mites are much smaller than the average spider), it could belong to a harmless house spider. Keep em around—they prey on unwanted pests like aphids, thrips, mosquitoes, etc. Especially helpful in outdoor gardens where it may be hard to hose down and spray every plant if it’s a large area.
For more info on beneficial insects & additional pests, check out Planet Natural’s Pest Problem Solver.
Need help identifying a bug? Not sure if it’s helpful or harmful? Check out Planet Natural’s Pest Problem Solver (unaffiliated)
2) If the critters are harmful, your first line of defense should be hosing down the affected plant with water to dislodge any adults, webs, and eggs. I find using the flexible hose on my kitchen sink helpful, as I’m able to control the angle at which the spray comes out. If you’ve recently watered your plant, tilt the pot at an angle (as close to 90 degrees before soil starts spilling out) so you can focus on the leaves and avoid overwatering the soil. If it’s watering day for your plant, blast away. A 3-5 second shower should do the trick. For large plants, you can give them an actual shower in your bathroom or hose them off outdoors.
3) Next, spray your plants down with an insecticide or neem oil. Spray liberally and make sure every nook & cranny is covered—that means the front & back of every leaf and the stems. Most product label instructions recommend spraying till your plant’s dripping, then letting it dry. If spraying outdoors, I would be mindful of excess runoff ending up in nearby waterways; spray on days when there isn’t impending rainfall.
Personally, I like using Bonide’s Insecticidal Soap (suitable for organic gardening, active ingredient is potassium salts of fatty acids) - it’s effective against mites, thrips, scale and mealies. Have had great success using it on mites & mealies infestations. I recently bought Bonide’s Bon-Neem ($10 for 32 oz) to try, as it’s effective against the aforementioned, plus fungus and mildew. I’ve seen folks recommend Mite X, which is effective against mites, thrips, and aphids, but why not buy one thing that’ll cover all your bases? Pure neem oil is a popular solution as well, but I’ve heard that it smells strongly and should be wiped off after application lest it suffocate your plant’s pores, so no thanks.
Optional: Bonide’s systemic insecticide granules are a great passive solution & second line of defense. They take a bit to kick in, since the granules are stirred into your soil and your plants have to absorb the active ingredient through their roots when you water, becoming poisonous to pests. Product label says the granules are effective for up to 8 weeks, so reapply periodically. Caveat: Spider mites are NOT on the kill list, so it won’t prevent all bug attacks.
For more info on additional low toxicity pesticides, check out the UConn Home & Garden Education Center.
Find this at your local nursery or Home Depot. Runs about $8 for 8 oz or $10 for 32 oz. Suitable for organic gardening; active ingredient is a potassium salt. Source: Gardener.s
Bonide’s systemic insecticide granules are absorbed by your plants, making them poisonous to plants. Not effective against spider mites, not suitable for organic gardening. ~$10 for 16 oz.
4) After treating your plant, isolate it from your collection so any remaining/new pests don’t spread to neighboring plants. Bug life cycles can last several weeks, so it’s a good idea to repeat treatment (e.g. showering + insecticide, or just insecticide) once every 4-7 days to catch any stragglers.
If you’re tight on space and can’t isolate your plant, reduce the waiting period to 3-4 days (to be safe) and keep a vigilant eye on the rest of your plants.
5) Continue inspecting your affected plants and its surrounding neighbors every few days. When the plant’s been pest-free for 2 weeks, it’s good to return to its homies.
HOW TO PREVENT FUTURE PEST INFESTATIONS
1) If you’re shopping in-person, inspect all parts of the plant before you buy—that means checking the soil, stem, petioles, leaf tops & undersides. Look for any moving specks, webs, cottony fluff, or unusual yellowing or discoloration. If you see anything that’s off, bring it to the staff’s attention, as they can confirm and check if more of their inventory is affected. Better safe than sorry.
2) Pre-emptively spray down any new plants in your home, whether shipped or purchased in-person, with insecticide and quarantine for two weeks, even if it there are no visible pests. There’ve been instances where I didn’t isolate a new plant purchase and regretted it, because the bugs spread to my old plants. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…or in our case, a generous spritzing of insecticide is worth weeks of stressing over an active infestation in the future!
3) Once a month, spray down all the plants in your collection, in addition to hosing off the foliage when it’s watering day. This’ll nip any nascent colonies in the bud before they become full blown infestations. If it’s too much to treat everyone at once, spray down parts of your jungle at a time, working in sections across several days until everyone’s got their dose.
3b) Optional: Bonide’s systemic insecticide granules are a great passive solution & second line of defense. They take a bit to kick in, since the granules are stirred into your soil and your plants have to absorb the active ingredient through their roots when you water, becoming poisonous to pests. Product label says the granules are effective for up to 8 weeks, so reapply periodically. Caveat: Spider mites are NOT on the kill list, so it won’t prevent all bug attacks.
Temporary at-home remedies
If you need a few days before you have time to run to the store to buy insecticide (I stand by supporting small businesses like your local nursery, over ordering online), some treatment solutions are available with items found at home. I call these “temporary” because they may not be effective against all pests. And speaking as someone who supports natural remedies but also believes in clinically tested synthetic solutions, I still recommend using an insecticide over these options:
Hydrogen peroxide: Dilute 3% peroxide with an equal amount of water. Use as foliar spray and for watering to get rid of pests and fungi. Ineffective against scale. Test the foliar spray on one leaf before treating the whole plant, as the diluted peroxide may still be too harsh.
Isopropyl alcohol: Dilute 1 cup 70% isopropyl with 1 teaspoon dish detergent & 1 quart of water. Use as foliar spray, or kill individual bugs with a q-tip dabbed in pure isopropyl. Effective against scale, mealybugs, spider mites, whiteflies. Test the foliar spray on one leaf before treating the whole plant, as the diluted alcohol may still be too harsh.
As always, I’m @_plantedparenthood if you want to DM me with any questions. Happy planting!