To combat houseplant pests, mix 1 tsp. of mild organic liquid soap with 33 fl. oz. (1 l) of warm water in a spray bottle and shake well. Spray the mixture directly onto infected parts of the plant and wipe the leaves to remove dead bugs. Houseplant pests can be mites, flies, bugs, or other sap-sucking insects that can quickly infest indoor plants. To test the effectiveness of this homemade insecticidal soap spray, spray one or two leaves with the mixture and wait a day or two to see if the plant shows signs of damage.
If larger pests like mealybugs are found on the plant’s leaves, spray them with water from a faucet or shower. To remove them, wash the leaves and stems with soapy water or spray with insecticidal soap. Their protective wax makes them waterproof, so it will take several washings to get them all off. Handpick the bugs and know where they came from to get rid of them.
Household soaps or detergents are effective insecticides for controlling spider mites and soft-bodied insects on plants, such as aphids, young scales, whiteflies, and mealybugs. A weak solution made of 2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap mixed with 1 gallon of water is effective but requires rinsing and diluting.
For light infestations, some insects can be removed by force using a spray of water from a pressurized bottle. To use insecticidal soap, evenly spray the mixture on all surfaces infested with pests or harmful insects, hitting the tops and bottoms of leaves and stems. Remember that insecticidal soap will only work on the bugs.
📹 How To Kill Insects INSTANTLY With Dish Soap Spray!
On today’s 2 minute garden tip, I share how to kill insects instantly with dish soap spray! Did you know that soapy water is an …
Will soapy water kill fungus on plants?
Poundy mildew can be treated by spraying a diluted solution of baking soda and dishwashing soap on plants every one to two weeks. Neem oil or Potassium bicarbonate are organic options, or a combination of both can be used. Some gardeners also use a 5 cider vinegar solution or 5 generic, ethanol-based mouthwash. If cultural controls fail to prevent disease buildup or the disease pressure is too high, a fungicide may be necessary.
What soap is safe for plants?
Plants can be safely treated with various products, including showers, shampoos, conditioners, sinks, cleaning products, and cleaning products. Shampoos and conditioners are typically diluted, low in salt, and free of boron. Sinks can be cleaned using Oasis All-Purpose Cleaner, Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap, and most glycerin-based soaps. Cleaning products should be vinegar-based, not white powders, or turned off if a deep scrub is needed.
The amount of salts that can be sent into the yard without damaging plants depends on the climate, soil, and plants. Heavy rainfall can leach salt from the soil before it can build up, while salty tap water and dry climates are more prone to salt buildup. Fertilizers are high in salts, and plant salt tolerances vary. In arid climates, direct rainwater into greywater and rainwater basins to flush salts from the soil.
Can you spray washing up liquid on plants?
To control blackfly on globe artichokes, use non-chemical methods such as spraying them with soapy water, squashing them between your finger and thumb, or blasting them with a hosepipe. This method prevents aphids from breathing under the soap, suffocating them. It is important to spray on a dull day as full sun may scorch the foliage. Other methods include squashing groups of blackfly between your finger and thumb or blasting them with a hosepipe.
Alternatively, grow other plants as “lures” that are more attractive to blackfly, but destroy them when they appear on these plants. Spraying lure plants with an insecticide is also possible, provided they are not intended to eat them.
Is vinegar or soap better for aphids?
Liquid soap, made from olive and mineral oil, can be used as a DIY natural aphid spray when combined with vinegar and water. This spray deters future garden pests from invading new growth. It is lethal to all insects, including Japanese aphids and beneficial bugs. To use, mix 1 tablespoon of liquid soap with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar in 4Lt of water.
Neem Oil, also known as Eco-neem, can be used to repel aphids, cabbage worms, and other pests, as well as control any fungi they transfer into your garden. It is a registered organic insecticide from OCP (Organic Crop Protectants) and can control a broad range of chewing and sucking insects, including caterpillars, curl grubs, grasshoppers, aphids, mites, lawn army worm, citrus leaf miner, white fly, mealybugs, and fungus gnats in soil.
To use, dilute Neem oil with a few drops of liquid dish soap and five cups of water. Mist your garden with the mixture in the early morning, as it doesn’t have harmful effects on beneficial insects but helps repel aphids, mosquitoes, and other pests.
Does soapy water kill aphids on plants?
Aphids can be a nuisance but can cause significant damage to plants. To combat this, spray plants with soapy water, especially on the underside of leaves, and use dish soap, cayenne pepper, or neem oil sprays. Knock them off by hand or hose, remove older leaves, and add beneficial insects like ladybugs or green lacewings. Plant companion plants like marigolds, garlic, and catnip with the pepper plants. For more information on aphid control, visit online resources like peppers and related articles.
