The main pests of indoor plants. Pests on indoor flowers - black bugs Parasites in flower pots white

Insect pests of plants are a real scourge of the garden. What measures do experienced plant growers take to protect their plantings? Unfortunately, most control methods turn out to be useless, and all because each pest requires its own “approach” - some are enough to be collected by hand, while others cannot be eliminated without pesticides.

Just like people, plants can get sick. In addition, there are also numerous insect pests of plants - those who like to feast on leaves, roots, buds and flowers. And the gardener becomes very upset and painful when his pets suffer from diseases and pests. How to protect the garden? The main thing is proper care, and a healthy plant can stand up for itself. It is not difficult to deal with many pests of cultivated plants if measures are taken in time, but if this is not done through ignorance or negligence, then it will be much more difficult to defeat this scourge.

To successfully combat plant pests, you need to know the “enemies” by sight. It is equally important to have an idea of ​​the nature of the damage that this or that pest causes, since thrips cannot be seen without a magnifying glass, the slug hides in secluded places for the day, and many, having eaten to their fill, fly away.

You can find photos and names of plant pests, as well as their descriptions and the most effective methods of control on this page.

Root pests of garden plants

The click beetle damages many flowering plants, including tulips, poppies, and gladioli. This is a small pest, 1.5-2.5 cm long, black in color, and there are striped individuals. Distributed everywhere, but most numerous and harmful on wet soils.

As can be seen in the photo, the larvae of plant pests, known as “wireworms,” are narrow, long, consisting of segments, with a very dense shell of yellow or brown color:

They live in the ground and damage the bulbs or roots of plants, eating holes and passages in them. Fungi and bacteria settle in the damage, and the plant dies over time. In the winter, insects and larvae hide deep in the soil; in the spring, as the soil warms up, they rise to the top.

Hoverfly, or large daffodil fly. Its larvae cause great damage to the bulbs of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and can also damage gladioli corms and iris rhizomes. The larvae, about 1 cm long, overwinter in the bulbs. These pests of plant roots eat away the bottom, and the bulb becomes soft. In the spring, weak plants with ugly, quickly yellowing leaves are formed from the affected bulbs; flowering usually does not occur. With severe damage, the entire inside of the bulb turns into a black, rotting mass.

Onion root mite harms bulbous plants - daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, lilies, and also damages gladioli corms and dahlia tubers. The mite poses a danger both during the growing season and during storage of planting material. These insect pests of cultivated plants persist in the soil on plant debris and quickly penetrate bulbs planted in the ground through the bottom or mechanical damage, but healthy planting material can also be affected. Pests settle between the scales and feed on the juice, wearing away at the bottom, which becomes loose and peels off easily. At the same time, the plants develop poorly, turn yellow, wither, and if the bulbs are heavily infested with mites, they do not sprout at all. An adult tick has a convex oval body up to 1 mm in size, light yellow in color, with four pairs of legs. The larvae are smaller. Females lay up to 800 eggs in bulbs. After a week, larvae appear, which develop and feed inside the bulbs for a month. Adult mites and their larvae make numerous passages, as a result of which the worn-out bulb can turn into dust. The pest loves warmth and moisture. When humidity is below 60%, the development of mites stops, they lose mobility and enter the resting stage. They can remain in this state for a long time. It is very difficult to destroy the pest.

Iris and winter cutworms- dangerous pests of bearded and, especially, Siberian irises. At the beginning of the growing season, cutworm caterpillars eat away the bases of flower stalks, and they turn yellow and dry out. These pests of garden plants are not able to “cut off” the powerful flower stalks of tall bearded irises, but the damage they cause is sufficient for the flower stalks to be blown over by the wind. In addition, caterpillars can also damage rhizomes, which are then easily affected by bacterial rot. In dry summers, iris plantings are more affected by armyworms. Cutworm caterpillars also harm bulbous plants by gnawing holes in the bulbs and eating the roots. Plants often die in this case.

May Khrushchev or May Beetle. This large red-brown beetle eats holes of irregular shapes on the leaves in May-June. This plant pest got its name because the beetles' flight begins in May. For plants, it is not so much the beetle itself that is dangerous as its thick, curved larvae, more than 2.5 cm long. Over the course of several years, the larvae develop in the soil, gnawing and damaging roots or bulbs. As a result, the plant weakens and may die. Large numbers of larvae are found in organic debris and manure.

What are the main pests of cultivated bulbous plants?

What other insect pests of cultivated plants cause enormous damage to garden plantings?

Root nematode- one of the main pests of plants, including violas and daffodils. It is a microscopic worm, invisible to the naked eye. Adult males are up to 1.5 mm long, their body shape is thread-like. The females of these pests of garden plants have a pear-shaped body up to 1.3 mm long. The female lays up to 400 eggs. The larvae develop in galls - swellings on the roots of plants. Roots damaged by root-knot nematodes are unable to provide the plant with sufficient nutrition and water. Plants are stunted and do not bloom. Often the roots rot due to pathogenic organisms entering the galls. From the galls, the pests move into the soil and penetrate the small roots of other plants, which also stop growing, turn yellow and often die. The root-knot nematode spreads better on light soils. Pests also cause great losses to bulbous plants. The larvae feed on the juice of leaves and stems, and then move into the bulb. It softens, and brown rings are visible on the cross section, the so-called “ring rot.” Affected plants become smaller, the leaves turn yellow and swellings are visible on them. Plant development is delayed, they bloom poorly, and if severely damaged, they die. These pests of bulbous plants penetrate healthy planting material when planted in contaminated soil, as well as during storage. If the damage reaches the bottom and spreads to the remaining scales, the bulb dies.

Thrips they hover like a cloud over their favorite “food” - gladioli and irises, leaving silvery spots on the flowers and leaves. The buds bloom poorly, and if the damage is severe, the inflorescence does not form at all. Hot and dry summers are favorable for pest reproduction. During a season, up to 9 generations of thrips develop in the southern regions. The pest can also damage planting material located in storage. Thrips are especially active at temperatures above 10 °C. A sign of thrips damage is shiny scabs on corms, bulbs or tubers. Thrips, when there are a lot of them, can cause great harm and even destroy planting material during storage. Thrips damages irises, gladioli, clematis, roses, and less commonly dahlias and other crops. Small insects, about 1.5 mm long, barely visible to the naked eye, cause significant damage to garden plants. Thrips settle in the leaf axils. The upper surface of the leaves, damaged by many injections, acquires a silvery sheen. When there is a large concentration of pests, the leaves become covered with small black specks of insect excrement. As a result of severe damage, the leaves turn yellow, dry out and fall off, which has a detrimental effect on the development of the entire plant, the formation of peduncles and flowers.

Medvedka(top, cabbage, earthen crayfish). The pest poses a serious threat to tulips and gladioli; it is not averse to gnawing on the bulbs of other flowers. It is also dangerous for irises, especially in the southern regions. It can completely destroy newly planted summer seedlings.

Pay attention to the photo - this insect pest of plants reaches a length of 3.5 to 5 cm:

It has wings, strong movable horny jaws, strong front claws equipped with a serrated file to make it easier to dig passages in the ground. The saw-tooth file, when moving in one direction, folds and forms a sharp spear, and in the other direction it opens to a certain angle like a saw blade and cuts the soil, and with it roots, tubers, and bulbs. The pest easily travels underground, swims quickly in water and flies through the air. Crawling out to the surface of the ground, it moves quite quickly. The insect's "uniform" is durable and waterproof. The pest has a very subtle sense of smell. The mole cricket causes the greatest damage on loose, fertilized soils and in warm areas, where it can reproduce in huge numbers.

What do common pests of garden plants look like?

The cabbage cutworm is polyphagous. Caterpillars cause damage to various crops. The most frequently damaged flowers are daffodils, tulips, gladioli, and dahlias. This is a dark brown butterfly with a wingspan of up to 5 cm. The pupae overwinter in the soil. This insect pest is described as similar to a moth. The butterfly flight begins in May-June and continues for a long time. During the season, one female lays up to 1500 eggs on the lower surface of the leaves. After 2-3 weeks, caterpillars emerge from them. During their development, they cause significant damage to flowering plants, gnawing holes in leaves and buds.

Khrushchi. Golden bronze beetle and garden beetle are small beetles that eat the stamens, pistils and petals of flowers and penetrate the buds. Because of this, the flowers become ugly, often in the form of one half.

Leaf-eating armyworm- a butterfly with a wingspan of up to 3.5-4.5 cm. The front wings are yellow-brown with kidney-shaped, wedge-shaped and round spots, the hind wings are white. The caterpillars of this widespread plant pest are up to 5 cm long, light green or brownish-brown, with even rows of white spots with a black rim along the entire body, with a bright yellow lateral stripe and three pale narrow ones along the back. Caterpillars feed at night, eating the petals, and during the day they hide in the depths of the flower, so they are difficult to notice.

Cabbage moth- small butterfly. Its summer begins in the second half of May. Butterflies lay 2-4 eggs on the underside of leaves. One female can lay up to 150 eggs or more. The cabbage moth produces up to 4 generations. The eggs hatch into very mobile, light green caterpillars with sparse hairs. They eat the upper epidermis and the pulp of the leaves, leaving the lower epidermis untouched, which dries out and ruptures. They also eat buds and flowers.

