As lovely as it is to enjoy the full beauty of your indoor garden, it is not without its difficulties. While some bugs are often welcomed into your outdoor garden, finding bugs and pests causing damage to your indoor plants can be devastating for many home gardeners and property owners. Even more, finding out how to kill bugs on indoor plants can be a challenge.
Fortunately, there are a few different methods you can use to kill bugs on your indoor plants, depending on the type of bug you are dealing with and the severity of the infestation. To protect your greens, it’s crucial to know the most common bugs that you may find in your indoor plants. Our experts at Mr. PlantSoCal offer practical tips on what you can do to get rid of them and prevent them from coming back.
With over 38 years of experience, our experts can teach you how to avoid bug problems and eliminate plant pests on your indoor plants.
3 Common Indoor Plant Bugs and How to Get Rid of Them
Whether you’re working with indoor plants or an outdoor garden, both are susceptible to bug infestations. These plant bugs can burrow through the houseplant soil to eat roots, climb the leaves to consume flowers and buds, and, of course, chew holes through the middle of new green leaves.
While a hole in a leaf may be caused by a malformed leaf or by your children thinking it would be fun to poke holes in it, it’s easy to tell when there’s something much more serious going on. Without professional plant maintenance services, it can be a challenge to identify these pests and protect your plants.
Here are some of the most common types of houseplant bugs and pests you may find on your indoor plants and what you can do to get rid of them while keeping your plants healthy:
1. Aphids
You’ve probably seen these tiny pear-shaped insects outside in the vegetable plot. Like mealybugs, aphids can also be found on indoor plants and prefer to congregate around new leaves and flower buds. They suck on the sap of the plant and excrete a sticky substance known as honeydew.
Remove any infested parts of the plant to get rid of these bugs. Wipe away scale insects with a damp rag or spray them with water in the bathtub. You can also use a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol or vegetable oil to remove them or use a spray bottle to spray them with an insecticidal soap product and continue to remove them on a weekly basis until they are gone.
2. Fungus Gnats
Fungus gnats are small, dark-bodied flies with the appearance of fruit flies or whiteflies. They lay their eggs in the soil’s top layers and feed on decaying plant material. They also feed on the roots of your plant as larvae. They are harmless to you and the plant as adults, but they can be a nuisance as they buzz around your room.
To get rid of these bugs, dry out their habitat by allowing the top two inches of plant soil to desiccate in between waterings and avoid overwatering. Rehydrate your plant after an hour or so by removing the water from the saucer. If you spot a resurgence, lightly spray the potting soil with insecticide or pesticide soap solution or chemicals.
3. Spider Mites
Spider mites are tiny red spiders that are almost invisible to the naked eye, but they resemble tiny red dots and leave distinctive webs between leaves and webbing on the surface of stems where they eat plant fluids. They can infest any household plant, but they are especially common in ivy, where they can cause the plant to turn yellow, wither, and die.
To prevent these mites from laying eggs on the leaves, dust and clean them frequently and isolate the infected plant so that the mites do not spread. Spray the leaves frequently to keep them moist.
Wipe any remaining bugs away with a cloth and repeat this process every few days until the infestation is gone. In severe cases, try a homemade bug spray treatment or solution for indoor plants made of water and neem oil spray.
Choose the Best Plant Maintenance Professionals in Orange County
With how much work you’ve put into keeping your indoor plants healthy, finding bugs on any of your beloved houseplants can be aggravating. However, if you have indoor plants, you will almost likely have to deal with houseplant pests at some point.
If you’re looking to get rid of bugs in your indoor plant environment but aren’t sure where to start when it comes to pest control, Mr. PlantSoCal is here to help!
Mr. PlantSoCal is proud of its 30-year history of providing high-quality plant maintenance services to over 1,200 customers. As a result, we’ve become one of the leading plant maintenance companies in Orange County, and we can’t wait to provide you with the same friendly and personalized service that we provide to all of our clients!
For more information about Mr. PlantSoCal’s pest control services, set up a free consultation with our team of plant experts today!
