Hi - Actually I have 2 problems with indoor plants, maybe - waiting to see if the milky fungusy thing shows up again.) One is with little brown, round, flying nocturnal bugs, and the other is the white stuff. Well, I haven't totally given up on natural. Also - will cigarettes for real kill bugs if broken up and mixed into the soil? Just any suggestions appreciated. Thanks much.
Well a safe insecticide to use would be safer's insectidal soap or horticultural oil, or rubbing alcohol, or even baby oil. i can't tell you which one will work best because im not sure where the insects are on your plants and what damage they are doing, with some more info i will be more able to help
JAMES - Your are very kind to try to help. Thank you! I actually never see the little brown bugs on the plants. But they are small and dirt colored. Sometimes I see one here and there around the rim of a plant pot, but not usually. The white stuff is on the plant leaves and stems, whatever it is. So, does one put the rubbing alcohol and/or the baby oil on the leaves and not in the soil? I am willing to try it, even not knowing if it is species specific as an insecticide, as long as the plants are not harmed - maybe even if they are. At this rate I wonder if I will have to toss all the plants. My other thought is to wait until it gets below freezing and open all the windows. I got rid of fleas on a carpet this way. But of course that would probably kill the plants, too!
yes the alcohol and the baby oil are to be used as a spray on the plant itself, and should be made into a diluted mixture. 70% water to 30% alcohol or baby oil, and may even be rinsed off after sitting of the plant for about 20-30 minutes, also do not spray them whn the have sunlight on them other wise the leaves/stems will burn. the white does sound like mealy bug, not sure about the soil insects but if you think they are causeing a problem to your plants then you can mix the hort oil in a bucket, and dilute it, usually a 20mloil/1litre water. then dunk the whole plant pot above the soil into the mixture for about 30 secs and that will rid you of the soil insects. that should help and for the spray on the leaves use it once a week for about 4 weeks or untill there isn't a problem anymore, you need to kill the adult bugs and the newly hatching larvae. Only dunk the plant once every few months if you see that there is an insect problem.
Oh thank you so much, James. You may have saved my plants, and therefore saved me some money! I will definitely do as you have said. Btw the brown bugs don't seem to be hurting my plants a bit. I figure they live on something in or on the soil.
Hi Lorica, I agree with James that your white bug sounds like mealy bug. Is this what you see? They are considered a soft scale insect and there are many different ones. http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/ornamentals/mbugswp.html http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/scales.htm http://www.pdis.org/ImageLibrary/ImageDisplayTest.aspx?BasicCriteria=mealy bug The other pest you have might be fungal gnats. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r280300811.html Newt
Thank you so much for the link. If it hadn't been for the information I found here I would have never dreamed that the white fuzzy stuff was a bug!! But when I lifted some of it off of a plant, it wiggled. Almost cute, those little (apparently) mealy bugs. As to the dark bugs, though, they are very round shaped, not like those in the photos. Since I took the advice above to spray my plants with alcohol and water, I have only seen 1 or 2 of them. Hopefully, they are dying out. I so appreciate all the help guys. Thanks! :)
Lorica, you are very welcome! Btw, you asked earlier; "Also - will cigarettes for real kill bugs if broken up and mixed into the soil?" I wouldn't recommend using tobacco as it can cause tobacco mosaic virus in some plants. Newt
Thanks for that info. I am very happy with the alcohol and water mix so will just stick to that. Blessings! :-)