Aphid- the most common pests of cultivated plants in the garden. Great damage is caused to ornamental shrubs (viburnum, mock orange, euonymus). Small insects ranging in size from 1 to 2.5 mm have different colors: light and dark green, black, orange, reddish. Insects and their larvae settle on various parts of plants: young shoots, leaves, buds and flowers. By sucking out cell sap, they retard plant growth, cause deformation of leaves and flower stalks, and buds do not open. The leaves are covered with sticky honeydew. Sooty fungi can settle on the sweet secretions of aphids. Plants lose their decorative properties. During a season, aphids can produce up to 17 generations; the pest reproduces especially well in warm weather. When storing tulip and gladioli bulbs, colonies of green aphids may appear under the outer scales. Damaged bulbs subsequently produce weakened shoots.

Insect pests of cultivated plants and disease vectors

Meadow bug. A rather large sucking insect, b mm long, causes damage mainly to young shoots, leaves and buds. The bug's body is light or dark green, covered with black dots, the stripes on the sides and the tip of the abdomen are also black. Adult insects are winged, larvae are wingless, very similar to aphids. The larvae can jump and easily avoid danger when spraying buds. The female lays eggs in the apical buds of plants. The hatched larvae pierce the delicate skin of young leaves and buds and suck the juice from them. Damaged crops grow ugly, with deformed inflorescences. This insect pest of plants is a carrier of diseases, including viral ones.

Naked slugs. The pest is polyphagous, damages a wide variety of flowering plants, and attacks vegetable crops. Naked slugs are gastropods and have a gray, brown or light yellow elongated, spindle-shaped body covered with mucus. In wet years, slugs multiply greatly and cause significant damage to plants. They eat oblong holes on the leaves, can eat flowers and young shoots, and damage the bulbs. Slugs are nocturnal; during the day they hide under lumps of earth, large leaves, and in other secluded places. The presence of a pest is indicated by the appearance of silvery mucus on the leaves. Leaf-eating caterpillars do not leave such traces. In dense plantings, favorable conditions are created for the reproduction of the pest. Like the onion bug, these insect pests of cultivated plants are carriers of diseases, in particular bacteriosis.

Mammals can also pose a danger to an ornamental garden: moles, mice, rats, hares.

Look at the photo to see what plant pests look like - now you can recognize the “enemies by sight”:

How to protect plants from pests: methods of control

Sometimes plants suffer less from pests and diseases than from the ignorance and laziness of the flower growers themselves. A careless gardener can destroy his plantings at a speed that even a locust would envy.

How to protect plants from pests and prevent hordes of insects from spreading throughout the area? In order for crops to develop and bloom well, it is necessary to choose the right place for planting, prepare the soil well, purchase healthy planting material and, finally, strictly follow the rules of care.

But pest insects also want to live and eat deliciously, so they rush into the gardens in orderly and not so orderly rows. Each region has its own specific characteristics depending on climatic and weather conditions. In some areas there is no life from the pirate mole cricket, in others everything has been “devoured” by the tripe, in others the number one enemy is bacteriosis.

An experienced gardener, taking measures to combat plant pests, begins his day in the garden by inspecting the crops. If during the next “contemplation” he notices twisted and perforated leaves, twisted shoots, mutilated buds and flowers, he will immediately understand that the garden has been attacked by pests. If there are only a few of them, you can simply pick them off with your hands or wash them off with a stream of water. But if you miss this moment, a few pests will turn into hundreds and thousands, and there will be nothing left of your flowers.

Remember the following rules on how to deal with pests on your site:

1. It is easier to prevent a problem than to eliminate it.

2. If the “invasion” has begun, do not delay the fight for an hour.

3. The devil is not as scary as he is painted. In a single garden you are unlikely to encounter more than three to five varieties of uninvited “guests”.

To calm down this gang of “robbers”, do not immediately reach for pesticides. There is no need to panic if you find small numbers of harmful insects on plants - you can pick off slugs with your hands, and wash off aphids with a stream of water. Whether pests will turn into a natural disaster that can only be controlled with “chemistry” largely depends on the condition of the plants and weather conditions. For example, plants weakened by a lack of light become easy prey for sucking insects. Thrips multiply excessively in dry and hot weather. The gardener’s task is to do everything to ensure that the plants are strong and healthy, because such plants are too tough for pests.

In addition, uninvited garden guests have natural enemies. There is a balance in nature: every pest has at least one enemy. Ladybugs, lacewings, predatory hover flies and silver flies are enemies of aphids. They also do not refuse leaf-eating caterpillars. Ladybugs and their larvae can destroy up to 150 aphids per day. Other beneficial insects called ichneumon fly lay eggs in living caterpillars, and their larvae eat the caterpillars alive from the inside. And, of course, birds tirelessly consume harmful beetles and caterpillars. Hedgehogs are excellent at destroying beetle larvae.

How to deal with insect pests: plant protection methods

In order not to disturb the natural balance, try to give preference to means of controlling plant pests that would not harm beneficial insects and birds. The main thing in protecting plants from pests is a system of preventive measures: it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it. The main role is given to plant care activities, from the purchase of planting material to wintering or storing in storage.

Crop rotations prevent the accumulation of pathogens and pests in the soil and create conditions for normal growth and development of plants. It is known that nasturtium, mustard, and calendula, which release phytoncidal substances, help cleanse the soil of infection. Therefore, it is recommended to alternate planting bulbous plants with these annuals. The plants are returned to their original site after 5-6 years.

How else to deal with plant pests in the garden? An important point is soil preparation. In poorly drained, humus-poor soil, plants are more likely to get sick, grow weakened, and are attacked by pests. Before planting a flower garden, the area must be cleared of debris: branches, stones, wood chips, etc. Deep digging of the soil in the flower garden in the fall will help get rid of the larvae and eggs of harmful insects (cutworms, wireworms, earwigs) overwintering in it. When using composts or manure, you need to be careful not to introduce Mayweed, which often settles in compost heaps, into the flower garden. The larvae must be carefully selected and destroyed; they can be fed to chickens. Boxes for seedlings must be disinfected annually (with a solution of potassium permanganate or boiling water), and the soil in them must be changed (it is better to use ready-made mixtures for seedlings).

For most ornamental plants, areas with light, loose soils are more suitable. Heavy acidic soils, which promote the spread of fungal infections, are limed. To do this, fluff lime is added in the fall at the rate of 100-200 g per 1 m2.

If you purchased healthy planting material, then there will be much fewer problems. Therefore, it is better to make purchases in specialized stores. Try to avoid thickening the plantings; in such conditions, the plants lack nutrition and excess moisture appears, which also leads to the proliferation of pests and pathogens. It is necessary to systematically remove weeds, as they are a reservoir for many diseases and pests. In addition, they thicken plantings and compete with cultivated plants for nutrients.

Plant debris (foliage, stems, fallen flowers) often become a haven for pests. You cannot leave trash near plants. Carefully rake it and destroy it.

What to do if pests appear in the garden

What to do if pests do settle in your garden? Many insects can be destroyed mechanically. Beetles (bronze beetle, May beetle) are collected and destroyed, and the affected buds are cut off. Aphids are washed off with a stream of water. Cutworm caterpillars, click beetles and their larvae are selected when digging the soil. An excellent way to combat plant pests such as click beetles and their larvae (wireworms) is by laying out baits (potato tubers). Pests make tunnels in the tubers and linger in them for some time. The bait is collected and destroyed.

Baits are also used to protect plants from insect pests such as slugs. Bunches of dill, burdock leaves, boards, pieces of slate, and wet rags are placed near the plants in the spaces between the rows, under which pests accumulate during the day. The pests are then collected and destroyed.

Pollinating the soil around plants with superphosphate, a mixture of ash and quicklime, and shag dust helps against slugs. This should be done in the evening or early in the morning, when the slugs are on the surface of the soil. But still, the most effective means of combating slugs is metaldehyde. Granules are scattered in places where slugs accumulate under plants (4 g per 1 m2).

There are many methods for protecting plants from mole cricket pests:

1. Collect more eggshells over the winter and grind them into powder. In the spring, when planting plants, moisten the powder with vegetable oil for scent and place 1 tsp in the holes. The mole cricket, having tasted the bait, dies.

2. Pour the pest’s excavations with soapy water (4 tablespoons of washing powder per bucket of water). The mole cricket either dies underground or comes to the surface, where it is easy to collect and destroy.

3. Another effective method for dealing with mole cricket pests is to plant marigolds along the borders of the site. This will prevent the insect from accessing your garden from the neighboring area.

4. You can get rid of mole crickets using an infusion of chicken droppings, watering the ground with it in dry weather.

5. In the fall, in the places where the mole cricket lived, trapping holes 0.5 m deep are dug and filled with fresh manure. The pits are located at a distance of 5 m from each other. A mound of earth is poured over the trapping pits and marked with a peg. When the weather gets cold and snow falls, they use pegs to find places for trapping holes and throw manure out of them to the surface. Mole crickets hidden in manure for the winter die in the cold.

A selection of photos “Pest Control” will help you choose the most affordable way to protect plants on your site:

Plants that protect against pests in the garden

If you want to enjoy the aroma of flowers in your garden, and not pesticides, then it is better to use insecticidal plants to control pests. Infusions and decoctions of these plants, which protect against pests, pose virtually no danger to humans, as well as to birds, hedgehogs, etc. They relatively quickly lose their toxic properties and do not accumulate in soil and plants.

Collect wild and cultivated insecticidal plants in dry, clear weather and dry in the shade. Subsequently stored in a dark, well-ventilated area. You can prepare decoctions and infusions directly after collecting plants.

