Indoor flowers can make a person’s home cozier and more comfortable. For this reason, plants are available in almost every apartment. Unfortunately, despite the home contents, they can be susceptible to various pests and diseases. Among them, the most common white bugs in the soil of indoor plants. What are they, as well as how to deal with them?
Causes of occurrence
White bugs in the bud of indoor plants is quite simple to notice, as they differ in their light shade. They can appear in the ground for a number of the following reasons:
- Excess moisture from excessive watering, stagnation of excess fluid in the pan of the pot.
- Lack of soil loosening.
- Plant transplantation into contaminated soil.
- Rotting of vegetable fertilizers (often this applies to tea leaves, which spills out under the root of the flower), which attracts pests by its smell.
- Acquisition of infected flowers and placing them next to domestic ones can be fraught with the spread of insects to healthy plants.
- Placing flowers in the kitchen, where their pores and soil are clogged with fat, which is released during cooking.
- Watering the soil with substances that are not intended for these purposes, for example, the remains of drinks.
Pest insects can also be brought into the house along with cut flowers, through ventilation openings, on clothes, through an open door or window, by pets that are on a free range.
Mealybug
Small white bugs in the soil of indoor plants may be mealybug individuals. A pest can be recognized by a thin cobweb that entangles the leaves of the plant. Insects themselves are up to 4 mm in size, so they can be easily seen without a magnifying glass, especially if their population is large.
Pests prefer to settle in the axils of the leaves, and +25 degrees is considered a favorable temperature for their active reproduction. Worms suck out nutritious juice from leaves and stems, which can soon lead to the death of the plant. To combat the parasite, the following methods are used:
- Chemicals such as Actara, Fitoverm, Calypso, Biotlin. They need to process plants according to the instructions that are indicated on the package.
- Among folk remedies, the advice to treat the leaves with garlic infusion, soapy water, lemon infusion, and decoction of field horsetail is especially popular.
The mealybug is easiest to fight at an early stage, when the insect population has not reached its maximum size and has not destroyed the plant.
Spider mite
Small white bugs in houseplants can do a lot of harm, especially if it's a spider mite. They can settle both on the ground near the trunk of the flower, and on its leaves. Insects feed on the sap of the plant, due to which the leaves curl and dry. In this case, the flowers are covered with a layer of cobwebs, on which you can see individuals of the spider mite. Adult insects have a reddish hue, but their larvae are white.
To combat the pest, it is recommended to use the following tools:
- Biological products - such as Agrovertin, Vermitek, Kleschevit, are used at the initial stage of invasion.
- When a plant is seriously affected by a spider mite, you need to resort to chemicals. Among them, Oberon, Sunmight, and Floromight are especially popular.
- Folk remedies, such as onion broth, dandelion infusion, can be used as adjunctive therapy.
In addition, it is noted that white bugs in the soil of indoor plants do not like hot water. In this case, you can get rid of them by periodically rubbing the foliage with a sponge moistened in a heated liquid.
Fighting the scale shield
This insect, unlike the previous ones, has a carapace that protects it from the harmful effects of chemicals, so getting rid of the population is quite difficult. The scabbard parasitizes on the soil near the plant, as well as on its stems and leaves, eating juice. In addition, in the process of life the insect secretes honey dew, which contributes to the appearance of soot fungus. When you connect such an infection, it is quite difficult to save the plant.
White bugs in the land of indoor plants are afraid of chemicals such as Malathion, Permethrin. Also, to combat them, an insecticidal soap is actively used. With a small number of insects, you can try to remove them from the leaves mechanically. With severe infection, the affected leaves must be cut off and burned. When processing toxic substances, one must not forget about the soil, since it contains parasite larvae. It is also recommended that re-treatment be carried out to destroy the remaining scale insects.
Whitefly
The winged white bugs in the soil of houseplants are whiteflies. The insect has a small size, but its presence can be seen with the naked eye. Moths can carry viral diseases, as a result of which the plant dies, they feed on its juice and leave behind a sweet discharge, which is an excellent environment for the development of a pathogenic fungus.
The population can be reduced by mechanical collection of insects and their larvae, as well as when treated with garlic infusion, laundry soap. Particularly effective in the fight against whitefly are noted in such preparations as Parathion and Nika.
Root tick
These white bugs on indoor plants most often affect bulbous flowers. The root tick is very difficult to notice, as it parasitizes in the ground. The insect, unlike others, does not eat plant juice, but gnaws passages in the bulb, as a result of which the indoor flower dies.
When creating adverse living conditions, root mites do not die, but fall into hibernation, so you need to deal with them by the most aggressive methods:
- Pollination of soil and plants with sulfur powder.
- Spraying with tinctures of hot pepper, garlic, celandine.
- Using ethyl alcohol to wipe the leaves of the affected plant.
- The use of drugs such as Fitoverm, Neoron, Apollo.
Mites are also afraid of ultraviolet radiation, so every day such plants should be placed under special lamps for a while.
Nails or podura
Small white bugs in houseplants that do not have wings or chitinous shells are foottails. These insects feed on the small roots of the plant, so it can begin to dry or rot. Pests appear if the soil of the plant is very waterlogged, so the first means of controlling insects is to urgently reduce watering.
The method of destruction is the complete replacement of old soil. Thus, it is possible to replace too wet soil without waiting for its natural drying, as well as remove more parasites. As a prevention of the subsequent appearance of pests, the soil is sprinkled with chopped tobacco.
How to prevent the appearance of insects?
If white bugs are wound up in indoor plants, then it is urgent to resort to their destruction in order to avoid the death of the plant. However, it is much easier to prevent their occurrence. This is possible if you adhere to the following recommendations:
- It is important to carefully monitor the watering regime. It is not necessary to allow waterlogging or drying out of the soil.
- Bringing a new plant home, you need to quarantine it, placing it for 2 weeks separately from other home flowers. Thus, infection of healthy plants can be prevented.
- You need to carefully inspect the flowers for pests.
- It is important to transplant flowers in a timely manner, and also not to use soil of dubious quality for this.
It is also recommended to observe the temperature regime, since most pests prefer to breed in warm soil. It is important to know what kind of insects hit the plant - in order to provide it with the necessary help. If this is not done, then the flower will face imminent death.