Do You Use a Spray Insecticide for Your Houseplants?

[MIGrandma]

I have ONE houseplant. It's a mandevilla vine and it's huge. It was from my Mom's funeral in July. We transplanted it to a larger pot and tried to leave it outside on the deck but the raccoons got into it, so I brought it into the house. It has tiny little bugs that fly out when I water it. A friend told me to put a drop of Dawn dish soap into a spray bottle, add water, and spray it on the dirt every few days. He said it would stop the eggs in the dirt from hatching. I have done that, every 3 days, for 3 weeks and there are still bugs.

I'm wondering what others here use for bugs on their houseplants?

I looked for a plant safe insecticide spray this afternoon at Wal-Mart, but they have all their Christmas stuff out in that section now (already, yikes!).

 

[Disney Doll]

I use insecticidal soap. You can buy it at a garden shop or you can make your own.

I make my own. Just google insecticidal soap and there are recipes.

 

[amcnj]

If they are hatching from the soil it could be fungus gnats. You can use sticky strips to try and catch the adults, but the larval stage ones are in the soil and feeding on the roots. There are some soil drenches available that kill them. I believe they use a strain of Bt (bacillus thuring...). I had a run in with the some years ago when I purchased some plants that came with them as a bonus!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have ONE houseplant. It's a mandevilla vine and it's huge. It was from my Mom's funeral in July. We transplanted it to a larger pot and tried to leave it outside on the deck but the raccoons got into it, so I brought it into the house. It has tiny little bugs that fly out when I water it. A friend told me to put a drop of Dawn dish soap into a spray bottle, add water, and spray it on the dirt every few days. He said it would stop the eggs in the dirt from hatching. I have done that, every 3 days, for 3 weeks and there are still bugs.

I'm wondering what others here use for bugs on their houseplants?

I looked for a plant safe insecticide spray this afternoon at Wal-Mart, but they have all their Christmas stuff out in that section now (already, yikes!).

For one I would probably dry out the soil a bit. M. Vines do not like a lot of water really. Battling bugs will be an ongoing thing. They are tropicals. You sure they are not white? White flies are a constant nuisance as well as aphids, but those do fly. Make sure to get rid of aphids, they will do the most damage.

There are soil applications that are not organic if you get desperate along the road. They are "houseplant poisons" you can apply to the soil. I do not know if there is an organic, other than below for fungus gnats.

From the Google...
How do you get rid of fungus gnats?
Mix one part 3% hydrogen peroxide with four parts water. Allow the top layer of your soil to dry, and then water your plants with this solution as you normally would. The soil will fizz for a few minutes after application; this is normal. The fungus gnat larvae will die on contact with the hydrogen peroxide.

 

[amcnj]

For one I would probably dry out the soil a bit. M. Vines do not like a lot of water really. Battling bugs will be an ongoing thing.

From the Google...
How do you get rid of fungus gnats?
Mix one part 3% hydrogen peroxide with four parts water. Allow the top layer of your soil to dry, and then water your plants with this solution as you normally would. The soil will fizz for a few minutes after application; this is normal. The fungus gnat larvae will die on contact with the hydrogen peroxide.

Oh that's good to know about the hydrogen peroxide. I will have to remember that for the next time. Thanks!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Oh that's good to know about the hydrogen peroxide. I will have to remember that for the next time. Thanks!

Worth a try for sure.

One of the keys is too cut back watering when you bring a houseplant inside, esp. as the days get shorter.

You can also "trim" your houseplant next spring if you stick with it and put it in a smaller pot. You don't always have to go bigger. It is sort of like bonsai, but not quite.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Thanks, but my silk plants are fine without insecticide.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

What are these "houseplants" that you speak of?

 

[amcnj]

Worth a try for sure.

One of the keys is too cut back watering when you bring a houseplant inside, esp. as the days get shorter.

You can also "trim" your houseplant next spring if you stick with it and put it in a smaller pot. You don't always have to go bigger. It is sort of like bonsai, but not quite.

My biggest problem is in the spring when I buy flowers/vegetables for the yard but it is too early to put them out so they become temporary houseguests! I try and start most myself via seeds, but I get spring fever every year when I see plants at the stores and garden centers and start with the "oh maybe I should get one of those".

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My biggest problem is in the spring when I buy flowers/vegetables for the yard but it is too early to put them out so they become temporary houseguests! I try and start most myself via seeds, but I get spring fever every year when I see plants at the stores and garden centers and start with the "oh maybe I should get one of those".

Can you build a cold frame in your yard? Do you have a garage? You can play the "in and out game", in the garage, out of the garage, etc... Yes it is a PITB.