After infusion or boiling, the liquid is filtered through a double layer of gauze or burlap. If the concentrated broth is poured hot and sealed tightly, it can be stored in a cool room for up to 2 months. Before use, the decoction is diluted to the required concentration.

When treating plants with infusions and decoctions against pests in the garden, insects die within 3 days. After 4-6 days, the treatment must be repeated to consolidate the result.

For preventive purposes, many gardeners plant insecticidal plants (calendula, garlic, onions) in separate groups in their plots.

When planting, it is necessary to maintain the optimal distance between plants. Extinguished plantings are more often affected by viral and fungal diseases, and pests multiply more strongly there. Planting depth also matters. Small planting of bulbs is unacceptable, as this leads to overheating. In the spring, when mass shoots appear, all diseased and ungerminated specimens are removed. During the growing season, plants affected by nematodes and viral diseases are discarded and destroyed. If necessary, the soil is treated with insecticides.

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Beautiful indoor flowers grow on the windowsill, but suddenly strange black bugs appear on them, the owners begin to panic, what kind of insects are these, will they harm the plants, where did they come from and how to get rid of them?

Fungus gnat– sciarids (flower midge, soil mosquito, detritus), dipterous insects up to 7 mm in length, elongated dark body and almost black wings, with long antennae and legs. Some females lack wings.

For indoor flowers, the most dangerous are the larvae of fungus gnats, which in the soil feed on the remains of decaying tissues and eat up the roots of plants.

Shchitovka- arthropods, hemiptera insects, with strong differences between males and females. Young females have a soft, waxy shield of almost white color; males are very small, almost invisible, and die after fertilization. In adult females, the scutellum becomes more rigid and dark brown in color, hardening on the leaves of plants.

The scale insect causes significant harm by sucking out the sap of the plant; sticky marks and yellowing appear at the site of the sucker. It is especially dangerous for citrus crops, where it damages the ovary.

Thrips(puff-footed) - small, up to 1.5 mm, black insects with an elongated body and wings.

They are dangerous for all plants, as they suck out the juice, after which the leaves of the flower fall off. Thanks to their wings and long, fast legs, they move among all flowers and lay many larvae.

Every person who grows indoor plants can encounter other pests:

• enchytraea - white annelids;
• whitefly;
• spider, flat-bodied, cyclomene or root mites;
• mealy or root bug;
• nematodes;
• idiots.

Where do black bugs come from on potted flowers?

Black bugs can appear on indoor flowers at any time of the year and multiply quickly, because a warm room contributes to this.

Where do they come from:

• brought in from an open window with air and wind;
• along with flowers purchased in stores;
• when purchasing soil for plants;
• from a personal plot, soil taken from it;
• with bouquets of flowers purchased in flower shops or brought from the fields.
• with shoes and clothes, especially if you went on picnics.

Prevention measures

It is not possible to completely protect your indoor plants; it is very important to carry out preventive measures.

• Do not over-moisten the soil;
• Do not leave food, stubs, or plant debris in pots that may begin to rot;
• It is not advisable to experiment with watering with fatty water with sugar or other ingredients that can become a breeding ground for pests;
• Steam purchased or collected soil in the oven;
• Spill the soil once every six months with a disinfectant solution of manganese;
• Once a week, thoroughly wash the trays and window sill with laundry soap without leaving even a residue. After washing, wipe the top with a pest repellent;
• Infected plants should be quarantined, the soil should be changed, and the roots should be washed with running water and a disinfectant.

Ways to fight

There are many methods and means for eliminating pests on indoor flowers; which one is suitable and effective depends on the conditions of detention and the correct treatment of the plants.

• A sick plant with signs of emerging pests must be placed in a quarantine zone, completely excluding its proximity to any types of plants. This could be a separate window sill in another room or a bathroom.
• It is worth deciding on the type of insects or worms that have affected the indoor flower. If pests are not visible on the leaves from above, you need to inspect the axils, trunk and shoots. If the pest is not detected, but the plant is withering, its leaves have dropped, and it has not been flooded or fed with fertilizer before, then you will have to pull it out of the ground and inspect the root system.
• The choice of a drug or folk remedy that can be used to remove pests depends on the degree of damage.

Ways to fight:

1. Mechanical - with minimal infestation of visible insects, which can be removed from the plant by hand, rinse the leaves with water or spray the product. These include the scale insect.
2. Folk remedies for protecting plants from pests are also used with minimal damage to areas on flowers.
3. In case of severe damage or a large number of pests, natural or chemical-based preparations are used.

Before choosing a drug, it is important to familiarize yourself with the hazard class of the drug and its effect.

When the plant is not significantly affected, it is better to use folk remedies or biological preparations with a low level of toxicity, only if they do not help to try with more aggressiveness.

Hazard classes:

1 – extremely dangerous;

2 – highly dangerous;

3 – moderate toxicity;

4 – low toxic.

Protecting indoor flowers - folk remedies

Compliance with agricultural techniques for caring for flowers and preventive measures will not give insect pests a chance to destroy the plants.

Preventive measures:

• it is very important not to flood the soil and not to overdry it;
• do water treatments, spraying, showers for indoor flowers 1-2 times a month.

Folk remedies will help prevent the colonization of indoor flowers by pests, especially scale insects, aphids, thrips, and fungus gnats:

Means	How to use and dilute?
Manganese (potassium permanganate, KMnO4)	Watering into the soil: 1-2 crystals of manganese per 1 liter of warm water, so that the solution becomes pale pink. Watering is carried out every 4-5 days, 2-3 times no more. Foliar treatment with the same solution is carried out daily, spraying the diseased plant for no more than 5 days in a row. Before each spraying procedure, you should irrigate the flower leaves with plain water.
Iodine	1 tsp. for 10 liters of water, suitable for spraying and spilling soil once every 10 days.
Iodine + soda ash + laundry soap	Only for spraying against aphids, scale insects, gray rot. For 5 l. water 5 ml iodine and 1 tbsp. soda and soap. Stir thoroughly, pour into a spray bottle and spray once every 10 days.
Alcohol tincture of calendula	For 1 liter of water, 10 ml of tincture, a solution only for external irrigation of leaves. As a preventive measure, once every 10 days for a month. When infested with pests, apply once a day for 5-7 days.
Tea tree essential oil	5 ml per 3 l. water, spray daily for 5-10 days, depending on the degree of pest infestation.
Tobacco dust	100 gr. tobacco dust, pour 2.5 liters. water and add 1 tsp. liquid laundry soap. Leave for 2 days, strain and spray the plants once every 2 days, 5 procedures.
Onion scale	Pour 1 cup of onion scales into 2 liters of hot water, leave for 24 hours, strain, add 1 tsp. soap Irrigate the leaves 1 r per day for 3-7 days.
Laundry soap	Mix 2 tablespoons of liquid laundry soap in 1 liter. Spray the diseased plant with water and leave for a day. The next day, rinse off in the shower and spray with the solution again, repeating the procedure for 3 days.

Even more information about pests on indoor flowers is in the video:

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Many lovers of ornamental plants may notice small black dots on the underside of the leaf. And only a few know that these are thrips on indoor plants - small pests that become especially aggressive in spring and summer, causing great harm to the crop. Pests suck sap from flowers and leaves and also transmit viral diseases. As a result of their influence, flowers fall off, leaves dry out, and secretions of their vital activity appear, on which sooty fungus can settle.

1. What is flower thrips
2. Signs of thrips damage to flowers
3. Methods for identifying and preventing thrips
4. Methods for controlling thrips

Most often it goes to dracaenas, varieties of palms, ficus, citrus, roses, monstera and laurel. Lesions in the form of black dots are not the only manifestation of the disease; viral infections that spread to nearby healthy flowers are also observed.

Flower thrips are dipterous insects whose length ranges from 0.5 to 5 mm. Young pests are colored green, yellow and pale yellow; adult individuals are found in black, sandy and brown shades. In this way, the insects manage to camouflage themselves, making them difficult to detect. The larvae are too small, lay eggs, and have a gray or light tint.

There are many types of this pest. Thus, one of the most dangerous for ornamental crops is the Western Californian flower thrips, which is an individual up to two millimeters long, located in buds, inflorescences, and on leaves. The pest likes to settle on indoor plants such as roses, gerberas, chrysanthemums, cyclamens, etc. Given the location of thrips on indoor plants, their treatment is difficult, since most of the population is inaccessible to chemical influence.

Signs of thrips damage to flowers

Characteristic signs of plant damage by pests are:

• the presence of yellow spots on the surface of the sheets at the beginning of infection;
• the appearance of silvery dotted streams at further stages of disease development (not necessary for all types of insects);
• on the lower part of the leaf there may be an accumulation of yellow and brown spots, as well as black dots;
• Over time, spots and lines merge;
• holes may appear at the site of the lesions, leaves wither and fall off;
• when the buds are infected with Western flower thrips, deformation of the inflorescences is determined. So, roses have flowers that remain closed.

Pronounced viral symptoms of crop disease are:

• yellowish or brownish round spots on the leaves;
• the stem is covered with a black or brown coating;
• Damage to the leaf bases in the form of necrosis is observed.

From the beginning of the infection process to the appearance of signs of activity of the Californian color triplex, 1-2 weeks pass, during which a new generation is formed.

Methods for identifying and preventing thrips

For early identification and detection of insects, it is recommended to regularly inspect flowers and leaves of crops, especially from the underside. During a visual inspection, it should be taken into account that, for example, Western California flower thrips likes to be located in the most illuminated areas, gathering on flowers and the top leaves. Blue and yellow sticky traps will help you identify thrips on indoor plants.

