Help, I have bugs on my plants!
Plants are unfortunately not immune to pests, so be quick if you see that your plant is suffering from bugs. The effects are harmful and can lead to weakened plants, slow growth, leaves that fall off, holes in your leaves and can even cause your plant to die. In general, pests can be a threat to the health of your plant!
Read more below about the different and most common bugs on your plants and what you can do about them.
Pests on plants
Most pests on plants are mainly looking for the sap that comes from the cells of a leaf. To get this, they take a bite of the leaf to drink. This is why you often see that the leaves of a plant with pests often have small holes. It is an important sign to recognize that your plant is suffering from pests, because you will not always be able to see the creatures because some are very small.
What are Aphids?
Aphids are small yellow, green or black lice that you find on the points where new leaves are formed. Many people think that they are white, but they molt about 4 times in their life and the white molting skins remain on the plant. Aphids search for sap and suck it out of your plant, when they do this, some of their saliva also ends up in the plant. Because your plants lose sap and aphid saliva contains harmful substances, your plants become weaker. They grow less quickly or not at all, there is leaf damage and they cause plant disease (viruses) because aphids spread diseases. Aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew. Honeydew can cause black mold to develop and your leaves to look black and sooty. To prevent or limit this damage, you can use biological or chemical control. For the biological method, we recommend the Jungle Mist from De Plantrekkers. It is a 100% natural and organic spray against pests to keep your plant healthy!
What are Trips?
Thrips are small elongated creatures that are difficult to see with the naked eye. They are yellow, brown, black or black/white. You can know that you are suffering from them if you see that your plant has small white stripes or dots on the leaf. They also feed on the sap of your plants. They suck the cells of your leaves completely empty and this causes silver or gray spots on your leaves. If you see dark green stripes or dots on your leaf, these are the excrement of the thrips. Because all the sap is sucked out, your plant becomes weaker and it is more difficult to make new leaves, it is also possible that your leaves dry out completely. In addition, the leaves can discolor or deform and viruses can be transmitted to your plant. You can combat thrips with biological ( Jungle Mist ) or chemical methods.
What are Spider Mites?
Spider mites are yellow, red or brown creatures that spin a fine web under leaves. They produce very thin threads like spiders. Spider mites suck the sap from the leaves of a plant, which leads to yellow or brown dots on your leaves. If it is very serious, the leaves can dry out completely and die. Because sap is sucked from your leaves, your plant becomes weaker, has problems growing and is more susceptible to diseases. You can also combat these with biological ( Jungle Mist ) or chemical methods.
What are Scale insects?
Scale insects are visible as brown bumps on your leaves. You can easily remove them from your plant with your nails, they can sometimes get stuck because they secrete a sticky liquid, namely honeydew. Honeydew can cause black mold to develop and your leaves to look black and sooty. If you also want to remove them by hand, you have to be careful, because there is a chance that you will spread any eggs with this. There are organic ( Jungle Mist ) and chemical pesticides to combat them, but there is also an easy and environmentally friendly way to no longer have to worry about them and that is to combat the creatures with olive oil. By putting some olive oil on the creatures (with a cotton swab for example) you ensure that the breathing tubes are closed and the lice suffocate.
What are Scale insects?
Scale insects are also mainly visible as brown bumps on your leaves, but scale insects do not secrete honeydew. They are slightly smaller than scale insects and the leaves get yellow, red or brown spots from these creatures, they become deformed and also fall off. Like scale insects, you can combat scale insects with chemical pesticides, with olive oil or with our Jungle Mist, a natural and organic spray.
What are Fungus Gnats?
Fungus gnats are black insects that fly around your plant. They can occur in large numbers and are usually attracted to humid conditions. The effects of these creatures are mainly root damage. They also make your plants weak and grow less quickly. The larvae of fungus gnats feed on the roots of plants and this leads to damaged roots, which means your plant can absorb less water and nutrients. To limit fungus gnats as much as possible, you can use chemical or biological control methods. But placing sticky traps is also a very handy way to catch fungus gnats. You then place them on surfaces where the flies often land or you can hang them on the wall or ceiling. You can also use nematodes against fungus gnats. It is a biological control against insects such as fungus gnats.
You can also reduce the problem somewhat by using our Sticky Fly Traps . Handy to get rid of all those flying insects! Because of their black color they are also not noticeable!
We offer nematodes via biogroei.be . With our code "PLANTREKKERS10" you get a discount of 10% .
To combat all these creatures in a natural and organic way, you can also use the Jungle Mist from De Plantrekkers. It is a 100% natural spray that makes your leaves shiny and also keeps them healthy. On our website you will find the ingredients and how to best use this spray to protect your plants!
