Identifying and Treating Common Houseplant Pests
If you have one plant or 100 plants, you are susceptible to plant pests and/or diseases. That’s just the way the eco-system flows.
Plant pests are a common issue that can get into your house a number of methods. They could travel in from outside, on garden/plant/food scraps, your pet, clothes, the nursery, or even your unwashed tools.
To avoid spreading pests and plant disease, be sure to wash your hands, tools, and containers. If you have an infested plant, keep it isolated from your other plants to reduce the spread. It’s smart to wear gloves while treating plants. Consider ditching the long-sleeve shirt/ flowy outfit for this too. Get your clean plant person aesthetic on.
After years of working with plants, I’ve compiled a quick list of the three most common house-plant pests I find:
-Spider Mites
-Mealybugs
<.25”, soft, oval, segmented insects typically coated in pink/white/gray wax.
-Fungus Gnats
All three of these pest’s listed above are “common names”. There are many species of spider mites, mealybugs, and fungus gnats. They all look relatively similar to their respective groups. The species isn’t important to identify for treatment in these circumstances, as long as you know which type of pest you’re working with.
Once you have identified which type of pest you are dealing with, it’s time to figure out how to treat it. Here are some tips to dealing with these pests quickly and easily. You don’t need to throw out every plant that gets a pest, and you don’t need to have the greenest thumb to solve this problem. I like to use common household items to treat my plants. Try some of the methods I use:
Spider Mites
Remove leaves that have excess damage. Next, drown the mites. Literally. If your plant can withstand it (and it probably can) dunk it under lukewarm water. You could also give your plant a shower. Spray with soap and water & wipe the entire plant after. I usually use dawn soap, however there are insecticidal soaps as well.
Alternatively you could spray with soap and water and then use two pieces of wet paper towel and wipe both sides of the leaves. Be sure to treat every part of the plant, not just the leaves. Wipe the nodes, stems, everywhere.
Spider mites spread quickly. It is very important to make sure you are using clean tools & isolating these plants from your non-infected plants. Simple things such as brushing against this plant and brushing against another could spread them. They are tiny- be patient and careful! If a plant is extremely infested- consider donating it to a compost bin (don’t toss infected plants out into your yard/ in nature- contain the spread).
Some people like to use neem oil to treat spider mites. You could also swap out the soap & water for (3% or less) hydrogen peroxide & water (1:4) if you prefer.
While I find a lot of pests are attracted to wet environments, spider mites are typically found on drier plants.
Mealybug
I like to knock these out individually, as they are an easier bug to see. If you have a heavily infested section, prune it. The leaves become sticky and gross once they have been heavily fed on. Plants grow back, and pruning is beneficial. Feel free to throw on a pair of gloves for this one. Take a Q-tip and dip it in rubbing alcohol. Wipe out all of the bugs you can see. Check creases, under the leaves, the stem, EVERY. PART. CHECK IT! They hide! The nymphs are a lighter color, sometimes gray-yellow and much smaller. It is better to get as many as you can on your first treatment and continue to monitor it for a few weeks and treat when necessary.
Mealybugs seem to pop up more on plants who tend to be wet & over fertilized. This is another reason I tend to push people to be under-waterers instead of over-waterers. Less pests, less problems.
Some people like to use neem oil or insecticides/pesticides to treat mealybugs.
Fungus Gnats
Mix 1 part 3%(or less) hydrogen peroxide and 4 parts water and apply to the top of the soil. Let the soil dry out FULLY in between treatments.
The REAL trick to ending a fungus gnat infestation is changing the approach of how you are watering. START BOTTOM WATERING! These gnats live on the top layer of your soil and really only tend to be there when the soil is consistently wet on top. If you have well draining soil, drainage on the bottom of the pot, and only bottom water- you will stop creating a feeding ground for the larvae of these gnats!
If your plant is in a pot with drainage and you are ready to start bottom watering it, fill up a bowl or a sink and just set your plant in the water. The soil will soak up the water from the bottom, and the top layer will not get as wet. If you want to suffocate out the larvae that still remain- try adding a layer of sand to the top of the soil. This should eliminate the remaining gnats.
Some people like to use sticky traps to capture the gnats. While this may kill some of them, it won’t solve the problem. You want to fix the problem not just apply a bandaid!
There are other methods of treating fungus gnats such as diatomaceous earth and even cinnamon. I find hydrogen peroxide to treat and practicing strictly bottom-watering to be my preferred method.
If you’re interested in whats going on with these pests, stick around and lets talk a little more detail! Pests are a very cool part of the ecosystem. That’s right, you’ve got a full functioning ecosystem in your own home!
Spider mites are a little mite who take over their territory very quickly. Usually their webs give away their presence, if you don’t see the damage they have left first. They are very hard to see and they feed on nearly every common house-plant. They puncture plant cells when they feed, leaving little dead cell spots sprinkled all over your leaves. Spider mites have extremely short life-cycles of approximately 2-4 weeks. They are sexually mature at about 5 days old lay hundreds of eggs. This means your plant can get out of control quick. Be consistent with your treatment, especially if you are using pesticides. They can adapt to pesticide quickly with such rapid life-cycles. (1)
Like all organisms, pests need food. With such a rapid rate of reproduction, pests need a method of dispersal to move to new food. Spider mites spread through a method of aerial dispersal called ballooning . They release threads from their webs to catch the wind, which allows them to catch a little “air-wave” and ride to where ever the wind takes them. (2) It’s kind of cute… hard to be mad they’re playing in our tiny jungles!
Mealybugs are small walking cotton balls (sometimes less fuzzy more waxy). When they eat, they secrete honeydew, which forms a coating over their bodies. Females lay 300-600 eggs in one mass underneath leaves. She will lay these eggs for about 2 weeks until the end of her life. 1-3 weeks later her babies will hatch and migrate to new feeding sites. (3) When mealybugs feed on plants, the plants will wilt and yellow. (4)
Fungus gnats are tiny little guys with short life-cycles. In the larvae stage of their lives, they feed on fungi that grows on soil. This is beneficial for the decomposition of the soil. They don’t necessarily harm your plants- however they are one of the most irritating little things that could ever fly around your home. If you have fungus gnats… you know. Many people have sticky-traps littered around their plant pots to attempt to manage.
There’s more.
I only picked the 3 most common pests we find in house-plants. There are many more. You may find different scale insects, aphids, and other funky bugs. For the most part- there is a way to treat whatever pest you’ve found. If it’s too overwhelming to figure out, try throwing a photo of the pest into a Facebook or Reddit group for house-plant pest ID’s. There is someone out there who can identify it for you. A few quick google searches should lead you to treatment methods. If all else fails, try some of the methods discussed above and you might feel some relief.
OTHER TREATMENTS
I mentioned some other methods of treatment in this post such as: neem oil, insecticides, and pesticides. You can also use beneficial bugs for some pests. There are many options, but I tend to treat pests with things I already have in my home- because it’s easier! I use these products for so many other things, and when a friend comes to me for plant advice, I can assume they have these same items. Of course, some methods are more effective than others, but I have taken care of thousands of plants and find these methods to be efficient 95% of the time. It is important to treat pests when you first notice them so they don’t get out of control. We all loose control with taking care of our plants so don’t beat yourself up if they don’t all survive an infestation.
I have mentioned that I’ve cared for thousands of plants, but have I mentioned how many I have killed on this journey? Hundreds! I have a green thumb and I still kill plants every now and again.
Here are some resources I grabbed additional information from to fill in some extra details. They are all filled with great material. Knowledge is power!