Preventive care for pets involves cleaning them from dust, spraying them, you need to ensure that the air is not very dry, that is, maintaining sufficient humidity in the room.

Too much nitrogen fertilizer promotes the development of flower thrips. An insect can get into an apartment with bouquets brought from the street. It is quite difficult to remove pests from buds and flowers, since it is necessary to shake them off and hit them on a table with white paper placed on it, on which the insects will remain.

Methods for controlling thrips

It is quite difficult to get rid of thrips on indoor plants, so at the first signs of the disease it is necessary to isolate the crop and clean it of infected elements (leaves, flowers).

At the initial stages of infection, you can wipe the plant with a solution of laundry soap using a soft sponge. This measure will not eliminate the pest, but will only reduce its population. It is recommended to leave the flower in soap under a plastic bag for some time.

Treatment with water with a few drops of machine oil, kerosene or foliage polish diluted in it is effective. However, it should be remembered here that such products are harmful to the plant, so their use on crops with thin and delicate leaves is excluded. Leathery leaves can be wiped 3-4 times with alcohol.

In case of severe damage to flowers by pests, it is impossible to do without treating thrips on indoor plants with the help of chemicals. The number of such products is quite large: Fitoverm, Mospilan, Aktara (as a sprayer or added to the root), Confidor, Intavir, Dantop, Apache, etc. Specialized stores may offer products under different names. A drug such as Spintor, an insecticide of natural origin, has proven itself to be quite effective.

The most important thing when purchasing chemicals is to carefully study the instructions for use, and before processing, wash the plant with water. Chemical treatment will have to be carried out not just once, but in several stages. In the period between manipulations, flower stalks must be removed.

If, after treating the crop against Western flower thrips with an insecticide, the pest returns again, then there is no need to despair. It's worth trying another remedy. After all, the effects of drugs are different; perhaps another drug will be more reliable and effective.

If the infection is mildly affected by flower thrips, you can try traditional methods of protection. For example, mix 85 gr. garlic, passed through a garlic press, 50 ml. mineral or vegetable oil with 10 ml. laundry soap and 950 ml. water. The mixture should sit for 24 hours. Before use, you need to dilute the solution in a ratio of 1 to 19 with water, that is, 950 g. take 50 ml of water. mixtures. Spray the plant with the resulting substance.

Spider mites

The most common pest of indoor flowers. Characteristic signs of damage: if the leaf is exposed to light, pinpoint punctures, whitish or yellowish, are visible. Gradually they merge into spots. The leaves turn pale and acquire a grayish tint. Then the leaves dry out and completely lose color. This is a typical pattern, but in some cases the leaves turn red or bronze. In some plants, the leaves do not change shape even when the spots are large, in other cases they are severely deformed and curled.

Photo of a spider mite - a pest close-up

Here are photographs of spider mites for quick identification of the pest on indoor plants. How to distinguish who is eating your flowers and how to deal with the pest.

The leaves turn yellow, cobwebs have appeared on the flowers, dots appear on the leaves as if pricked by a needle, the flowers do not grow, the tops of the shoots wither - these are signs of spider mites. Advice from experienced gardeners on how to fight ticks using folk remedies or chemicals.

Oribati mites

A package of orchids arrived, and there were black bugs, like ticks, running around quickly. Who is this?

Oribatid mites or oribatids are soil arthropods. By 2015, more than 7,000 species of oribatid mites have been described. Who are they - pests or beneficial living creatures? Do we need to destroy them, what means should we use to fight them? What to do if orchid mites have settled in orchid pots.

What do armored mites look like, how to distinguish them from herbivorous mites: spider mites, flat mites and broad mites.

Thrips on indoor flowers are not uncommon; they enter our home from the street, garden flowers, purchased indoor plants, and cut flowers (from bouquets). They spread very quickly on house plants, sucking juices from them, contaminating the leaves with skins and excrement. Thrips is dangerous because it has several stages of development, some of which are secretive - females lay eggs directly in the leaf tissue, and nymphs hide in the ground. In addition, eggs and nymphs have integuments that protect them from the action of contact insecticides. Therefore, the fight against thrips takes place in several stages.

Close-up photo of thrips - pest

Silver spots, discolored areas appear on the leaves, the shoots dry out and become deformed, the plant does not bloom, the leaves turn yellow, small black drops or crumbs appear on the surface of the leaves - these are signs of thrips. Look at photos of the pest and compare it with your plant.

You might find some tips on how to deal with thrips useful.

From the point of view of indoor floriculture, the danger of scale insects is that due to parthenogenesis - the birth of females without fertilization, scale insects can reproduce all year round, producing about 5-6 generations, the process of changing generations is continuous. At the same time, males among indoor scale insects are extremely rare, but if they appear, for some reason they are very scary. Someone begins to think that this unknown, terribly gluttonous creature. In fact, the development cycle of scale insects, with or without males, is no different. The males themselves do not harm the plants - they simply have nothing to eat. In fact, male scale insects hatch for a single mission - fertilization, therefore, all they have are eyes, wings and genitals.

Photo of scale insect - close-up pest

What do scale insects and false scale insects look like - brown spots on stems, petioles, leaves, translucent or with a dense brown shield, flat or convex. The smallest ones are almost invisible, but if you peel it off and press it with a needle, a wet mark remains. And how the leaves of various plants affected by scale insects look, look at the photographs of various plants.

Advice from experienced gardeners on how to cure scale insects using folk remedies and medications.

Mealybug

The bristlebug or mealybug is a small insect that lives on plants. Its body is covered with a white, waxy coating, which makes clusters of pests look like cotton balls.

Scale insects cause serious damage to indoor plants, and it is quite difficult to remove them at home. What to look for: If the leaves turn yellow and fall off, the shoots are stunted, small white spots are visible on the stems or under the leaves. Scale insects climb under the bark of indoor fruit exotics, under the scales of bulbs of hippeastrums and other bulbous plants, and hide in the fluffy hairs on the stems of begonias. Sooty fungi can settle on the secretions of scale insects.

Close-up photo of mealybug - pest

You won’t always notice this pest right away: scale insects can hide for a long time in the root zone, near the surface of the ground, or in the axils of leaves.

And only when the colony of scale insects grows numerous and voracious will the pests be noticeable on the leaves. But by this time, as a rule, the plant withers, turns yellow irrevocably and dies.

Whitefly

Whitefly is a pest of indoor and garden plants; all species easily reproduce in an apartment; some species quietly winter in mid-latitudes and breed under our windows in the spring. The whitefly especially loves celandine, which grows under our windows, and in gardens it spoils any vegetables, especially cabbage, and berries.

How to identify the pest - photo of whitefly, measures to combat whitefly.

At home, aphids can cause harm all year round. They multiply quite quickly, forming colonies that cover more and more territory. But unlike mites, aphids are large pests and are easy to see with the naked eye. Aphids focus on the most tender parts of the plant - the tops of shoots, buds, flowers. For many plants, the easiest way is to prune the affected shoots and tear off the flower stalks. For plants that form a rosette, wash the leaves with a sponge and green soap, and clean the leaf axils with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol.

If aphids are very rampant on indoor flowers, spray the plants with any insecticide. The following drugs will help you: Aktara, Confidor, Tanrek, Fitoverm, Inta-Vir, Iskra, Iskra-Bao, Deciss and other drugs.

Green potassium soap is also an indispensable helper in gardens - it has no odor and is not poisonous to people. Potassium soap should be diluted at the rate of 20 g of liquid green soap per 1 liter of water. Spray secluded places especially carefully - the tops of shoots, leaf axils, apply a foam cap on the buds. Do not rinse off the soap solution!

Read about how to fight aphids in your garden: How to kill aphids

Nematode

The nematode comes in various types; the root one usually forms spherical growths or swellings. Stem or leaf nematodes do not form swellings, but cause severe deformation of leaves, stems, and buds. Flowers, as a rule, do not even open. Begonias, gloxinias, ficuses, and ferns suffer greatly from nematodes. Their leaves wrinkle, seem to shrink, turn brown between the veins, young ones grow immediately twisted and ugly.

Some types of nematodes also form galls on flowers; nematode damage is often accompanied by symptoms of bacterial infections.

Fungus gnats

Sciarides or fungus gnats are small annoying midges that appear in flowers and fly throughout the apartment. They do not harm themselves, they do not eat the flowers, but mosquitoes are a sure sign that the plants are systematically flooded. You need to check the soil in pots with flowers, because if you do not eliminate waterlogging, the roots of the plants may rot.

If mosquitoes manage to lay eggs in the soil, they hatch into larvae that feed on rotting organic matter and can partially damage plant roots.

Mining flies

The larvae of these flies gnaw out the core of the leaves, leaving discolored patterns of passages on them - min. They damage the leaves of trees, shrubs, including conifers, and herbaceous plants; in indoor conditions they can affect violets (Saintpaulias), succulents (euphorbia, sedum), hibiscus syngonium and other plants...

Root mites

Root and onion mites feed on the underground part of plants - they gnaw out bulbs and feed on succulent roots. They are detected at a stage when the plant has already been severely damaged - growth is inhibited, the leaves turn yellow, buds and flowers do not form, sometimes one-sided drying out of the crown occurs - in individual branches, but more often the plant has general signs of starvation - chlorosis. Often, wounds on the roots and bulbs become infected, and the plant becomes infected with fusarium.

High soil moisture promotes more rapid proliferation of root mites. Very often, affected indoor plants, especially small and tender ones, die. The best prevention is soil disinfection and quarantine of all purchased plants.

