Lately, I have noticed that the green leaves on my houseplant in the drawing-room were turning brown. I didn’t have any idea what was happening. When I took a closer look, I found very small structures moving on the lower surface of the leaves. The green color of the leaves was fading. I immediately pulled out my laptop to search for the reason for color fading and about these bugs that I don’t know. Later, I came to know that these are nothing but spider mites.
Spider mites are members of the Acari family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and they can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells to feed. Severe infestations will come with webbing all over the undersides of the leaves, and at this point, it becomes difficult to eradicate the mites. Insecticides will not work to get rid of spider mites because they are not insects.
When I was collecting information about Spider Mites, an incident in my village in India came to my mind. When I was living in my grandfather’s house, I saw the villagers using charcoal from burnt wood to prevent insect, mite, and bug infestation on vegetable plants. Back in my village I hardly saw anyone using pesticides.
The idea struck my mind and I thought of giving it a try. I took some neem wood and burn until a pile of charcoal was collected. Crushed the charcoal using a grinder to the fine black powder.
I sprayed all over my houseplants. It took one or two weeks time and I saw the browning of leaves going away. I used a magnifying glass to spot spider mites and surprisingly I saw almost no spider mites. The charcoal worked!
More posts on Houseplants:
- How to increase humidity for Houseplants without a humidifier?
- Best Pruning Shears for HousePlants
- Best small houseplant watering cans to buy
- Best Succulents for Beginners
How to get rid of little white bugs on houseplants
Like spider mites, there are also many other bugs that may infest indoor plants. White bugs on houseplants are nothing but mealybugs. Mealybugs love to live under the leaves of a plant. They can also be found sometimes under the pot and in the potting soil.
To fight white mealybugs, you can use neem oil or neem leaves powder mixed with coconut oil. You can buy neem oil or make your own. Use a good garden water sprayer and spray on all the leaves of the plant affected. Do not forget to look underside of the leaves.
How to get rid of little black bugs on houseplants
These little black bugs are nothing but black aphids. They live on new leaves and stems sap. If you do not control these bugs, your houseplant may ultimately die off.
Neem oil is also the best home remedy for black aphids. I have seen gardeners using soap mixed with water and getting good results.
Repot the soil in the container to make sure no bugs or eggs of the bugs are present in the soil. Otherwise, they will keep coming after you kill one swarm.
Final thoughts
According to different species of pests, the pesticides may be different. Most of the Houseplants are mainly infested by Aphids, Spider Mites, and mealybugs.
The charcoal used as insecticide may have some relation to the wood used to make the charcoal. Mostly I have seen using neem woods to make charcoals.
The charcoal from neem worked on my houseplants. I have not tried this technique with all kinds of bugs and insects which generally infest houseplants. But I tried the charcoal powder on Aphids and cotton bugs it worked! Lastly, it’s up to you if want to give try on an organic natural solution to fight bugs.
Read more posts:
