Houseplant 101: Control Houseplant Pests: Thrips, Mealybugs, Spider Mites, Aphids, & More! - Ep 123
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2024
- Ever since I did my houseplant pest episodes more than two years ago, I still get quite a lot of questions on how to identify, deal with, and eradicate houseplant pests. This "Houseplant 101: Back to Basics" episode will help you learn preventative measures to pests, how houseplant pests get into your home in the first place, and ways to manage or eradicate your pests through natural, non-toxic means.
Oh, and more episodes on pest management-including fungus gnats ( • Houseplant 101: How to... ) and integrated pest management ( • Is Integrated Pest Man... ) are around the corner, so stay tuned, and be sure to hit the "notifications" bell if you want to know when they'll drop.
P.S. On export, FCP was cutting off scientific names, so you'll see my potato is supposed to be "Solanum tuberosum".
Products featured:
- Espoma organic insect soap - amzn.to/2MJsC2f
- Bonide Neem horticultural spray - amzn.to/2WGIkj0
- Bonide horticultural spray - amzn.to/2WC5w25
- Cold-pressed, organic neem oil - amzn.to/2WDHNOV
- Dr. Bronner's pure Castile soap - amzn.to/2KMkhIC
- Isopropyl alcohol - amzn.to/2WLMiY0
- Q-tips - amzn.to/2KLtT6j
- Yellow sticky traps - amzn.to/2MHEt0H
- Blue sticky traps - amzn.to/2MU6ySm
- Expandable hose - amzn.to/2XbaQbW
- CoreGear garden sprayer - amzn.to/2WCQEjX
- Live beneficial nematodes - amzn.to/2XaG8Ql
- Lacewings in frame - bit.ly/2FS1CtX
- Mealybug destroyers - bit.ly/31v3q2E
__
Homestead Brooklyn’s "Plant One On Me" is a series on indoor and outdoor gardening, houseplant home tours, greenhouse and botanic garden field trips, interviews, travelogues, and more. Write your questions and suggestions in the comments below the videos, on Instagram @homesteadbrooklyn #PlantOneOnMe, or Facebook @summerrayneoakes and @homesteadbrooklyn.
--------------------------------
Cool Stuff ↴
--------------------------------
➨ Become a houseplant guru with the Houseplant Masterclass:
www.houseplantmasterclass.com
➨ Pre-order "How to Make a Plant Love You" the book:
amzn.to/2Pyv7Ra
And want to be kept up-to-date with all the great giveaways, gardening news, and latest videos and blogs?
--------------------------------
Follow/Sub ↴
--------------------------------
▶ Subscribe to RUclips: bit.ly/2y1TSym
▶ Weekly Vlog: bit.ly/2ReiUDl
▶ Instagram+IGTV: bit.ly/2R60nsJ
▶ Facebook: bit.ly/2QkpKWq
▶ Twitter: @sroakes ( / sroakes )
▶ Blog: homesteadbrooklyn.com/
▶ Newsletter: eepurl.com/clrKeL
--------------------------------
Don't forget: if you like this episode and the others, then be sure to “Subscribe” to this channel and hit the Notifications bell. This really does help keep the channel moving forward!
I wish I saw your video before I started collecting plants. When I first got spider mites, I could have cried. I was so stressed out. 88 plants later, I've learned that all these people with a lot of plants deal with pests on a regular basis. They always show these beautiful pictures of urban jungles, but never discuss the bad side. Ive accepted bugs as a part of owning indoor plants and no longer stress about them.
So true! I have 100+ plants and in the past year I’ve dealt with fungus gnats (constant battle with these bastards), thrips (twice), aphids and now spider mites. It’s inevitable that there will be something wanting to munch on our pretty looking plants. The key is to accept it and deal with it.
Knock on wood 🪵 Six years with indoor plants and no real problems with pest. 🤔I do have parakeets. I think the first five years, the birds kept everything in check. Past year moved all the tropical plants into spa room. With over 120 plants, morning chores include inspection from a distance. Watering, generally plants are watered on table then returned to location. During this watering process the plant is checked over. Recently dealt with pests on leaves of Monstera Deliciosa. I used three different horticultural sprays in one day. Over the top, but I don't do bugs. Monstera Deliciosa is doing well. The new leaf that was coming in browned even more so I cut it off. I am grateful Serenity Garden is doing well.