Occasional pests: woodlice, weevil, enchitraea, caterpillars

There are pests that appear quite rarely in flower pots - these are enchytraea; woodlice and earthworms can be brought in with the soil for planting plants; weevils or woodlice can get into the house from garden soil. If you have something crawling in your pot, look here, you might recognize the pest...

Many of them are not as dangerous as they seem, and sometimes not dangerous at all, for example, poduras or enchitraea can eat rotting plant roots, but in themselves do not cause the death of indoor flowers. Plants die from overwatering and putrefactive infections.

Poduras, springtails, springtails

Some small white fleas are jumping in pots with indoor plants. Gray worms swim in the tray after watering. Small brown spiders crawl around the roots. All these are soil inhabitants - springtails, springtails and podras. Harmless, in essence, inhabitants of soil rich in humus and organic matter. They come to our house with soil from the garden or store-bought soil. But as long as the soil moisture is moderate, the bugs are not visible. When the soil inside the pot does not dry out for many days, the roots of the plants begin to rot, and the duras multiply in large numbers.

Podura is a sign of poor care for indoor plants, systematic waterlogging, frequent watering, or incorrectly selected soil (too moisture-intensive, heavy, non-porous).

No one can avoid the appearance of indoor pests: neither a novice gardener nor an experienced one. Some, scale insects or aphids, attack many types of indoor plants, others are more selective and prefer certain species and in certain conditions. For example, mites rarely harm the ficus benjamina, but the scale insect eats it with pleasure.

If pests are detected, you must first get rid of them mechanically by wiping the leaves and stems with a sponge soaked in a soap solution. It is imperative to remove damaged buds, flowers, leaves and shoots; if the leaves begin to turn yellow or become stained, they will not recover. If the pest is noticed on only one plant, it is better to isolate the flower pot and watch the rest.

Try not to use insecticides unless absolutely necessary, especially toxicity class 2. All pest control chemicals are unsafe for humans and animals (birds and fish). All of them release toxic substances to one degree or another. Therefore, if it is possible to fight pests with folk remedies, i.e. herbs, onion peels, as well as biological plant protection products, then you should definitely try them first.

Currently, the issue of using pesticides (plant protection products against diseases and pests) is approached quite carefully, but so far we can see warnings on the packaging of chemicals about precautions, and they cannot be completely safe.

Folk remedies for pests of indoor plants

• Yarrow - 80 g of dry crushed leaves, pour 1 liter of boiling water and leave for 36-48 hours, spray against aphids, thrips, mites.
• Tobacco, shag - leave 40 g in 1 liter of water for two days, strain and dilute with another 1 liter of water, spray against aphids and thrips.
• Onions - leave 15 g of chopped onions in 1 liter of water for 5-7 hours in a tightly closed container, spray against aphids and mites.
• Celandine during flowering - infuse 300-400 g of fresh or 100 g of dry celandine in 1 liter of water for 24-36 hours, spray against false scale insects, aphids, thrips.
• Kerosene -2 g per 10 liters of water + 40 g of laundry soap - against thrips and mites.
• Dandelion officinalis - 300-500 g of crushed roots or fresh leaves are infused for 2 hours in 10 liters of warm water, filtered and sprayed against thrips and mites.
• Marigold flowers - pour a glass of dried flowers into 1 liter of warm water, leave for 2 days, filter and spray the affected plants against thrips.
• Alder leaves - a glass of dry alder leaves is poured with one liter of boiling water and left for 24 hours. Then it is heated to 50 °C and kept in this infusion before planting the bulbs and tubers for 5 minutes. In this way, root mites are prevented.
• Wood ash - 1 cup of ash is infused in 5 liters of water, then a quarter of a piece of grated laundry soap is added there, sprayed against ticks and thrips.

Are your flowers getting sick even though you comply with all the conditions? In this case, you should suspect a pest! In home conditions, which are often far from natural, flowers are more vulnerable. Online diagnostics will help you recognize ticks, aphids, scale insects, etc. Pests of indoor flowers: photos, signs and methods of combating them.

Spider mite

The most common and insidious pest! Spider mites thrive on indoor plants, especially in winter and early spring. Heating, dry air and high temperatures create favorable conditions for its reproduction. Considering that this flower beetle is very prolific, it can easily migrate to other “neighbors”!

The tick is an arachnid and can look different. The most common types are common spider mites, red mites and cyclamen mites.

Signs

Regardless of the type of mite, the results of its activity cause the death of the leaf! The harmful insect feeds on flower sap, sucking it from leaves and young shoots. This immediately affects the appearance of the flowers: they lose their brightness, richness, and fade. On some plants, yellow spots appear, which gradually lead to yellowing of the foliage, on others, the leaves dry out at the edges and become deformed. Often, a tick can leave behind a cobweb, which is visible in the gap between the branches and leaves. And sometimes you can see the pests themselves! Thus, the common white mite is visible to the naked eye on the inside at the base of the leaf. The cyclamen mite prefers fluffy plants, and the red mite even settles on the petals of flowering plants.

Risk group
The common mite mainly affects decorative deciduous trees: hibiscus, ficus Benjamin, fuchsia, citrus fruits, dracaenas, tradescantia, adenium, ivy. Although it is dangerous for all indoor flowers, succulents are less susceptible to its effects.

The cyclamen mite prefers plants with fluffy leaves - cyclamen, violets, gloxinia. The red mite can settle on any plant, but its favorite delicacy is flowering species - roses, balsams, callas, orchids, and citrus fruits.

Treatment and prevention

Most mites cannot tolerate high air humidity, so the best prevention is regular spraying (not only the top, but also the underside of the leaf) and a warm shower. If pests are already present on the plant, you can wash the leaves with a solution of laundry soap. In summer, if possible, take flowers out into the garden or onto the balcony! At first, spraying with a solution of green soap can help!

If the mite has managed to spread widely and damage the leaves, you will have to resort to the help of acaricides - chemical preparations to combat mites. These include “Akarin”, “Agrovertin”, “Inta-vir”, “Vertimek”. “Neoron” destroys not only mites, but also their larvae, and “Fitoverm” is the safest for plant microflora. To prevent the tick from returning, you need to correct mistakes in care!

Scale insect and false scale insect

Insects from the family of scale insects, whose body is covered with a shield. This feature not only determined the name of the pest, but also made it invulnerable to spraying with chemicals. But unlike the previous representative, the scale insect does not move; on the contrary, having attached itself to the plant, it remains motionless. So it's easy to spot!

Scale insects are sucking insects; they, like leeches, suck out the sap of the plant, while secreting a sticky liquid that clogs the pores, preventing the flower from breathing. The false scale insect is a close relative of the scale insect, surpassing it in size. By the way, this harmful family has many varieties: they are round, oval, white, brown, brown from 2 to 7 mm in size.

Signs

Affected flowers lag behind in growth and development, shed leaves and buds. Scale insects on indoor plants literally “stick around” the branches and even the main trunk, and can also hide in the axils of the leaves. Externally, these pests look like droplets of wax, or growths! Small scale insects form clusters that resemble plaque along the stems and leaf veins. As a result, leaves and even branches may die, first becoming covered with red-brown or yellow spots. Scale insects are especially dangerous for young shoots!

Risk group
Deciduous plants (especially ferns, asparagus, ivies, lemons, begonias) are most often chosen as the location of the scale insect, but it can also appear on succulents (ficus, zamioculcas), and also often affects orchids.

Treatment and prevention

Provoking factors for the proliferation of scale insects are dry air and lack of light, characteristic of the winter period. They can also enter the apartment from the street! Weakened, diseased plants, in which metabolic processes are disrupted for one reason or another, are a real bait for scale insects. Healthy flowers with strong immunity are protected from these pests!

First of all, it is necessary to remove dead parts and also remove all visible scale insects. This can be done with a warm shower, a soft sponge (or soft brush) and laundry soap. An alternative would be to soak a cotton swab soaked in lemon juice or vinegar solution. Alcohol can burn an already damaged plant, and oil will clog the pores!

At this stage, you can get rid of older individuals that are not affected by insecticidal sprays. To destroy scale insects and their larvae that are invisible to the eye, it is better to play it safe and additionally treat the plant with insecticides. For these purposes, the drugs “Aktara”, “Aktellik”, “Arrivo”, “Fitoverm” are used. The most gentle method of control is a solution of green soap, but it is effective in the initial stages!

Thrips

Another type of sucking pests, which, unlike the previous ones, for the time being hide in the thickness of the leaf. The fact is that the larval stage occurs inside the leaves, where thrips reproduce. By the time they grow up and find themselves outside, they will already have time to do quite a lot of damage to the plant! The development cycle lasts about 20 days, after which the larvae turn into insects with small elongated bodies measuring 1.5 mm, which easily fly from branch to branch and are capable of infecting all specimens in the home collection.

Thrips disrupt the structure of the leaf plate, the leaf becomes deformed, loses color, darkens or becomes discolored and gradually dies. In addition, adult insects, like scale insects, leave behind sticky secretions that clog the pores of the plant and can provoke fungal diseases.

Signs

In the initial stage, thrips are not difficult to identify by the characteristic markings on the leaves. Chaotic light dots, “strokes” and entire paths appear on the surface of the sheet, which gradually spread, and ultimately can merge into one large whitish spot! Adult insects can also be seen with the naked eye - they have a dark oblong body, are able to fly, and when they land on a flower, they leave behind a silvery trail of sticky secretions.