Is soapy water toxic to plants?
High concentrations of soap can burn plant foliage, especially in stressed conditions with high temperatures and humidity. Commercial insecticidal soaps are available to reduce plant damage, but some plants are sensitive to soapy sprays, such as hawthorn, sweet pea, cherries, plum, and tomato varieties. To avoid leaf burn, test on a small area of the plant before widespread applications. Dilute soap yourself or use ready-to-use products. Minnesota has experienced high temperatures of 90°F or greater this summer.
Can you spray water on indoor plants?
Misting houseplants is essential to prevent mineral buildup on their leaves, which can act as a filter and reduce light reaches by chlorophyll. To mist plants, use filtered or distilled water, filling a clean spray bottle with water to create a fine layer of moisture. Misting air plants or phalaenopsis orchids may cause leaves or roots to change color from gray or gray-green to green. Houseplants can be misted once a week or more during colder seasons when humidity levels are lower. However, if signs of disease, such as leaf spot, discolored leaves, or wilting of new growth, should be scaled back.
Can I spray vinegar on plants?
Vinegar, a chemical compound, can be used as an herbicide, primarily in white vinegar, which is about 5 acetic acid. It effectively burns the tops of plants but not their roots, allowing larger weeds to survive. However, 20 acetic acid is faster and works faster but has the same problem as 5 acetic acid. It is also dangerous for the average person, as a small whiff can cause permanent injury.
Vinegar can also be used as a disease control, but it has never proven to be particularly effective at controlling plant diseases. It is not suitable as a fertilizer, as acetic acid only contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which plants can obtain from the air. The other ingredients in vinegar may be beneficial for plants, but it is an expensive method of applying an unknown amount of nutrition.
What is the best homemade bug spray for plants?
To combat pests, use an oil spray made from vegetable oil and mild liquid soap. This spray smothers insects, making it effective against aphids, thrips, mites, and scale. Tomato leaves, rich in solanine and tomatine, can be used as an insecticide. Soak 2 cups of fresh leaves in 1 quart of water overnight, strain, and spray. This kills aphids and chewing insects while attracting beneficials. However, avoid using it on eggplants, peppers, or potatoes as it could spread disease.
Garlic is a repellent, not a killer. Puree 2 bulbs of garlic, strain, and mix with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon of liquid soap. Apply to affected plants, repelling aphids, cabbage worms, leafhoppers, squash bugs, and whiteflies.
Can I spray soapy water on my indoor plants?
To clean houseplants, fill a tub with soapy water and add a few squirts of mild liquid soap. Avoid using degreasers or detergents as they can damage sensitive plants. Soak the whole plant in the water for 15-20 minutes to kill any bugs on the plant or soil. If the leaves are not completely covered, use an organic insecticidal soap to clean them. Before removing the plants, use a strainer to remove any floating debris, as dead leaves, bugs, and other debris will float to the top. This helps keep the plants clean and healthy.
Can we spray shampoo on plants?
It is advisable to refrain from using soap on plants with hairy or waxy leaves, such as cucumbers and African violets. Prior to application, it is advisable to test the spray on a small area and to allow a period of 2-3 days for observation. This will facilitate the identification of any potential damage.
📹 The SECRET to get rid of plant pests
It had been such a wild ride to get rid of Thrips in my plant collection. One of the worst houseplant pests you can deal with.
True. One day after getting home from work my potato patch was stripped. My entomology kicked in and I knew it was Colorado potato beetle. My little girl and I both got a cool whip tub of dish soap and water. We hand picked them off and put them in the dish soap water. My tater patch was pretty big but we saved every hill! I live in northern Ohio! I was so relieved at harvest diggin time. We still did pretty good! It works.