Yeah I have so so many plants and I have to rly inspect them all every few days lol it’s a lot more work than it looks having a lot of plants lol
“Sometimes we get so excited that we have plants, that we put the new plant on our already crowded windowsill”
Ouch, just tag me next time 😂
Thank you for this info, it all seems so simple now ☺️
She came for meee
She came for all of us 😭
This was hard to watch. It’s making me so itchy! 🤣🤣
I am so glad there’s someone else itching their way through the video! Haha
I work in a flower shop and I have a few little tips regarding pests or rather how to avoid them. If you live in a temperate area I'd say that generally you run a lower risk of running into pests during the colder months which seems a little odd seeing as that's when plants struggle the most for light and air moisture but I do find for whatever reason that during summer is when we get the largest outbreaks while during winter there are years when there's not even one single pest spotted. I have seen ants in the shop before and it's always been tied to olive trees or citrus trees or more rarely azaleas and they have their nests in the pot. If you visit an unfamiliar plant shop, ask to see their english ivy! It's a great indicator of wether or not there's gonna be pests as that's usually the very first place a store gets an outbreak. Optunias are the next thing to check out as those are usually the first to show mealy bugs. As for milipedes, I agree that they're generally not gonna be much harm as long as they have something to eat, when they run out of favoured food like decaying wood or plant matter and moisture they will eat your plant, usually starting at the roots. If you have milipedes in a plant that needs to dry up between waterings I recommend removing them since drought triggers them to eat plant matter. An old plant book I read recommended building them little houses of hollowed out potato halves and they'd stick to eating that. I found that adorable.
You are single handed saving plants all over the globe with this information!! Thanks so much ☀️💕🌿🐔🌵🙌🏻😎
Mm
You are by far my favorite youtuber. I've never seen someone so passionate about plants, and so very brilliant at caring for them and so willing to educate others. You are like a breath of fresh air. Please keep doing what you do. I really hope you make it to the trending tab or somewhere that even more people can learn about your channel.
Blessed be~
Check out Garden Answer. She is awesome too!!
Thank you for saying that eventually it becomes about pest management. I feel like no one says that about big collections and I’m over 150 plants indoors at this point and that’s definitely been my experience. Thank you Summer Rayne!!
Thought I had spider mites, just had actual spiders 😂 they were feasting on fungus nats
I don’t know why I don’t have any spiders or ladybirds at home. I’m least scared of them than other crawley beings.
Lol!
same. I woke up with one winding down in front of my face 😂 I live on a super high floor of an apt building so i dont even know how they got here but not complaining
As an orchid collector with several Catasetum orchids (spider mite magnets!), I've found that spraying the mites off with water then spraying the plant with a neem based miticide is the best way to rid your plant of spider mites. You may have to do it once a week for a few weeks, but it really works. Make sure for spider mites, you use a miticide and not an insecticide!
Stopped the video and got out jewelers eyes, ok, everyone is safe and healthy... just brought in 15 new plants. So grateful all are healthy
Fungus gnats in my morning coffee. 😑
Have you tried Mosquito Bits, Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap and Gnat Nix? Worked for me.
😎
@@hpeteacher9445 Nah, I usually just prefer creamer :)
LOL! Got me there!
I meant on your plants, not in your coffee.
😎
Yup. They like to attack my herbal tea bag if I leave it in the mug!
FOR FUNGUS GNATS ITS SIMPLE...
GET LIDS FROM BOTTLES OR ANY SAUCER...
PLACE SUGAR WATER OR HIGH SUGAR SODA IN IT!
COVER WATER/SODA WITH LID BUT LEAVE SLIGHTLY OPEN ENOUGH FOR GNATS TO EASILY WALK THROUGH...
= WATCH HUNDREDS OF GNATS DROWN THEMSELVES WITH NO MORE NECESSARY WORK FOR U TO DO...
GRACIAZ!
= * SMERKUZHEO! *
ｐｅｓｔｉｆｅｒｏｕｓ
I love ladybugs!
@0:49
Saying that is so satisfying 😆
🤣
🤣 I came here for this comment! Great video.
Started watching this while eating breakfast... I think I’ll wait til I’m done eating.
