Planting a home plant microcosm, we primarily care about the beauty and health of our green pets. Both parasites can harm both. They not only spoil the appearance of the flower, but also become the cause of its diseases and even death. A striking example is aphids on indoor plants. Let's get to know the enemy in person, and also get acquainted with the most effective means of dealing with him.
Who is it?
Aphid is a small insect having an elongated body with an expanding pointed abdomen. Moves on long legs. Most often you can find white aphids on indoor plants. But it is not the only one - there are winged and wingless individuals, black, yellowish, green and pink. Despite this diversity, all aphids bring the same harm to the plant - they make a puncture in the stem or leaflet, through which the juices that nourish the flower are sucked.
What is alarming, the insect perfectly adapts to any conditions, multiplies rapidly, forming entire colonies of its own kind. Just think, at one time the female is able to lay up to 100 larvae! And after two weeks already grown individuals grow out of them.
Domestic aphids on indoor plants have different functions depending on the type of individual. Winged representatives are called upon to seize new possessions, and wingless representatives - to reproduce offspring. Their favorite places are the lower parts of the leaves, young shoots and buds.
Where does the insect come from at home?
Where does aphid appear on indoor plants? There are several answers to this question:
- Larvae can be in the land intended for transplantation.
- A winged representative flies in through an open window or balcony from the street.
- You, your family members, pets can bring a larva or adult on yourself.
- Bought a flower, the soil in its pot may be infected with a parasite.
- If you expose indoor plants in the summer on the balcony or the street, then the aphids really get over to them during the "walk".
- Pests may well be transferred to the flowers by ants, for which these insects are "cash cows."
How to prevent occurrence?
To protect your pets from pests, do not forget to do the following:
- Having bought a new plant, be sure to keep it in “quarantine” for some time - away from others. Not bad, having brought it into the house, rinse the leaves with warm running water. If during the observation period on the flower there were no signs of damage, then the beginner can be included in the overall composition.
- The soil for transplantation needs to be kept for some time in the freezer - this threatens death for many eggs and larvae of parasites.
How to detect a pest?
To prevent the formation of giant insect colonies on flowers, it is enough to periodically carefully examine the latter. We presented photos of aphids on indoor plants - from them you can recognize the pest. Sometimes it is enough to destroy the female and the eggs laid by her to stop the entire sad process. For prevention, leaves and stems damaged by insects can be removed.
Here are the warning signs of aphids on indoor plants:
- The flower wilts, loses its visual appeal.
- Small punctures appear on the stems, leaves.
- The buds become smaller, deformed, quickly wither and fall off.
- Leaves and shoots look sticky, blacken, curl or dry.
- Often ants appear, attracted by aphids.
If you find diseased flowers, first isolate them from others, and only then proceed with the fight against aphids on indoor plants. In addition to the fact that the parasite itself deprives them of vitality, it is a carrier of viral and fungal diseases.
Risk factors
Some plants are more prone to attack by aphids. A great danger of infection with a parasite is waiting for:
- Roses.
- Different types of palm trees.
- Orchids
- Fuchsia.
- Chrysanthemums
- Hibiscus
- Hyacinths.
- Cyclamens.
- Spathiphyllum.
How to deal with aphids on indoor plants?
Found a parasite? There is a time-consuming, but simple struggle with it. Its methods can be divided into the following groups:
- Mechanical.
- Folk.
- Chemical.
- Radical - destruction of a plant that can no longer be saved.
They start, as a rule, with a mechanical method. Next, try folk methods. If everything is useless, then it makes sense to turn to "chemistry" - spraying with special means that can destroy the pest at any stage of development.
And now we will analyze each method of struggle thoroughly.
Mechanical way
It is effective only at first - when you just discovered a pest. How to deal with aphids on indoor plants this way? It is enough to remove the damaged shoots and periodically wash the flower with a soapy solution, which the parasite really does not like.
Here's how to do it:
- Dilute the flakes of hozmila in water, observing a proportion of 1: 6.
- Wear protective gloves.
- With a soft cloth periodically wetted in the solution, carefully wipe the entire plant - and the stems, and leaves, and buds. Try to avoid getting soapy water into the soil.
- During the procedure, break off damaged areas. Flushing should be done carefully - the aphid likes to lay eggs in hard-to-reach places.
- At the end of the action, be sure to rinse the flower with clean water.
This procedure can be replaced with alcohol wiping. Since it evaporates almost instantly, the substance does not have time to leave a burn on the leaves.