Don’t insects breath through small holes along their body? Soap then clogs up holes & prevents them from getting oxygen. Been using a pump weed sprayer armed with Dawn & water to take out wasp nests under eaves when they start forming. An RV washer hose attachment with soap spray is another good option. Going shirtless while battling the wasps makes it more of a fair fight. 😂
You’re so right about thrip extermination being all about time and effort. Just when you start to relax and think they’re gone, they reemerge on a completely different plant 😤 The only thing I found worked on them is pyrethrum. I bought the concentrated version and mixed it a bit stronger than what they say on the packaging, then sprayed every plant (whether I saw signs of thrips or not) 1-2 times a week for 2-3 months. Now I haven’t seen any thrips for a long time, but I still spray the plants about once a month just to be safe, and I’ve started treating every new plant I bring in and quarantining them for a few weeks as well. Still haven’t gotten rid of the fungus gnats but at least they don’t cause as much damage 🤷♀
I find keeping my soil “living” helps prevent pests. So I do a rotation of soil enhancement. Not in any particular order: top dress with biochar/humates/glacial dust/worm castings, inoculate with bacteria/fungal spores (meant for plants), fertilize with compost tea and liquid seaweed (supposed to increase cell wall thickness to make more resistant to pests, and adding bios nutrients. No pests for 4 years now fingers crossed
Thank you. I used the mentioned solution for as preventive measure last growing season once every 5 or 6 weeks with minimal to no outbreaks. I did get mealybugs in a plant section that I didn’t treat. I’m getting a little anxious now because I have almost double the amount of plants. I’m going to start now and see how it works out for me.
Great article. I have always thought that when I bring plants in for winter they are pest free but sometime around February some sort of awful medieval spontaneous generation takes place lol. So this year I started soaking every plant with a neem oil, castile soap solution every seven days and so far it has been fairly effective. If I get a major infestation I repot the plant and dispose of the old soil and scrub the pot. My big problem right now is the mamalated stink bug and I am certain we have a few spider motes. My formula is 1 ounce concentrated neem oil. 1 teaspoons castile soap per gallon of water. Sometimes I add a few drops of peppermint oil and thyme oil. I have found you have to soak every part of the plant. I wish you much luck Lee. You are so good with house plants and I have learned so much from you. Thanks as always.
if only i’d known of this secret concoction a few months ago. damn near drove my partner to move out with the foul smell of neem oil filling the house every week after discovering billions of thrips covering my previously thriving purple velvet. weirdly none of the many plants around her seemed to be hit with a thrip infestation, they just love those juicy fuzzy purple leaves. they will all be getting a nice tea tree-peppermint-alcohol-peroxide soil drench though, and with that and my soon-to-be crafted portable plant shower replacing just accepting that the walls/floor around my plants as collateral damage when spraying (hi lazy), my marriage AND plant collection will be safe <3 lee you're a lifesaver
I’ve managed to get pesticides from America, that aren’t available here in Canada that work well with Thrips. (Note: I’m using these for indoor plants so bees are not in danger, and I’m using it responsibly.) Spinosad with insecticidal soap + Imidacloprid granules have rid me of all my plant problems. Realistically these are the only way to do it if you have hundreds of plants like I do unfortunately. Showering works well, but would take too much time for the plant enthusiast with a ton of plants.
Omg thank you!! I was just stressing about potentially needed to get rid of my schefflera yesterday because it has spider mites, and I was thinking there’s no feasible way I could clean all the leaves individually, and I didn’t want to use anything that smells bad on it. I am going to start doing this ASAP! Thank you! ♡
what ive found to be true while gardening and house planting is: you will have pest now and then no matter what. just wash your plants often and keep them happy and healthy. pest are apart of the process unfortunately. its not as much about keeping them totally gone, as it is always keeping the upper hand. 🕉 i actually tried this exact mix myself and it like all other things are not full proof. also, here in our garden we are obssessed w the soil health for our plants root systems which in return give us happy and healthy plants. even a perfectly healthy plant will get a passer by pest and thats ok 😌 showers every 10 days in my home. 🙏🏼🕉 bloom vibes from Texas
That plant shower is awesome! That is my main problem is committing to spraying consistently because of the mess it makes and because of how many plants I have in my affected room. I was spraying a mixture of dish soap, neem oil, peppermint and blended a few cloves of garlic ( sulphur is a bug killer) that I made tea of. It worked but the thrips came back a week later. The plant shower is a game changer!
As I sit down at my desk this Saturday morning in San Francisco and sip my coffee, it is with great pleasure that I forgot you upload today. Ive decided to save it for later in the day when I return home so that I can enjoy it like fine wine, the edumacations is to be savored with all the senses. but no really lol ill be back
I had a bushy laniata mildly infested with thrips. Didn’t want to deal with attempting to keep its shape, so I cut up every vine into cuttings and sprayed with a strong insecticide. Repeated once in a few weeks, if I remember correctly. The original leaves have some yellow spots from the treatment, but new growth has been just fine. Also, the cuttings were rooted separated from all other plants to be safe.
Great article Lee! I have been researching thrips for a while and like you, realize it’s a combination of tool to get rid or these pests. A few things I suggest you could add to your toolkit…. Blue Sticky pads do help catch bugs also I lightly shake a dusting of diatomaceous earth on the soil to prevent the adults from developing. The lint roller is a fabulous idea too – glad you included it. Keep the articles coming!