It's a long video! and bugs eating bugs might turn your tummy! haha
Omg Iktr hope it not cereal.
Added note about the ants: Ants are known to store aphid eggs in their burrows to put them on your plants in spring. This is gonna be more important for outdoor plants because they're often closer to the nest site. Treat the ant problem before and during your aphid problem for better results if you happen to find both in/around the house.
I've gotten such a joy from picking off mealy bugs and squishing them. I just started an indoor garden in June...So far I've had mealy bugs, fungal gnats and aphids. I hate bugs! So the routine has been 2x a week inspections for the infected plants. Once a week a spray with the Insecticidal soap and a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol + squish the other time. For the gnats I put a layer of sand atop all my plants at least 1 inch, plus only water from bottom. Still seeing a few little buggers flying around but I think they might just be from the eggs laid prior to my sand.
The aphids just showed up like a week ago or less, as my one plant, a Orchid Frost, started to bloom. As soon as I saw the flower blooms I saw the aphids. nasty little buggers. I even put out a little strip of fly paper to catch the gnats.
i know i could put the bugs out that eat the bad ones but I have a phobia of tiny crawling things. I've only 6 house plants thus far, might expand at another time, so it's not too hard to do 2x a week inspections, or daily if I'm in the mood.
I have friends who are like: just buy fake plants then there'll be 0 insect problems.
Yeah um...no.
Good on you for not going plastic
🤘🌱🤘
Thanks. For gnats I'll use that inch of sand and water from the bottom. I used sand before, but not an inch.
Is there a specific type of sand to use? Or can it be any kind? Saw a few gnats flying around my ficus elastica (it’s a new plant and I hadn’t repotted it yet, but I should’ve seen the warning signs when I pulled out a decayed leaf from the soil. Now it’s in a clean pot with fresh soil after taking all the old soil out). I also have a phobia of tiny crawling things so when I found a couple mealy bugs on my pothos, I had dreams about them for a few nights.
This video gave me so much anxiety. One of my plants had mealy bugs and it was such an annoying experience. Now I know there are so many other houseplant bugs out there that I have to learn how to manage. Thanks you for the good information though.
I'm living a nightmare right now. It's me vs mealybugs.. they're attacking my 5ft Hindu Rope. I WILL NOT losing this battle, finger crossed.
THAT IS A TOUGH ONE!
I've copied this for you
This works for all insects like whitefly etc: Even works on H. compacta which is a mealie bug heaven- Add one Tablespoon of dishashing detergent to one cup of any vegetable oil. Store in a jar and mix well together before use so they are well mixed. When you want to use it....mix 1-2 teaspoons of it into 1 cup of water and spray all over the plant...saturate it. Mix it in a bucket and dunk the whole plant.... or dunk the top half and then spray the area close to soil. This is about SATURATION. This is how I treated plants in order to pass inspection thru HI. Ag. It is recommended not to use ANTIbacterial soap nor 'grease cutting' soap...something mild. It is only used as a surfactant...and the oil suffocates. Repeat in 7 days so you get the eggs under the adults you will kill.
Me too, mealybugs on my monstera adansonii.
I have the same battle with my adopted String of Pearls!
Oh man, I hope you win.
I never had issues with bugs until I started actually collecting. Now that I have a “plant room” and it is spreading through the house, I find pests all the time. Thank you for the reminder of it being more about controlling than eliminating the pests!!! 💚💚💚
Big fan of your channel.
seriously, you're one of the people who influenced me to the world of indoor gardening! Thank you!!
I will pass on squishing bugs in my hands 🤮🤣
this is one of my favorite episodes. I LOVE to learn more about beneficial bugs
Power to the Insect Love!
You’re a bug lover too ?! How awesome. I literally became obsessed with indoor gardening after researching good plants for a mantid terrarium (s) that I’m building. Insects are awesome. I love this channel.
That was EXCELLENT! I don’t have any bugs right now and I watched the whole thing just for the education & awesome editing 🙂💕
I HAD TO GO SHOWER 1/2 THROUGH THIS VIDEO! So helpful and a blessing to us plant lovers. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Those lace wings are so cute!
This is so interesting. Thank you for this great information. Love the shirt!
Grossed out 😖 but so helpful!! 👍🏽👍🏽
Wow! So informative! I love it! Thank you for putting out such good content. It is hard to find people that you can trust. You know your stuff!
i got the fungus gnat in my house from one of them multi-colored leaf houseplant. i eventually just got rid of the whole plant cuz they were everywhere every time i watered the plant. then one day i was drinking the last of my coffee, i was rolling this thing around on my tongue while on the PC assuming it was a coffee ground until i realized there was different about feel of it. picked it of my tongue to see it was a fungus gnat that got into the coffee cup some how ... those thing are really annoying!!
Hands down this is the most informative and helpful video about pests I have found. Thank you for talking about springtails!! There is little information on them. I have been stressed about them but I feel totally better now.
I do really appreciate Summer's videos as she is much more direct and not a rambler like so many posting from the plant world. Her tours with in the U.S. and out are fascinating. She's educated enough to discuss with any of the curators of the institutions she's shown us❤️
Very informative! So looking forward to the fungus gnat video. I appreciate this.
I watch you again and again! Thank you for all the wonderful info. Keep growing and thrive on!!
Thanks for the plant 101 help for BUGS (Pests) ...
Your so knowledgeable ..
Love it 💕
Knock on Wood .. I hope I don't Jinx myself, but as of today I don't have any bad Bugs on any of my inside House Plants.
My collection is growing, last time I counted I had 70 indoor plants.
When I get a plant either online or from a Nursery, I put it in a room by itself for at least 2 weeks.
And I inspect it over the course of 2 weeks.
If all checks out then it joins the other plants.
Thanks for the great info.
Have a great weekend !
I love how detailled your videos are!! Thank you so much
Very pleased my dear! I'm glad you're enjoying them.
I use Mexican Butterworts for fungas gnats. They are a carnivorous plant with sticky leaves. They are covered in these gnats at the moment. They work a treat.
Just realized I have thrips on all my plants from bringing in three plants from Wal-Mart! So this helped me out a lot, thank you soo much. Great Video!
Great video. Was battling thrips that took one of my plants. Bought some ladybugs to take care of them and they worked great!
A reefkeeper here and I really jumped when you mentioned quarantine. Seems like corals and plants do have similar methods in pest management.
I can’t wait for your fungus gnat video. I’ve tried so much and can’t seem to shake them. I hope you bring me a new method to try!! Thank you for being so informative 💕
I'm very excited to share more about that.
FOR FUNGUS GNATS ITS SIMPLE...
GET LIDS FROM BOTTLES OR ANY SAUCER...
PLACE SUGAR WATER OR HIGH SUGAR SODA IN IT!
COVER WATER/SODA WITH LID BUT LEAVE SLIGHTLY OPEN ENOUGH FOR GNATS TO EASILY WALK THROUGH...
= WATCH HUNDREDS OF GNATS DROWN THEMSELVES WITH NO MORE NECESSARY WORK FOR U TO DO...
GRACIAZ!
= * SMERKUZHEO! *
try mosquito bits or dunk
I love how you are the best plant lady and you choose such cute earthy clothing. Thank for all the knowledge and great tips.
Another thing that works on many plant pests is to occasionally put Bt-based mosquito dunks into a watering can used for watering houseplants. (They're meant for areas of standing water outdoors, so if you don't rinse the remains of it away it lasts well over a month.) The Bt toxin ends up in the soil and eventually into the plant, and it disrupts the digestive system of any bugs that eat it as it forms crystals inside them. Doesn't work right away, but after a week or two you may notice a difference. (Off-label use, but should be fine as long as you or your pets aren't drinking that water. No fumes or anything particular that I'm aware of, and it's derived from a chemical made by bacteria.)
Had little white flies on one of the plants I was taking care of, and that simple thing made them go away.
She has an indoor hose! WOW!
I love your shirt! And this was very informative and elucidating. Thank you so much!
very pleased you enjoyed!
Thank you! Always very informative content in your videos!
So much information in this video, I have a lot of thinking to do now. Thank you very much :)
You really creeped me out with the whole bug talk, but you really know your stuff so I stuck with it the whole time (itching and scratching). Subscribed and notified! Thank you.
Superb episode. Thank you so so much. it was needed and very appreciated.