Risk group
The pest is omnivorous, but its favorite plants are palm trees with large leaves, citrus fruits and even succulents (ficus rubber, hoya, monstera, aspidistra, laurel, eucharis, syngonium, senoplia).

Treatment and prevention

The main thing is to notice the first signs of the appearance of thrips on indoor plants in time, so that they do not have time to develop from larvae. In this case, you can stop the process with insecticides by spraying and root treatments. After all, being inside the leaf, pests become invulnerable to external disinfection, which is why they water it at the root! But to prevent insects from appearing outside, the above-ground part is sprayed.

At the initial stages, green vegetable soap copes well with this task (it can be bought in flower and garden stores). If thrips has severely affected the plant, use the preparations “Aktara”, “Dantop”, “Apache” (for root treatment), as well as “Fitoverm”, “Intavir” (for external treatment).

The website flowery-blog.ru advises regularly inspecting the inside of the leaves, spraying the plants, and ventilating the room. Thrips can appear even in summer, but they, like other pests, choose weaker flowers as their “target”.

Mealybug

These pests are popularly called “hairy lice”; they are the closest relatives of scale insects and are also sucking insects. They were nicknamed so for their appearance - the clusters look like cotton wool. Mealybugs on indoor plants love young shoots, leaves and buds! It sucks out the juice, severely inhibits the growth of plants, causes the death of its parts, young shoots, shedding of buds, buds, drying out and deformation of shoots and leaves.

This enemy sometimes hides in the axils of the leaves, becoming invisible, but multiplies very quickly, so it spreads to the soil, shoots and even roots. More than 2,000 species of scale insects are known in nature; all of them pose a danger to plants! In indoor culture, it is the white mealybug that is most often found.

Signs

The bug is bad at hiding; it is revealed by white cotton-like secretions in which the female insects lay eggs! Usually, clusters of them can be seen in the axils of new leaves, on young shoots. In addition to the “pieces” of cotton wool, you can also notice the pests themselves - they are not large, about 3 mm in size, also white in color, with an oblong body.

Risk group
It’s impossible to say exactly which plants the scale insect loves! Its target can be both decorative foliage species, succulents and even cacti. For example, monstera, chrysolidocarpus, nolina, Kalanchoe, anthurium, camellia, azalea, clivia, amaryllis, hibiscus, asparagus.

Treatment and prevention

It’s not difficult to exterminate an unexpected guest at first! It is enough to wipe the leaves, remove the white coating and disinfect the affected areas. This can be done using a cotton swab or a soft brush. A soap solution is suitable for cleaning, and for subsequent disinfection - calendula tincture, or any herbal alcohol infusion. A good preventative measure is to spray with a solution of green soap. This will help prevent relapse!

In case of severe damage by scale insects, more radical therapy is needed - watering and spraying with insecticides - "Aktara", "Vermitek", "Intavir", "Tsvetofos", "Fitoverm". If the bug has managed to spread, it is better to completely replace the soil in the pot, after first inspecting and washing the roots with running water.

It is necessary to periodically inspect the flowers for the presence of an evil insect. Especially young leaves and shoots! The scale insect does not like humidity, so spray and wipe the plants more often.

Whitefly

A sucking insect, about 3 mm long, similar in appearance to a white moth. It reproduces quite quickly, laying eggs in groups on the inner surface of the leaf. Adult insects also stay in groups, sucking juices from leaves and young branches - the most tender parts! As a result, the leaves become discolored, turn yellow and fall off.

These houseplant pests can fly, but they usually sit lazily on the inside surfaces of leaves until disturbed. While feeding, these nasty flies leave waste products on plants, which subsequently become the basis for the development of fungus. Most often, the whitefly can be seen in the summer; it is also a garden pest and a frequent visitor to greenhouses.

Signs

Recognizing whiteflies on flowers is as easy as pie: white larvae remain on the underside of the leaf, forming groups, as well as a characteristic whitish coating. At this stage it is easiest to deal with the pest!

Risk group
Most often, plants with delicate leaf plates and thin epithelium become victims of whiteflies. These are nephrolepis, tradescantia, pereromnia, fuchsia, pelargonium, ficus Benjamin, abutilon, balsam.

Treatment and prevention

At the larval stage, the insect can be eradicated by spraying with insecticides, the most effective of which is Aktara. “Agravertin”, “Inta-vir”, “Akarin”, “Fitoverm” are also suitable. If the insects have already turned into moths, spraying alone is not enough, because the white moth is very mobile. In this case, use adhesive tapes that catch flies. They will become traps for flying whiteflies!

Like other aggressors, this one also loves dry air and warmth. Spray and wipe the leaves more often, inspect them from all sides to catch the pest in time, ventilate the room more often.

Outwardly, it is also similar to a moth, but differs in color (from light green to black), the size of adult insects is about 3 mm. Lives in large colonies, mainly on garden flowers! An indicator of the spread of aphids in garden conditions are ants, which absorb the sweet secretions of aphids. These secretions attract other insects and serve as a provoking factor for the development of fungal diseases.

Aphids on indoor plants can be found in the summer. Feeding on their juice, aphids infect young shoots, interfere with development and growth, and cause deformation of old leaves and leaf fall. A plant attacked by aphids quickly dies! Therefore, it is important to have time to get rid of the insect before it multiplies greatly. Aphids and other pests of garden flowers.

Signs

The appearance of aphids can be observed on the apical shoots, buds, and young branches that the adult pest adheres to. As a result, the leaves curl and become deformed. Aphids do not always know how to fly; there are also wingless individuals! Aphid larvae usually hide on the lower surface of the leaf.

Risk group
Like whiteflies, aphids select plants with delicate foliage. The most vulnerable are decorative deciduous species with small leaves.

Treatment and prevention

The treatment is also similar to the previous case! Timely treatment with insecticidal and antifungal drugs (Akarin, Aktara, Iskra-bio, Inta-vir, etc.) can help. It is important to quarantine the plant in time and inspect those near it, because aphids move easily!

If the insect did not manage to occupy the entire plant, you can cope without toxic drugs - give the flower a warm shower using laundry soap, or spray it with a solution of green soap.

Useful materials:
Traditional recipes for pest control.
Diseases of indoor flowers: signs and treatment.

How to drive away flower midges. Sterilization of soil mixture - methods.

Now thrips, scale insects, mites and other pests of indoor flowers will not go unnoticed, and you can effectively fight them.

If you have any questions, be sure to ask them in the comments. ✿ If you liked the article, share it on social networks.

Caring for indoor plants

To grow indoor flowers, you need to be familiar with the basic rules of caring for them. Some plants require minimal attention, others (rare or tropical specimens) are very capricious. The slightest mistake leads to their death or loss of their presentable appearance.

First of all, the gardener must know how to get rid of pests. There are quite a lot of types of them. Appear on house flowers: aphids, thrips, scale insects, false scale insects, spider mites, mealybugs, fungus gnats, root mites.

1 Harmful and persistent aphid

The simplest and most common pest is aphids. It comes with or without wings. Individuals are egg-shaped. Dangerous due to rapid reproduction. They don't have to have a female nearby. Most often, “clones” simply appear. In terms of species, pests are very diverse; they can be yellowish or even black.

Aphids are capable of sucking sap from a plant. At the same time, the pests release poison. After the toxin gets on the leaves, they become twisted and deformed. After some time they die off. The tops of the plant become twisted. The shoots stop growing.

The waste products of aphids (aphids) heavily contaminate the leaf blades of flowers. As a result, the normal functioning of crops is disrupted.

Aphids are carriers of various viruses. They are transmitted through the pest's saliva. Infection causes enormous damage to plants.

It is very easy to notice signs of damage on plants. Pests settle in large colonies, most often on the fleshy, juicy and most tender parts of the plant. They leave behind a residue. If there are a lot of aphids, then their larvae can make the plant weak and dilapidated.

If pests are detected, it is best to bathe the plant in the shower and then spray it with a special preparation designed to combat aphids. A week later, for prevention, the plant is treated again.

Types of palm-like indoor plants and their care

2 Thrips

Thrips are found almost every day. If you pick up an onion and remove the top husk, you can see the second layer. If it is sticky and unpleasant to the touch, and has a silvery tint, then the harmful effects of thrips are observed.

Noticing pests on a plant is not so easy. Its features are:

• elongated body (dimensions can be up to five millimeters);
• unremarkable color (can be black, gray or brown).

Thrips are omnivores. They can devour with appetite both a delicate rose and a prickly cactus. Plant tissue damaged by pests dies. In its place, black dots and large holes form. The leaves fall and wither. The plant loses its presentable appearance.

As a preventative measure you should:

• humidify the air in the room (this type of pest does not like moisture);
• inspect the leaves both on the underside and on the surface;
• Give flowers showers from time to time.

After getting rid of the problem, the flowers are treated with a systemic fungicide. This type of pest is capable of transferring diseases from one plant to another.

Diseases of indoor flowers and ways to combat them

3 Scale insect, false scale insect

There are many varieties of scale insects. They feed on any crops. Once on the plant, they begin to secrete a sticky liquid on which the sooty fungus can settle.

The body of an adult insect has a hard waxy shield. This feature of the pest makes it resistant to the effects of drugs, so spraying does not always help. Young individuals do not have such protection; it is a little easier to deal with them.

Individuals (regardless of age) cause serious damage to the plant. They feed on its juice. Even poisonous crops are susceptible to their attack.

