houseplant pests
 

Dear gardening experts
One of my most beloved houseplants (a potted 'busy lizzie'), while doing well, appears to have an infestation of silvery flea-sized crawling insects in its soil. I've sprayed both soil and plant three times now at weekly intervals with the Baby Bio Organic Houseplant Insecticide but the critters keep coming back. Will re-potting do the trick? None of my other houseplants seem to have this problem.

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 17:21:48 +0000, and-rea
wrote:


Dear gardening experts
One of my most beloved houseplants (a potted 'busy lizzie'), while
doing well, appears to have an infestation of silvery flea-sized
crawling insects in its soil. I've sprayed both soil and plant three
times now at weekly intervals with the Baby Bio Organic Houseplant
Insecticide but the critters keep coming back. Will re-potting do the
trick? None of my other houseplants seem to have this problem.

Are they actually harming the plant, or do you just want to be rid of
them? Chances are they're just little grubs living in the soil and
not actually doing any harm. But if you do want to be rid of them, add
insecticide to the water (at the recommended strength) the next time
you water the bizzie lizzie, and drench the soil rather than just
spraying it.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Thanks for the advice - I'll try that. I don't think they are actually harming the plant, or not yet anyway...

They are probably springtails - have you overwatered the plant? I had same problem with a potted palm - Jeyes Fluid cured the problem

Possibly - although these seem to crawl rather than leaping around (as I've just been reading springtails do). I may be guilty of overwatering, and there would certainly be decaying vegetation in the soil as the plant looked dead a few months ago until a tiny green shoot appeared amongst the ruins.
I'll try letting it dry out and then watering it with Jeyes Fluid. Do you use that straight up?

On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 19:20:41 +0000, and-rea
wrote:


JohnOGroats Wrote:
They are probably springtails - have you overwatered the plant? I had
same problem with a potted palm - Jeyes Fluid cured the problem

Possibly - although these seem to crawl rather than leaping around (as
I've just been reading springtails do). I may be guilty of
overwatering, and there would certainly be decaying vegetation in the
soil as the plant looked dead a few months ago until a tiny green shoot
appeared amongst the ruins.
I'll try letting it dry out and then watering it with Jeyes Fluid. Do
you use that straight up?

Jeyes Fluid wouldn't be my choice, not unless you want your house
smelling of lavatory cleaner for weeks. You could try plain soapy
water, (washing-up-water strength) as it's remarkably effective
against many common plant pests, or failing that, get a traditional
chemical insect poison from your local garden centre. Or just live
with them.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Hmm. Soapy water it is, then! Thanks.