Stop them from bugging youand your plants, too.
Ready to do battle against any houseplant invaders?
How to Prevent Plant Pests
The best way to head off damage to your beloved plants?
Photo:FollowTheFlow/Getty Images
check that that the pests never make it into your house in the first place.
She recommends checking both the tops and undersides of the leaves, including the stems.
Lalicata suggests doing this even if there are no signs of insects.
Inzyx / Getty Images
Keep Your Plants Healthy
Stronger plants equals fewer opportunities for pests and other diseases to take hold.
“Healthiness of the plant is key,” Rouxel says.
you’re able to apply neem oil or another insecticidal soap to do the job.
Getty Images
Aphids live under the plant’s leaves and feed on the plant’s sap.
So the best strategy is actually wiping them away.
“Scale insects usually need to be manually scraped off a plant,” Lalicata says.
A fungus gnat.Tomasz Klejdysz/iStock/Getty Images Plus
You may want to follow up with a spray as well.
“They are like thefruit fliesof the plant world.”
Like aphids, the mealybugs feed on your plant’s sap and can cause sooty mold.
Mealybug.Bosca78/Getty Images
How to Get Rid of Mealybugs
Treating an infestation with neem oil will help.
They’re chewers, so you’ll see torn or chewed edges on your leaves if you have them.
(Though they aren’t technically spiders, they are from the same classarachnidsas spiders.)
Muhamad dede ramli/Getty Images
Like many other houseplant pests,spider mitessuck the sap out of your plants, damaging the leaves.
Springtails are usually less than 1/8-inch long and brown, gray, or black.
You’ll likely find them in moist soil.
fotoARION / Getty Images
They’re less than 1/20-inch long and can be yellow, white, brown, or black.
Insecticidal soap and neem oil can also help decimate the whitefly population.
Rouxel also recommends giving your plants a dunk in soap solution of black soap and baking soda.
Getty Images/Jennifer Seeman
“It’s natural and efficient,” he says.
“you could also use neem oil.”
Because they have a hard shell, they can sometimes survive insecticides unscathed, too.
Debbie Rigden> Images / Getty Images
Pan Xunbin / Getty Images
Getty Images