After the pest appears, the young shoots of the plant begin to dry out. After this, the flower stops sprouting new shoots. It pours and the stems turn yellow and then fall off. If you do not get rid of the scale insects at this stage, you may lose the plant.

For prevention, you should spray the plants and ventilate the room. If possible, you need to cut off the affected part of the flower. Specialized stores sell drugs designed to kill this type of insect. Inspection should be done every few days.

Methods for controlling pests and diseases of geranium

4 Spider mite

Spider mites appear unexpectedly. It is almost impossible to notice it until the plant itself shows that it is sick - spots appear on the leaves.

At the first sign of a pest, white dots can be seen on the back of the leaves. After this, the leaves dry out, may turn yellow, and the buds become deformed.

How active a tick will be directly depends on the temperature in the room. The higher she is, the more he likes it. If the conditions for the pest are not very suitable, then the females may begin to hide in the soil, under fallen leaves, or in potted cracks.

When caring for plants, it is better to collect fallen leaves, wipe them with a damp sponge, or bathe the flowers in warm water. The surest way to fight is to spray with a solution of effective drugs that can be found in pharmacies or in specialized stores. It is best to use several types of poisons. Such ticks adapt to them very quickly, and after a while they are not afraid of them.

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5 Mealybug

Mealybug is another pest of indoor plants that belongs to the sucking insects. The length of the individual reaches three and a half millimeters. It has an oval-shaped body with growths, whitish or pinkish in color. Such a pest can settle either in the axils of the leaves or on the stem itself.

The insect has only one pair of wings. Its larvae are able to penetrate the roots of plants. Scale insects protect laid eggs with secretions that have a cotton-like structure.

Mealybugs pierce the leaves and buds of the plant, and then suck out its juice. They do this until the crop dries out. Young insects cause particular harm. This is explained by their mobility and the need for nutrients necessary for active growth. Those plants that have the misfortune of being attacked by pests shed their leaves. Their shoots begin to lag behind in development and growth.

During puberty, males' oral apparatus atrophies. They stop drinking the juices of the plant.

Scale insects secrete a liquid that promotes the development of sooty fungus. You can fight the pest manually, armed with a cotton swab. With its help, adults are removed. After this, you should carry out the procedure of spraying with preparations that will help destroy small specimens.

6 Fungus gnat (sciarids)

This pest is a black and gray insect with a narrow body and a rounded head. An adult is unable to harm the plant. The danger comes from larvae that live in moist soil. They gnaw at the tender roots of the plant. After this, the crop begins to hurt, stops blooming, and withers. The plant may even die.

If there are a lot of midges, they begin to feed on the above-ground parts of the plant. Young shoots are destroyed first.

To identify this harmful insect, you need to carefully examine the soil in which the flower grows. If no mosquito larva comes into view, then everything is fine. It will be enough to simply destroy those insects that fly. To do this, resort to sticky tape or dichlorvos. If larvae are found, then you need to treat the soil with special powders, which can be recommended to the flower owner in the store. Barguzin is perfect for wrestling.

To avoid the appearance of pests, you do not need to heavily moisten the soil. The plant should be kept in dry conditions.

7 Root mites

Root mites are small in size. They are very tenacious, so it is not so easy to remove them.

The most famous is the bulb mite. He prefers to be on the bulbs of flowers such as: gladioli, hyacinths, tulips.

The pest lays a huge number of eggs after eating away the tissue inside the bulb. Subsequently, the bulb disintegrates and becomes soft and loose.

This type of tick loves a moist environment. The best way to prevent this is to store flower bulbs and tubers in a cool, dry place. In such an environment, such ticks are much less likely to survive and reproduce.

There are mites in almost any substrate. They may even be useful. Thanks to them, the microflora living in the soil can function normally. There are even predators that are ready to eat other plant pests, but these types of mites are not dangerous for the flowers themselves.

The best way to control pests is to prevent their spread. When purchasing, you need to carefully inspect the plant. At home, wash it and place it away from others for observation. It is not recommended to bathe plants together in the same container, place them on the same tray, swap trays, or place them too closely. All this increases the likelihood of pest spread. The soil for transplanting crops must be sterilized. To increase the resistance of flowers, compliance with growing and care conditions is important.

When using chemicals, you must strictly follow the recommendations set out in the instructions, as well as take precautions when working with them. You should choose the safest drugs.

If the treatment does not help and pests appear on the plant again, do not despair. The methods of action of the drugs are different and, perhaps, another remedy will be more effective.

It is impossible to guarantee protection from all pests. But you need to approach flower growing wisely. If you treat plants with care, attention, and devote enough time to caring for them, then the house will always be green. Insects will not be able to significantly harm the flora if the owner does this.

The best way to control pests is to prevent their spread. When purchasing, carefully inspect the plant. At home, wash it in a warm shower and place it separately from other plants for a month to observe. It is not recommended to bathe plants together in the same container, place them on the same tray, swap trays, or place plants too closely. All this increases the likelihood of pest spread. The soil for plant transplantation must be sterilized. To increase plant resistance, compliance with growing conditions and care is important.

When using chemical plant protection products, it is necessary to strictly follow the instructions for use, which are necessarily placed on the packaging of the preparations, and also observe precautions when working with them. Among the drugs, you should choose the safest ones, those with a lower hazard class (III or IV). Spraying treatments should be carried out on the balcony or in the open air.

It is not always possible to identify a pest at the very beginning, so you need to know them and be able to deal with them.

Mealybug- a sucking insect, related to scale insects, of the hemiptera family, superfamily scale insects. It looks like a fluffy, segmented, round insect, about 3-5 mm, which releases an orange liquid when crushed. Colonies look like pieces of white cotton wool in the axils of leaves and shoots. With severe damage, colonies are also located on leaves and trunks, and a sticky coating often appears on the leaves. Young individuals are small and very mobile. The waxy coating makes the bug not very susceptible to contact drugs. The most effective in the fight against mealybugs are systemic intestinal preparations.

Measures to combat scale insects, false scale insects, mealybugs . Alcohol treatment, treatment with water-oil emulsion, replacement of the top layer of soil, main treatment with Aktara insecticide (spray with a solution of 4 g/5 l and spill the soil with a solution of 1 g/10 l, 4 times, interval 7-10 days) and auxiliary close ones treatment (after 1-2 days) with Akarin, Agravertin, Iskra-bio, Karate, Inta-vir, Fitoverm (spraying with a 1% solution, 4 times with an interval of 7-10 days).

Measures to combat thrips. Hang blue and yellow sticky traps. Main treatment with Aktara insecticide (spray with a solution of 4 g/5 l and spill the soil with a solution of 1 g/10 l, 4 times, interval of 7-10 days) and auxiliary close treatments with Akarin, Agravertin, Iskra-bio, Inta-vir, Fitoverm (spraying with a 1% solution, 4 times with an interval of 7-10 days, Inta-vir 8 g/10 l). If thrips is detected, all plants in the house must be treated. Processing part of the collection may not give the desired result.

Measures to combat whitefly. Sticky yellow traps, main treatment with Aktara insecticide (spray with a solution of 4 g/5 l and spill soil with 1 g/10 l, 4 times, interval 7-10 days) and auxiliary close treatments with contact preparations Akarin, Agravertin, Iskra-bio , Inta-vir, Fitoverm (4 times with an interval of 7-10 days, Inta-vir 8 g/10 l).

As an additional method, a thermal method can be proposed. At temperatures above +40...+45 0 C, insects experience thermal shock. It is necessary to heat the enclosed space with whitefly-infected insects to this temperature, which can easily be done on a glazed and sealed balcony on a sunny day or in a greenhouse.

Aphid- a sucking insect from the order Hemiptera, green, brown, black, 2 mm. Forms colonies mainly on the tips of shoots. There are colonies of wingless and winged individuals. When the plant is located outdoors (on the ground) in the summer, ants that feed on the sweet secretion of aphids are often indicators of damage; droplets of sticky honeydew are also observed on the leaves.

Measures to combat aphids. Single or double treatment with Aktara (spraying at a concentration of 4 g/5 l and watering at a concentration of 1 g/10 l), Akarin, Agravertin or Iskra-bio (spraying 5-8 ml/l), or other insecticide according to the instructions. During processing, insects may not die immediately, but after a few hours. All plants in the house should be treated, since aphids move easily.

Weevils- shiny small beetles, body shape from elongated to round. A distinctive feature is the presence of a rostrum (an elongated part of the head). They feed on leaves, flowers, roots, sometimes being inside the plant tissues. Often, adult insects feed on the above-ground parts of plants, while their larvae feed on the roots. On indoor plants, the presence of weevils can be determined by round or semicircular holes on the leaves. You may not see the weevil right away because it is nocturnal. Systemic intestinal preparations will be the most effective.

Measures to combat weevils. Manual collection of adult insects, spraying with Aktara (4 g/5 l), spilling soil with Aktara (1 g/10 l), 4-fold treatment every 7-10 days.

Action water-oil emulsion based on the effect of oil blocking insect spiracles. To give greater covering power, the oil is mixed with soap solutions. For a glass of water, take a little dishwashing detergent or soap and 2-3 tbsp. spoons of machine oil (sunflower oil is possible), all this is shaken until an emulsion is formed and applied with a cotton swab or brush to all surfaces of the plant, while it is imperative to protect the soil from drops of the emulsion. The plant is left treated for several hours, then washed thoroughly in the shower. The tolerance of the leaves to such effects should be checked.

Recently, new systemic water-soluble drugs have begun to appear on the market, replacing older, more toxic ones. The drug is similar in properties to Aktar Apache, much more economical, however, there are no instructions for using it on indoor plants. It should be noted that recommendations for use on the Internet do not coincide with the official ones.