I also sow seeds and buy plants. I am collecting seeds from native plants this yr. Not sure what will happen. I am into natives now.

I encourage everyone to check out your local natives.

 

[amcnj]

Can you build a cold frame in your yard? Do you have a garage? You can play the "in and out game", in the garage, out of the garage, etc... Yes it is a PITB.

I also sow seeds and buy plants. I am collecting seeds from native plants this yr. Not sure what will happen. I am into natives now.

I encourage everyone to check out your local natives.

I had a cold frame in a previous house. But even that can be a problem as I just buy the plants too darn early! I do sometimes use the garage, but am away from home 12 hours a day, so if there is going to be a multi-day cold snap, they would be in the dark day after day. So I have resorted to using window light.

I do have a few things I bring in every year, like a lemon tree. But also had been bringing in tomato seedlings that had spouted outside from fallen fruit. They would do ok through winter, then once the days started lengthening would really take off and by the time I put them outside had fruit already. But then over the winter of 2015-2016 the pot or plants must have also had a black swallowtail chrysalis as I had a butterfly hatch in the dining room. I put a sponge with sugar water by it, and it survived till I was able to put it outside weeks later. But it made me much more selective about bringing plants inside over winter.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

...no?

 

[MIGrandma]

...no?

...and?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

...and?

I'm answering the title. I don't use insecticides on my house planets. We get bugs that just find their way inside anyway (not from our plants).

 

[MIGrandma]

I'm answering the title. I don't use insecticides on my house planets. We get bugs that just find their way inside anyway (not from our plants).

It was the question mark that was confusing. Not sure why you put it there.

 

[Kitty 34]

With my lung issues I don't use insecticides on my outdoor plants let alone indoor plants. But on that note, MIGrandma........I haven't had indoor plants in years.

 

[MIGrandma]

With my lung issues I don't use insecticides on my outdoor plants let alone indoor plants. But on that note, MIGrandma........I haven't had indoor plants in years.

I haven’t had any indoor plants in many years either but this is the only one I kept from my mom’s funeral. After we brought it inside I stood in front of it, looking at it, sighed and looked toward heaven and said “mom, please help me keep this plant alive.” She always had a green thumb.

The plant has at least doubled in size over the past 3 months, and I had to put a taller trellis in the pot and it’s growing up all over that, and loaded with beautiful flowers.

I want to do my best with it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I had a cold frame in a previous house. But even that can be a problem as I just buy the plants too darn early! I do sometimes use the garage, but am away from home 12 hours a day, so if there is going to be a multi-day cold snap, they would be in the dark day after day. So I have resorted to using window light.

I do have a few things I bring in every year, like a lemon tree. But also had been bringing in tomato seedlings that had spouted outside from fallen fruit. They would do ok through winter, then once the days started lengthening would really take off and by the time I put them outside had fruit already. But then over the winter of 2015-2016 the pot or plants must have also had a black swallowtail chrysalis as I had a butterfly hatch in the dining room. I put a sponge with sugar water by it, and it survived till I was able to put it outside weeks later. But it made me much more selective about bringing plants inside over winter.

That is neat. I planted some fennel this year and low and behold there were the black swallowtail caterpillars! Funny.

The tomato seedlings! LOL I had planted a variety of cherry tomatoes and they come back like crazy.

 

[amcnj]

That is neat. I planted some fennel this year and low and behold there were the black swallowtail caterpillars! Funny.

The tomato seedlings! LOL I had planted a variety of cherry tomatoes and they come back like crazy.

The black swallowtails love my Italian parsley every year, though now that you mentioned it, I think I also had finocchio/fennel starting that year too.

The tomatoes were San Marzano, at least when I had started them from seed that spring. Who knows if they had "mutated", though the fruit still seemed true. I just loved that it had me eating some in a couple weeks instead of taking 6 weeks or more. But I realized I could just start some extra early indoors instead, though didn't do it this year, and the high heat and low moisture early this growing season made tomatoes extra late. Mine just peaked a few weeks ago, and I am still picking, when normally they would be pretty much done by now. So if I had started some early enough to have fruit before setting them out, they would have been very welcome this year.

 

[yoopermom]

I know the "funeral guilt" of which you speak, my DGM died four years ago, and I took home one "small" houseplant which has now taken on Little Shop of Horrors proportions, and I feel that grandma would come back to haunt me if I dump it out in the back forty .

I love house plants, but have the blackest of thumbs. It doesn't seem like many people keep house plants anymore, I wonder why not?

Terri