I absolutely LOVE your sense of humor! Lol & I really love ur articles! They’ve been SUPER beneficial for me and my house plants. I use a similar mixture, minus the castel soap. Instead I’ve always just used the original dawn soap. Lol either way it does work but yet again, I’ve not really had any bad infestations thank you Jesus! Just spider mites but it took care of them and that was including me wiping down the leaves front to back with alcohol. So my question is, what exactly does the castel soap do, smother them out or something? Just curious. Thank you for all your articles! I watch every time you upload. Hope you have a great day!
I had a massive thrips infestation, I spray the leafs with a mixture of water, soap and neem oil. It helped to keep the infestation in check but I haven’t been very consistent with it. I have also found that having fewer plants has helped a lot, to only have plants in your collection that you love and bring you joy as there is no need in having too many plants which makes it so much harder to kill pests and care for them all.
Personally having had plants for 25 years now, I don’t do the natural way when I get thrips and other stuff on my plants, i almost never get it anymore, but when I do I just use insecticide in the soil so it works systemic. Here in Norway we call it provanto, it’s tablets you put in the soil, and it has Flupyradifurone as active ingredient. Neem oil and all of that natural stuff don’t work long term in my opinion….. Flupyradifurone is considered safe, follow the label and use gloves, don’t breathe in the spray version and your plants is insect free and healthy.
I just found your website and was thrilled to see the recommendation for pest control since that is the exact one I use! I do have a question, however about a cast iron plant I bought online. I sprayed it and put it in isolation. Then I bottom watered it and saw two small (very small) caterpillars in the remaining water. The bigger one was dark green with white dots in a line down the top. I just sprayed the plant again and put it out on the patio. I guess I should repot it or do you think more spraying will be enough. I also noticed a few (less then 10 in the last week or so) small moths in the house lately which at first thought might be coming from flour or something like that….but I freeze those products and store little in the cupboard. No moths in the flour. I couldn’t figure out where they came from till I saw the caterpillars in the water. What would you do for this plant now? Thanks
I love your articles so much! All the spraying and that will do wonders. Neem, dawn, hydrogen peroxide, iso. etc. You mentioned in your article how they fly and transmit and can sustain freezing temps for a long amount of time. They are in the soil. I’ve kept known contaminated soil in -20* sustained temps all winter and they would survive. Have you tried diatomaceous earth? I mix it in with all my new soil for transplanting or new plants from seed. If I bring a new plant home, I dust in it the DE. For additional support I will use mosquito bits in the soil and also top dress. I haven’t seen a thrip, gnat, or another pest in a long time since I learned this. DE is like flour, you’ll make a mess the 1st few times but its harmless to pets, and humans.
After trying all kind of recipes and insecticides i have found to love Neem oil in variying deletions. It’s simply magic. Gets ride of all kind of nasty buggers even shield insects. As far as I know it works different on different pests. From blocking their breathing. To make them unable to eat or reproduce. It even helped (together with scrubing) to get rid of a nasty shield Investitions where you couldn’t see the green of the steam anymore because their where so many of them
gonna have to try this, nothing worked and i ended up losing or getting rid of like 70% of my plants and taking healthy ish cuttings from the ones i could/really loved. worked to reduce the numbers but I’ve seen more show up since. I’ll need to stay vigilant and try this on top of the diatomaceous earth i’ve been applying
I never had these Thrips, spider mites galore, never on the monstera though. Main source of infestation was i’ve been trying to grow orange and lemon, same as you i live in ontario canada…Very difficult. Most of my citrus trees came infested with mites, they didn’t really show their tiny dandruff looking faces until a couple months in. But god when they did, it was like a rave, i was debating charging them rent. Also one of my trees had scale bugs, those are much harder to kill and more evil than mites. My quick advice from my experience so far. #1 Spray your stuff down with some horticultural oil mix when you first get the plant. Don’t care where you got it – could be from the garden of eden itself, there will be bugs. #2 When you spray, wipe the leaves down with a microfibre cloth with a thick pile and then re-spray right away. #3 This is a hard one, and will take some commitment. Will this be an outdoor plant or an indoor? Unless you want to go through all that every time you bring it in (treating bugs that lay eggs in your dirt = jedi level) you have to make a black or white choice, outdoor (stays there) or indoor (stays there). I know your monstera probably loves it when you take it out on the balcony every summer, but honestly all those gains could be gone with one infestation. Plus they could get on your other plans. I would just keep it indoors, outdoors i’ll just keep some potted tomatoes or something that i don’t really care about and i can replace quite cheaply and quickly.