Spider mite belongs to the arachnid arthropods, feeds on cell sap through leaf bites. It is a common pest of indoor plants. Signs of damage: on the underside of the leaf (sometimes on the top) there are small, approximately 0.5 mm, light grains (as if sprinkled with flour); in case of massive damage, a cobweb is visible. The leaf at the site of the bite becomes discolored and covered with small yellow spots. Subsequently, with severe damage, the leaf falls off. The mite spreads easily through the air, is present always and everywhere, but only affects weakened plants. Strong plants that are kept in optimal conditions are able to resist mites. Risk factors include too dry air, overheating of the plant or clod of soil in the sun, drying out of the soil, dehydration (sometimes due to excessive watering the roots rot and die), improper feeding, and often an overdose of nitrogen fertilizers.

Methods for controlling spider mites. For preventative purposes, it is useful to frequently spray plants with cold (namely cold) water, especially the underside of the leaf. To provide emergency assistance, you need to wash the plant in the shower and treat it with acaricides. In indoor conditions it is better to use Vertimek, Fitoverm. However, these drugs do not act on all stages of the tick - at least three treatments are required at +20 0 C after 10 days, or at +30 0 C after 3-4 days. Treatment with Akarin, Agravertin, Neoron (4 times treatment with an interval of 7-10 days) will also help. However, if the rules of plant care are not followed, chemical treatments will only help temporarily. To completely get rid of the mite, it is necessary to provide the plant with optimal conditions. Then strong cell walls are formed that the tick is unable to damage. Prophylactic irradiation with a medical ultraviolet lamp for 1.5-2 minutes weekly is effective (to prevent the development of a new generation of individuals from eggs, which occurs precisely within 7 days).

About a new safe method of struggle - in the article Essential oil - against mites and nematodes

Methods for controlling root-knot nematodes. It is necessary to try to remove severely damaged areas of the roots. Thermally treat the root system and soil by immersion in a large volume of water at a temperature of +50 0 C. Among the chemical preparations, Fitoverm or Agravertin are recommended when adding dry powder to the soil, but preparations in this form are not available for retail sale.

Ecogel, which was initially considered only as an anti-stress drug, turned out to be effective against nematodes. Chitosan, which is part of Ecogel, strengthens cell walls so much that the feeding and spread of nematodes in plant tissues becomes impossible.

About Ecogel - in articles

It should be borne in mind that in some plants the presence of nodules on the roots is the norm; they should not be confused with galls. In representatives of the legume family, nitrogen-fixing bacteria live in such nodules.

Many flower lovers make a common mistake - they do not give the plants enough attention and do not carry out preventive measures against diseases and insects. Pests of indoor plants are very common, despite the fact that the flowers are indoors. With improper care and violation of the watering or lighting schedule, insects may appear on the plants, which, without treatment, will quickly destroy the flowers.

A description of the main pests of indoor plants with photos and control methods can be found in this article.

Why are pests of indoor plants dangerous?

The easiest way to fight insects is with the help of special preparations. Most of them are contact, that is, they destroy the insect when a certain product comes into direct contact with it.

Systemic remedies are considered more effective. When watering and spraying, they get inside the crop and make the juice poisonous, and any living creature that eats the leaves dies.

It is important that the treatment must be carried out several times in order to destroy not only adults, but also their larvae and eggs. Below is a description of the most common types of such insects and methods of combating them.

Spider mite

Spider mites are one of the most dangerous insects, since it is difficult to notice damage to a crop at an early stage, and in the future it is almost impossible to completely get rid of it.

In temperate climates, spider mites can easily appear on flowers simply by flying in with the air flow through an open vent or window.

Symptoms

As mentioned above, it is difficult to determine a spider mite infestation, but if you know the main symptoms, it can be detected in the early stages.

The characteristic signs of spider mite infestation are:(picture 1):

• The leaves appear variegated in color, and their surface itself looks dusty. This means that the leaves are already affected by flares and are covered with their waste products.
• At a later stage, the leaves begin to gradually turn yellow and fall off.
• A web can be seen between the trunk and leaves.

Figure 1. Flowers affected by spider mites

It is important to start treatment at an early stage, since only in this case there is a chance to save the cultures. Otherwise, the flower may die completely.

Treatment

To eliminate spider mites, you need to use special acaricide preparations, the action of which is aimed specifically at this group of insects. The best products in this group are Vermitek, Fitoverm, Apollo and Neoron. These drugs can be used for any type.

Note: There is also a more powerful drug, Actellik, but its effect is so strong that it not only destroys mites, but can also cause the death of the crop. It has a particularly detrimental effect on the growth of orchids.

In some cases, for prevention, the leaves are periodically washed with warm water and dog shampoo, to which acaricides are also added. But such a remedy is not beneficial, and it is better to simply clean the leaves with warm water, and if insects are detected, use special preparations.

Shields

It is not difficult to recognize the scale insect: on the leaves and stems it looks like a tubercle or compaction. The insect attaches itself to the plant, making its stems and leaves sticky (Figure 2).

Scale insects feed on sap, causing the flowers to gradually weaken. As a rule, the presence of insects is determined before the crop dies, and therapeutic measures are taken in time.

You will find more information about this type of insect and how to combat it in the video.

Ways to fight

To combat scale insects, systemic insecticides Confidor, Aktara and Mospilan are used. These products are effective against all insects except ticks. To get the desired effect, you need not only to spray the leaves, but also to water the soil with the prepared solution so that the drug is absorbed by the roots.

Figure 2. Damage to flowers by scale insects

If the infestation is minor, you can also eliminate scale insects manually: collecting insects and wiping the stems with a damp, clean cloth. After this, it is necessary to carry out preventive spraying with Karate or Actellik, and all new specimens must be quarantined.

It is very easy to identify the lesion by the characteristic white formations, similar to cotton wool or clumps of white cobwebs. Most often it affects cacti, spreading through their root system (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Mealybug Symptoms

For control, the drugs Confidor and Aktara are used, using the solution not only for spraying, but also for watering the soil.

Outwardly, they look like small midges that constantly hover around flowers, although the larvae are located and develop in the soil (Figure 4).

Note: This pest can tell you whether you are caring for flowerpots correctly, because fungus gnats only appear on flowers when they are over-watered.

Figure 4. Fungus gnats

To combat, first of all, the watering regime is normalized, and the flowers are sprayed with systemic insecticides: Confidor, Aktara and Regent. A single spray is sufficient to kill the insect.

Thrips are also considered common pests, and everyone has probably seen them. When you bend down to smell any wildflower, especially a dandelion, you may notice small black midges inside. These are thrips, which in the summer can enter an apartment through open windows and settle on flowers (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Symptoms of thrips infestation

Thrips eat leaves, leaving characteristic black spots on them. For control, it is better to use systemic insecticides (Aktaroy or Vermitek), since contact ones are not sufficiently effective.

Small insects that settle in entire colonies on crops in open ground and in city apartment conditions. The aphid sticks to the stems and drinks juice from them (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Aphids on plant leaves

Since insects reproduce very quickly, they are capable of destroying all plants in a short time. Therefore, when the first signs of damage are detected, the flower must be treated with the systemic insecticide Aktara or contact Decis and Karate.

Other houseplant pests

The most common pests of indoor plants were described above, but there are other insects that can cause significant damage to flowers.

Pests of indoor crops also include(Figure 7):

1. Whitefly: a small white midge that settles in colonies on the lower part of the leaves;
2. Mining fly lays larvae on the leaves, and young individuals gnaw holes in the leaves and stems;
3. Caterpillars rarely attack domestic flowers, but if they are found, it will not be difficult to get rid of them by collecting the caterpillars by hand or treating them with any insecticide;
4. Snails They gnaw on roots, getting into the house along with forest or garden soil. To get rid of them, you need to spread pieces of apples on the ground and collect the snails by hand;
5. Centipedes- long insects with many limbs. Insects gnaw on the roots, and to combat them they use diazonin preparations, which are injected directly into the soil.
6. Fools appear with excessive watering and are found mainly on the ground. They do not pose a danger to flowers, but they spoil its aesthetic appearance.

Figure 7. Common pests of indoor flowers: 1 - whitefly, 2 - leafminer, 3 - caterpillars, 4 - snails, 5 - centipedes, 6 - podars

To combat most of these insects, except snails, systemic insecticides are used.

Methods for controlling whiteflies, as an example of a pest of indoor plants, are given in the video.

Preparations against pests

For quick and, most importantly, effective destruction of pests, contact or systemic insecticides are used. If you don’t know which drug is best to choose, we will give some features of such drugs.

Many gardeners avoid chemicals, considering them too toxic. In fact, such drugs are dangerous only for insects, but not for humans. The toxicity of any drug is displayed in the LD50 indicator, which shows how much of a substance you need to drink, eat or inhale before there is a risk of death (50% chance).

Figure 8. Popular drugs against insect pests of indoor plants

In most cases, all such drugs are not particularly toxic to humans. They contain special substances that are dangerous to insects, but harmless to humans, and the lethal dose is several tens or hundreds of grams.

Also, do not trust the unpleasant pungent odor. Modern insecticides most often have no odor at all, and at the same time they are quite effective in controlling pests.

When choosing a drug for pest control, it is better to alternate groups of products, using, for example, pyrethroid, organophosphorus and neonicotinoid drugs in turn, so that insects do not develop immunity (Figure 8).