Certain insects cause great harm to houseplants. The trouble is that they strike in winter, when indoor flowers are weakened and stressed by dry air and lack of light in apartments.
December 1 2015
How do insects harmful to plants appear in our cavtries? Oddly enough, with our help. We bring them on newly acquired plants. Also, insects can take a fancy to the plants that we take out to the country for the summer.
The trouble is that both the insects themselves and the results of their activity can be invisible for months. And suddenly young shoots of home flowers begin to curl, the leaves lose their color, become “marble”, then fall off. And the rest turn pale, a sooty black mushroom bloom appears on them. Other traces of pests are a thin cobweb that completely covers the leaf stalks, or a sticky, transparent discharge, similar to sugar syrup. If we take a magnifying glass and slowly examine the leaves and branches in bright light, we will find the “villains” themselves. Who are they?
The most common pest is aphiddisguising itself as the color of greenery. The damage from it becomes more noticeable by the spring. when insects completely clung to young shoots, preventing the leaves from developing.
spider mite smaller in size (0,3-0,5 mm) and sucks juice not only from young, but also from old leaves. A thin web appears on them and on the branches.
The most dangerous and hard to kill – scythe… They are up to 5 mm “tall”, brown. The pests are covered with an oval disc-shield (hence the name). Adult insects stick to leaves (especially along the veins on the back side) and branches, gradually filling them completely. And a young tribe of scale insects is attached with a second invisible layer – babies are difficult to distinguish even under a magnifying glass.
Roses, all citrus fruits, laurel, jasmine, palms, cissus, ficus, calla lilies, dracaena, fern, croton and many others suffer and die from these pests.
When purchasing a new plant, carefully consider each leaf, especially from the back side. At home, you need to rinse the newcomer under a warm shower, and then quarantine – to a separate window sill.
Rinse the crown of all flowers monthly. Leaves – always on the back. The next time you take potted plants to the country, do not place potted plants near roses and apple trees, which are teeming with aphids and ticks.
Any flower and garden shop offers hundreds of different insecticides. but many cannot be used at home because of the pungent odor (malofos and fufanon). It is better to choose a product without aroma, such, including domestic ones, are on sale. Some are available in pills. Dissolve one tablet in a bucket of water. It is preferable not to spray the plants with this water, but, turning the pot upside down, immerse the crown for 3 minutes in a bucket. So that it does not fall out, wrap the surface of the soil with a piece of polyethylene or a rag, put the pot upside down on a support on a bucket made of two planks. But the eggs of pests will survive after such treatment. Therefore, after 10 days, repeat the treatment to destroy the hatched insects.
Powdered remedies also help against scale insects and aphids. Processing with them also needs to be repeated.
It should be borne in mind: first of all, pests attack weakened plants. Therefore, regularly spray the crown with anti-stress drugs.