Folk ways
These methods do not have 100% efficiency. But at the initial stages of parasite damage, they are enough to completely destroy the pest. It should be noted that such drugs are environmentally friendly. How to get rid of aphids on indoor plants in these ways, the table will tell you.
| Tobacco | On one part of the substance - two parts of water. The resulting composition must be insisted 2 days. Then strain the infusion. It should be diluted 1: 2 with water, and then spray the affected plants with a tobacco solution from the atomizer. An important point - the infusion should not get on the ground. Therefore, the substrate at the time of processing is better covered with a film. |
| Garlic | Grind in a meat grinder or blender 30 g of garlic with husk. Pour the mass with 1 liter of water, leave to insist for a day. Thoroughly stir a little soap shavings in this composition. Processing 2-3 times, spacing between sprayings in 5 days. |
| Citrus peels | The best peel from an orange or lemon. Pour 100 g of crusts with water, then leave to infuse in a warm place for 3 days. With the resulting solution, it is enough to simply spray the plants from the spray gun. |
| Red hot pepper | Grind about 50 g of pods, pour half a glass of water. After this, the mixture should be boiled for one hour over low heat. Then let it brew for a day. The next step is filtering the solution. Its use is economical - only 10 g per 1 bucket of water. |
| Wood Ash and Laundry Soap | For 10 liters of water, you will need 50 g of household shavings and 0.5 l of ash. Stir the solution thoroughly, then strain it. The mixture processes damaged plants. |
| White mustard | Dilute 10 g of powder in 1 liter of water. Stir well, then leave to infuse for 2 days. Do not forget to strain before processing. If the condition of the plant is satisfactory, then the mustard solution is diluted in water. If the case is running, a concentrated infusion is used. |
| Needles | You will need 400-500 g of pine or spruce needles. The needles are soaked in 2 liters of water, after which it is infused for about a week. After a period of time, the solution is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 7 (needles-water). Processing is reusable; repeat it every 3-4 days until the complete disappearance of insects. |
| Celandine | It will take 350 g of fresh or 150 g of dry grass. Grind it and fill it with 1 liter of water. Insist a day, be sure to in a dark place. The infusion is best used for several treatments - 2-3. |
| Tomato Tops | 500 g of tops should be finely chopped, and then pour 1 liter of water. Then the solution is boiled for half an hour. It cools in a dark place. Before processing, you can additionally add a teaspoon of liquid soap to it. |
How to deal with aphids on indoor plants (photo will guide you in the appearance of the pest)? The smell of marigolds and geraniums scares her away. To enhance the effect, you can put these flowers next to a diseased plant. From garden residents, aphids cannot tolerate mint, dill and parsley.
Chemical methods
How to remove aphids from indoor plants, if folk methods did not have an effect? There is only one way out - turn to chemical preparations. First, you should still use gentle means that are harmless to plants. A good example would be Mineral Oil 30 +.
If the degree of damage is large, and the aphid colony grows right before our eyes, then we will use already strong names. These are the following drugs:
- Actellik.
- "Fitoferm".
- Decis.
- "Confidor".
- Neoron
- "Spark".
- "Acarin".
- "Karate"
- Intavir.
How to apply "chemistry"?
Many of these products have an unpleasant odor, so only work in a well-ventilated area. Use drugs at the current temperature in the room 21-25 ° C. If the room is colder, then the effectiveness of the chemicals will decrease.
How to deal with white aphids on indoor plants? To enhance the effect of drugs, it is advisable to wash the stems and leaves of the affected flower with soapy water before treatment. Remember that you are using insecticides! Therefore, ensure safety - yours and those close to you:
- In the room where the treatment is carried out, there should be no pets or small children.
- Take care of personal protective equipment - tight rubber gloves, covered clothing, a respirator, goggles, an apron.
- Strictly follow the instructions attached to the drug.
- In order to prevent, it is necessary to treat not only diseased, but also healthy plants.
Be prepared for the fact that one treatment may not be enough. After all, the action of chemicals is mainly aimed at adults. But the eggs, the larvae may well survive. On average, 2-3 chemical treatments are necessary, carried out at intervals of a week.
If this course did not lead to a satisfactory result, then the drug must be changed. Aphids have an amazing ability to develop immunity to an insecticide - so strong that the drug does not affect the insect in any way during the following treatments.
Problem prevention
As with everything else, it’s easier to prevent the appearance of domestic aphids than to fight the pest. Preventive measures are shown as follows:
- Regularly inspect your home garden for signs of aphid damage.
- Compliance with the correct temperature regime - aphids multiply faster in a stuffy room.
- Wash and spray plants regularly with clean water.
- Quarantine new flowers.
- The extermination in the house of ants - carriers and lovers of milk aphids.
- Periodic use of the above methods in order to prevent the invasion of parasites.
Indoor aphids can easily settle in your home garden, while causing great damage to plants. Today there are many means of dealing with it - the most effective we have considered. However, it is more important to prevent the invasion of pests.