Brilliant video, you are so good at explaining everything!
I was fortunate enough to find a ladybird feasting on my outbreak of fungus gnats on my bathroom plants. I guess it flew in from the garden! It set up camp in there for a few days and had its own little party 😄
For the spring tails I actually really like them and make sure to add them to any terrarium builds because they are my little clean up crew!
I found that we had a "natural culture" of these in my huge cattleya orchid that I grow in semi hydro, I would add water and notice these little white specks pooling around the bottom pellets, hopping around. We started watching Tanner and saw what they were, now we just "water the orchid" any time we start a terrarium! The kids love collecting them and spooning them into all our (closed) terrariums!
@@kimberlyoboyle451 that's great... Yeah I found out through tanner as well... I have springtails in all of my pots. And I love seeing them hop around. :D
Springtails also compete with fungus gnats for food and space so it is a bonus.
Appreciate you more now that I know your entomology background! Thanks for this video! Hopefully I can get rid of this scale with these tips!
Thanks! We all need this help and advice. Can't wait for the fungas gnats video!
FOR FUNGUS GNATS ITS SIMPLE...
GET LIDS FROM BOTTLES OR ANY SAUCER...
PLACE SUGAR WATER OR HIGH SUGAR SODA IN IT!
COVER WATER/SODA WITH LID BUT LEAVE SLIGHTLY OPEN ENOUGH FOR GNATS TO EASILY WALK THROUGH...
= WATCH HUNDREDS OF GNATS DROWN THEMSELVES WITH NO MORE NECESSARY WORK FOR U TO DO...
GRACIAZ!
= * SMERKUZHEO! *
It was a very enlightening video...we really needed all this knowledge when it comes to start collecting plants...to make our house green and near to nature...awesome work...my heart u have won by giving us such a beautiful video..💕😘🌹
Almost 40 year plant freak: got scales (first time I ever seen them) on my bamboo palm this season... dish soap and ammonia mixture took care of that.
to wash them off or just leave on the plant?
This was so informative! I love your videos! Thank you for providing this information!
this is so helpful. thank you so much!! I purchased DE already and I did b/c I saw snails, millipedes, mealy bugs, and spider mites on my plants and I was not happy. So far so good.
What a wonderful video & Thanks for the Great Info!
MacGuyver reference warmed my 80s child heart. 🧡
Really helpful and complete video! Thank you!
Well done, Summer. Great job.
Thank you for the advice, it was really helpful. It was pretty tough to watch laying in bed and itching and scratching my body the whole time lmao. Wish I was as courageous and a bug lover like you.. 💪💪
I just fell in love with your content.. Thank you! 😍😍😍😍
Some people (🖐️ me, for example) transfer springtails from their terrariums into their flower pots on purpose, because those little guys love to munch on funghi,and actually keep the soil surface clean and the plants nice and healthy. 🥰
Looking up spring tails !!!
Thank you for this! You’re very informative!!
I always use my plant pressure sprayer with water for "debugging" my plants. By adjusting pressure and spray pattern one can adapt to plant fragility and type of disease. It works for almost all cases.
This video was so helpful!!!🤗🤗 Thank you so much.
My pleasure!
I was just worrying about this! Summer you are amazing 😄
THANK YOU!! 🙌 I needed this.
Thumbs up and Subscribed!
Very informative, clear and direct to the point.
Thank you!
Super! very instructional and interesting...thanks!
You are doing such an amazing job. I admire you a lot! Keep making your wonderful videos :)
I got millipedes in my Gloriosum and cast iron plant and they almost killed both.everyone I asked said the same thing that you did, about them not being harmful! So I wasn’t concerned I just picked them out when I saw them. Although they started out completely fine , once they started multiplying (it seemed like there was 100 within a few days) in the soil, they ran out of decaying plant matter and started feasting on the healthy plant. They were SO difficult to control or manage, the only thing that ended up working was to take the plants out of the soil and get every spec of soil off with a hose, and replanting it in a clean planter. If anyone sees them take them from me- don’t let them multiply 😂
I've been wanting to learn about pests, thank you!
