Indoor plants add much to spruce up a home and make it a more beautiful and comfortable place to live in. However, keeping them alive and well involves more than just providing them with sufficient water and sunlight. Keeping your greens pest-free is another important responsibility, as they may attract insects depending on their plant species.

Another reason why your plants could draw unwanted attention is because they generally provide the perfect environment for pests and insects to thrive. While a few bugs will not cause much damage, they will inevitably multiply if left unchecked and ruin your potted plants over time due to their feeding habits. Thankfully, with a bit of patience and some simple techniques (or pest control services if you want quick results), most common houseplant pests can be dealt with easily.

1. Fungus gnats

Adult fungus gnats are not typically considered pests and are only a nuisance at worst. The same cannot be said while they are in their larval stage, as they mainly feed on plant roots to sustain themselves. When they target young plants, their feeding will cause growth problems. If you notice these insects around your plants, that is a sign that you may be overwatering your greens since they are naturally attracted to the moisture of their potting soil.

Therefore, the best way to drive them off is to let the soil surface of your plants completely dry up between watering and use sticky insect traps to catch the adult gnats. Follow it up by applying insecticides to the soil to control the fungus gnat larvae.

2. Whiteflies

Easily recognisable due to their powdery-white appearance, whiteflies are tiny winged insects that feed on plant sap in both their immature and adult stages. They cause the most damage in the former phase, wherein they look similar to scale insects and can be found on the underside of leaves. The leaves that get infested by whitefly larvae turn yellow and eventually die, stunting the affected plant’s growth.

According to the National Parks Board (NParks), chrysanthemum spray, sulphur soap sprays, and horticultural oils can kill whiteflies on contact. However, they will need to be used sparingly, as they tend to affect other types of biodiversity.

3. Spider mites

Spider mites are incredibly tiny bugs that cannot often be detected by the naked eye. As such, a better way to discover their presence is to look out for their white silky webs along the veins or axils of plant leaves. Their feeding habits mainly involve sucking the sap from said leaves, which, ultimately, causes discolouration and death. Some of their favourite hosts include hibiscus, dracaenas, ivies, figs, and scheffleras.

Since spider mite infestations are much harder to control compared to the others on this list, it is essential to detect them early. Otherwise, a heavy infestation will limit your options for immediate removal of the infested plant to keep it from affecting the others in your indoor garden. If you manage to catch the problem early on, according to NParks, you can use a wet cloth to wipe them away or spray them off with water to wash off the affected leaves and increase the humidity near your plants to control and reduce their population buildup.

4. Scale insects

Scale insects are soft-bodied bugs that also love to suck on plant sap – particularly from figs, ivies, and citrus trees – both in their immature and adult stages. When they reach maturity, they appear as small brown or white bumps covered in a waxy protective coating. Similar to spider mites, they can also be commonly found underneath leaves and sometimes along the plant’s stem.

Besides killing off the leaves and stems of their plant hosts, they also produce honeydew. This is essentially a sticky substance that attracts ants and a black fungus called sooty mould. As with whiteflies, eliminating scales requires sulphur soap sprays, chrysanthemum spray, or horticultural oils, which can kill soft-bodied pests on contact, as well as hard scale insects after their protective layer has been scrubbed off.

5. Aphids

Aphids are similar to scales in that they also produce honeydew as they feed on plant sap. Unlike the others on this list, they will infest all kinds of different plants and will particularly target tender and new growths, causing young plants to wilt or distort. Dealing with aphis is relatively easy as a hard spray of water is enough to dislodge most of them from the affected plants. When doing so, it is best to take your plants outside first before hosing them down to ensure they don’t spread elsewhere. Additionally, avoid over-fertilising – this may encourage further aphid outbreaks.

Conclusion

Managing common houseplant pests is crucial for maintaining the health and vitality of an indoor garden. These pests can quickly overwhelm plants, leading to stunted growth, discoloured leaves, and even plant death if not controlled. By practising effective pest management, homeowners can better protect the time and resources they have invested in their natural decor.

PestClinic is the leading exterminator brand you can rely on to protect your family, pets, and household plants from the threat of pests. Whether it’s fungus gnats, silverfish, or some other pests wreaking havoc on your indoor plants, we guarantee to have the solution to get rid of them. Don’t hesitate to contact us today for an inspection or to learn more about our other pest control solutions.