Thank you for the article!! I lost only a few plants to the thrips because I had a friend smuggle thermonuclear insecticide that required me to wear a full body suit and a mask. I had to seal off a room too. Now I have a cat and I can’t risk it. Now Im struggling with false spider mites and since we don’t have any stuff at all I have to get creative. But I did lose 40% of my collection and now in the process of losing another 30%. Hope I can find some castile soap
This is so damn useful. Thank you very much! How long without seeing thrips is a good sign that they’re definitely gone? Coincidentally, I found thrips in my monstera just a few weeks ago I showered her to get most of the larvae out and Neem oil seems to have finished them, now I’m consistently keeping an eye on her but I don’t know for how long to quarantine her. Thanks!
This concoction is overwrought btw. It’s the mint oil that does all the heavy lifting. What you basically do is submerge the soil, let the larvae float to the surface. add a few drops of mintoil (with a bit of alcohol for dispersion) and you see the larvae die. Then drain the water and repeat after a few days. Make sure you don’t add too much mintoil like in that article because it’s quite harsh on the plants. Just a few drops each time is more than enough to kill all the larvae in the pot.
Instead of bying multiple bottles of castille soap, I’d recomment buying peppermint and teatrea essential oils and using a neutral soap like plain castille soap, grated marseille soap or pine soap instead. If you’re iffy about buying EOs, I hate to tell you but that’s in those recommended soaps anyway, and in a great portion of all your cosmetics. It’s just a compound of a plant. Just don’t buy from a pyramid scheme, obviously. It’ll be way more cost effective and lasts many times more than the pre-scented soaps. I brought the mf’s to my apartment a while back on a rescue plant that had been abandoned. I was cautious, but didn’t know well enough what to look for at that point. Still dealing with them. Not a single tradescantia has survived them in my care yet, so finding them in my triving Zebrina was devastating. Doing everything I can to save her now. My syngoniums have also been particularly prone to thrips, so I’ve been more vigilant with them. I don’t know, maybe it’s finally time for systemic prevention…
No solution, more of a complaint. I thought I was good with the mealybug problem. They killed several plants and I fought them as best I could. I thought I won the battle. Then several months later I found them on my manjula pothos which was on the opposite side of the room where I last saw them. I have a shorts article on my page to show the plant. Anywho, I threw out the entire plant with the pot and moss pole. They must’ve been living in the soil because the plant didn’t have mealybugs prior. The plant was doing very good before this happened and I decided I didn’t want to fight the pest. I’ve been fighting mealybug since 2020 and I don’t want to do that anymore. I’ll replace the plant first when it comes to them. Aphid and other pests seem to be easier to get rid of. I live in an apartment and have a house in GA. When I’m in GA, I bring my plants because I can care for them better. The negative is, I bring them back to NY since that’s where I live and GA is a vacation home for now. So frustrating because I have so many more options in the house vs the apartment. Anywho part 2, im rambling. Thanks for the informative and fun article.
I have a combination of plants in a heavy decorative bowl. It sentimental since i recieved it as part of a close family members funeral. Ive found a few tiny bugs on the leaves recently. Of course the bowl has no drainage hole. Im upset about the idea of trying to take the planta out and repot, and worried if i dont i will drowned the plant truing to treat it. I also have no confidence in my ability to seperate the plants. Any suggestions?
Haven’t had a pest problem with my fam yet, but I’ll keep this in mind on my Plant Parent Playlist. 👍🏿 Random thought from this article: THRIPS MONSTERA could be a dope name in the rap/hip-hop genre. Maybe we need an artist out there seriously rapping about plant care, because it’s 2023 and anything is possible. 🤷🏿♂️
In the US we have spinosads and systemic pesticides which both obliterate thrips. For me though the hardest pest to get rid of is spider mites, they just dont care about pesticides at all. The only thing that gets rid of them for me is a mechanical pesticide that suffocates them so that them, their children, and their entire family dies a slow and painful death.
I had fungus gnats torturing me for about 10 months. Then, in the fall, an army of Lady bugs came in on their own and were huddled together up by the ceiling. So…. I did what any rational person would do and knocked them all down, collected them and put them on my plants. Now I see one or two gnats and there are still ladybugs working, others went to hibernate… I appreciate their service and they’re cute. I wouldn’t order lady bugs BC of the things I’ve read about harvesting them, but if they want to move into my home for the winter why not offer them some plants to live in? Next time I see Venus fly traps in store I’m going to stock up since the lady bugs will be leaving soon for spring. I used to have them but didn’t have pests so they got hungry…. Oops