We have so many diffefent pests here in Florida. I grow a lot of plants both indoors and out and it's one thing we struggle with most. I do control a lot of them with the 100% cold pressed neem oil, but when they get out of control during the summer time, it can be really tough to keep them at bay. Thanks for sharing this information and why this happens to you!🍃🐞
Love your insect descriptions thru your hand motions!
Thank you for these informations 💖💖💖
Dealing with a serious thrips infestation outdoors and mealys on my jade plants which are my favorite babies. Thanks for the info!
One time i found plants trown away next to bins. I took them home, cleaned them, repotted etc. few weeks later my Tradescantia i had for years, started to look sad, first i tought i overwatered her. As time went by, something fishy started to happen to other plants as well. It was too late when i found out tiny black thrip on light green leaf of calantea. Since showering plants didnt work, and it got worse, i even chopped a lot of leaves of some plants, it was out of control. Battle for many weeks. Only orchids and cacti survived without any damage. Some plants regrew later on, but i was checking every day for quite some time, if i wont see any of the thrips... It was frustrating to lose so many plants.
Two weeks ago, i bought a few propagated babies of Tradescantia again. It is such a lovely joyful plant, i am excited to see her grow her "long hair" again.
Super dope information and I am grateful for it-thank you ☺️💕
Thanx for all d tips. I’m glad that you focus on d bio-approach n almost “dismiss” the non-organic approach. I esp love the use of good bugs to wipe out the bad ones... almost like an espionage thriller 😄.
This is fantastic Info! Thanks for sharing! You're awesome!
I came back from a two-day trip and discovered two mealy bugs on my Calathea Zebrina. I quarantined it right away and removed the bugs, but I didn't see anything for a week. Today I repotted the Calathea, and saw nothing in the roots. I changed all the old soil today and repotted it. Thus far, I haven't seen any other mealybugs on my other plants except for those two- and they looked like the Crawler stage.
I also had a huge fungus gnat problem, but I just let the soil dry out more than usual, for as long as I could, and the gnats seem to have totally gone away.
I absolutely love your channel, thank you so much for providing us with such beneficial information. I am sorry to say though, all types of bugs just creep me out. That is why I am looking into hydroponics, incorrectly assuming the bugs came from the soil. You have corrected that myth, so thank you. I will see what happens in the future, I am just beginning with herbs for now. Thank you so much, you are adoreable!
Very informative video! I’m dealing with mealy bugs, aphids, and spider mites and trying with all my might to get rid of them and it’s so stressful! Thank you so much for your tips and tricks. I will definitely be using them and hopefully conquer these little bastards! Lol
Thank you Summer 💚
Very informative and educational not to mention interesting. Excellent information, thanks for sharing.
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed!
Thank you for the wonderful video 💚🙏 your video would save a lot of plants 🙂
I really loved when you said you squish the Aphids in between your fingers lol. I had no idea they popped like that lol. This was really helpful and such great information. I have these thrips, jeez they're annoying and hard to get rid of. I've used alcohol, neem and a soapy water mixture but they seem to come back with a vengeance. This was so helpful Summer. Thank you!
Wow I just found this video when I woke up to some spider mites on my elephant ears! You are amazingly knowledgeable, thanks for sharing!
I would like a video of plants that attract beneficial insects to an outdoor garden.
Very interesting…thank you!!! 💚🪴🙋🏼♀️
I am a first time viewer of yours and I am so impressed with such a great video. I have subscribed and hit the notifications button for all notifications and look forward to more videos.
Your RUclips channel is a recent discovery for me Summer, and I am gradually playing catch-up with all of your highly informative videos ~ it's like all of my Christmases have come at once. I have to pace myself though, otherwise I could be sitting here for weeks gorging ~ like one of those pesky houseplant critters!
Awesome as always! Thanks
Lovelovelove this video, Thanks! 👍🏽
This was fantastic information!
Cannot wait for the fungus gnat video 😭🙌
You are brilliant!
Thank you for information, I was looking for good spray bottle, I ordered one. Thank you ma’am ❤️
I had scale that showed up on two small fig trees and I just couldn't keep up with them so I put the plants in the compost. I know they came with the pest because I didn't have many plants at that time.
Since buying new plants I've been dealing with aphids and have found the rinsing to be very effective. Then I keep the plant beside me on the desk for a few weeks where I do squishing sessions every few hours (during commercials LOL).
Thank you so very much.