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Treating infestation with complete repotting, rubbing alcohol, shower
gergo5hwyVjxD
Posts: 9
Hi!
I’m trying to finally get rid of the infestation I have on my plants. It’s been months now, trying with neem oil (both watering, and spraying), and spraying diluted rubbing alcohol. But I see them not just returning, but appearing on new plants as well that weren’t in quarantine.
And because of that, my house looks like a mess because of plant groups “social distancing”.
A big repotting of all plants is needed now anyways, and I want to take advantage of it by starting fresh, get rid of all the bugs. And because I only have one try, I want to do it right.
I have different kind of bugs, white oval ones leaving sticky spots both on the top and underside of the leaves, spider mites, and black ones that I’ve never seen before.
I never had too much luck with handling bugs, as the plant has always died either because I overdid killing the bugs, and they died along with the plant, or I was too careful, and my cure wasn’t effective enough - the bugs killed the plant before I could kill them.
Now many of my plants are infected, however, still alive after months of trying to cure, but the bugs also. So it seems like I’m leaning towards the second case as above.
I have a plan of how I would do it, but I’m not an expert, so based on the above I’m more than happy to receive any advices to save my plants.
As most of them are in the same pot for more than a year, I want to completely get rid of old soil from the roots. This way I can better investigate them, and larvae can’t stay in it. After it’s done, I’d give it a good amount of rubbing alcohol spraying. I’ve heard that it doesn’t really hurt foliage, but I’m a bit worried about the mix flowing down from the stem to the roots. Okay, it does when we spray it normally on the plant, but it goes to the soil, spreading more, and not directly on the bare root. To find the “perfect balance”, based on my readings, 1:10 ratio of 99% rubbing alcohol, and water can still kill bugs, while harming the plant as least as possible.
Because as I’ve read, rubbing alcohol is a contact poison to bugs, there’s no point of leaving it on the plant, so after spraying, I would give the plants a through shower. Leaving them to dry out for a couple of hours, and they can go into their fresh soil.
I’m planning to have different “stations” for each task to make them isolated from each other as well, and their old soil.
Is this too much for the plant? I’m afraid of they getting shocked. But if not, what my chances are that I can get rid of the bugs? What would you do differently, and how would you continue preventing the issue? Regular neem/rubbing alcohol should help the issue not coming back?
All advices are appreciated, thanks.
A big repotting of all plants is needed now anyways, and I want to take advantage of it by starting fresh, get rid of all the bugs. And because I only have one try, I want to do it right.
I have different kind of bugs, white oval ones leaving sticky spots both on the top and underside of the leaves, spider mites, and black ones that I’ve never seen before.
I never had too much luck with handling bugs, as the plant has always died either because I overdid killing the bugs, and they died along with the plant, or I was too careful, and my cure wasn’t effective enough - the bugs killed the plant before I could kill them.
Now many of my plants are infected, however, still alive after months of trying to cure, but the bugs also. So it seems like I’m leaning towards the second case as above.
I have a plan of how I would do it, but I’m not an expert, so based on the above I’m more than happy to receive any advices to save my plants.
As most of them are in the same pot for more than a year, I want to completely get rid of old soil from the roots. This way I can better investigate them, and larvae can’t stay in it. After it’s done, I’d give it a good amount of rubbing alcohol spraying. I’ve heard that it doesn’t really hurt foliage, but I’m a bit worried about the mix flowing down from the stem to the roots. Okay, it does when we spray it normally on the plant, but it goes to the soil, spreading more, and not directly on the bare root. To find the “perfect balance”, based on my readings, 1:10 ratio of 99% rubbing alcohol, and water can still kill bugs, while harming the plant as least as possible.
Because as I’ve read, rubbing alcohol is a contact poison to bugs, there’s no point of leaving it on the plant, so after spraying, I would give the plants a through shower. Leaving them to dry out for a couple of hours, and they can go into their fresh soil.
I’m planning to have different “stations” for each task to make them isolated from each other as well, and their old soil.
Is this too much for the plant? I’m afraid of they getting shocked. But if not, what my chances are that I can get rid of the bugs? What would you do differently, and how would you continue preventing the issue? Regular neem/rubbing alcohol should help the issue not coming back?
All advices are appreciated, thanks.
0
Posts
By all means have a go at spraying in the shower - lukewarm water - to remove dirt, dust and some of the bugs and then re-pot in fresh compost and clean both plant pot and container thoroughly. Check each plant's needs for light, warmth and moisture and position them appropriately so they can thrive.
When you water, it's better to dunk their pot in a bucket till no further air bubbles appear then allow to drain and put back in their decorative pot. Spray daily with a fine mist of water to keep their foliage moist and free of spider mites. Feed with appropriate fertiliser for leafy or flowering plants. Commercial planting composts run out of oomph after about 80 days so maybe your plants are just starving.
- 40l soil
- 56l peat moss
- 10l perlite
- 10l vermiculite
- 6l activated carbon
Those are for tropical plants, I’m making a different one for succulents which is mainly the same just replacing peat moss with sharp sand.
Not an expert on tropical plants either tho I do grow fuschia elastica, ficus benjamina, hibiscus sinensis and syngonium podophyllum very successfully in ordinary commercial composts. They get the dunking I advocate and trips to the shower for cleansing and they go outside on a shaded but bright terrace for the summer. The hibiscus can get aphids but the shower deals with those.
I never use peat - environmental issues. I find perlite floats and vermiculite is impossible to find here but, when I have it, I use it on trays of seeds.
It includes biological control, natural predators and chemicals to try if all else fails.
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