They don't leave the pots, and they are almost invisible but if I blow at the soil, they suddenly move around and are more noticeable.
I want to dip my plants (soil) in some type of insecticide to nuke them all. What do you recommend?
I bought indoor plant soil from Migros and added it to all my existing houseplants. The problem now is that I see a lot of .05mm sized insets walking around in the soil.
Sorry I can't be of more help, but I did find this article that might help you identify what insect it is exactly and what you can do to try to get rid of them:
https://savvygardening.com/types-of-houseplant-bugs/
We have some weird bugs in our kitchen lately that I see flying around sometimes and I keep meaning to take a photo and post it to see if someone can help me figure out what bug it is. I cleaned out all the cabinets, etc. but they just don't seem to want to go away completely.
Sounds like Trauermücken (a type of gnat). You can easily get rid of them using one Neudorff Gelb-Sticker on the soil:
They are attracted to the trap, and they stick to it (yes, they die on it, I'm afraid, so after a few days or week you can either exchange them, or endure the sight of the thing covered in insect carcasses).
Caleb, I don't think they are gnats. The sticky stuff is not a long term solution.
I had them once and this is what I had used successfully. Might buy it again for this new problem!
I brought mites home from Migros, too, it is aggravating. They killed my monsteras, too, they seem to also transfer molds and other pathogens, looking at the plants. The Gesal treatment was too strong, burnt the young leaves that mites crawl on. They don't bother with strong thick leaves, only monsteras and one type of my ficuses (softer leaves).
Soap water and washing the leaves worked, but I eventually had to get new, different plants. I need a long term plan, the plants from Migros and Ikea come home and don't do as well as other plants bought at more quality florists.
I love my jungles, gotta figure out the pests. Looks like spider mites.
Hi Pancakes!
you might have either Angoumois grain moth,
https://grainscanada.gc.ca/en/grain-...rain-moth.html
or Inda flour moth - or any of its subspecies, depending on what they are chewing on :-D
https://grainscanada.gc.ca/en/grain-...uct-moths.html
Harmless, little creatures that thrive on your rice and cereals. If you don't stop them, they multiply and feed happily for days or weeks...until...you throw everything away. If you see one flying, there must be several dozens (or more) on one of your dry staples packs (rice, flours or cereals). Look for them, because they move from pack to pack! They chew through plastic, btw. Better to store these things on glass.
Oh, thank you sooo much!!! I think they are indeed Angoumois grain moths, from what I see in the images of them. And they do seem to be located more near the cupboards where I keep the flour and rice. Now that I finally know what they are (thanks to you), I can hopefully figure out how to get rid of them! Thank you again!!!
TalktoyouLater... Sorry to barge in on your thread like that, but thank you for creating it, because now I finally understand more about my own alien insect infestation.
When it comes to indoor plants I am, for the most part, unlucky with anything that takes up more space than a planter pot which fits on a window sill.
So I have kept with small plants but they too got little crawly things. (Mites? )I used soap and water and that worked for awhile.
Only changing the soil was a definitive fix.
It doesn't sound like you bought a tree. So what I would do is throw all the earth out, wash it off the roots and replant it in new soil.
0.05mm size, huh? They held still to get measured, did they let you weigh them too?
Hi Talk to you later, i found a new way of getting rid of your aphids from the garden. Check this out. I didn't know that, but worth a try (scroll to the last type of insect hotel)
Damn, you have good eyesight!
Tom
Whenever I get any mold or small insects in the room plants, all the plants in the similar soil type (e.g. not succulents in the sandy soil with rocks and low nutrient content) in the room get transplanted and their soil goes into the oven for an hour at 200C. It usually takes a couple hours to do, but prevents OCD/anxiety just fine.
I knew it was a blessing, rather than a disease called by some weirdos (calling themselves "occultists" or something similar) a myiopia!
I don't think the soil is at fault. Typically commercial planting soil is sterilized. Probably they come from somewhere else.
More likely they came in with some new plants, or even directly from outside.
It's always a good idea to keep new plants in some sort of quarantine and in a separate room for the first few weeks just to be sure they don't have anything that could spread to your other plants.
Don't use soil in the house, only have plants which I have converted to Hydroculture. Saves lots of problems like this...
I unpotted my plants, literally nuked the soil in my microwave and repotted them again. It seems to have worked....so far...
I agree that hydroculture is the easiest way to go.
Quite often in Switzerland potting soil comes with bugs - I've had many friends have it happen, as well as two different school my children attended and our own house plants once. The only change in each case was the new soil, and in all but two cases the repotting was done in the bathroom with the windows closed - so no foreign bugs flying in, they must've come with the soil.
I guess you didn't mean 0.05 mm, that's not visible by human eyesight (50 micrometers, you would be able to see most of your own cells and all plant cells).
Once I've bought some bio strawberries and had some stronger magnifier lying around so I looked if I could see a finer texture of the surface of it. I couldn't believe how much micro-life there was on it, some tiny bugs and spider-like creatures roamed left and right, I can't imagine normal quick wash in running water would clear them from the (rather hairy) surface of strawberry.
You mention soil, that's supposed to be full of life, not only fungus but also tiny little insects. Honestly I wouldn't be be worrying about it unless insects are bigger, and not worrying at all if its for balcony/garden.
.5mm to 1mm, sorry
They are indooor house plants. I fully immersed the pots in a container full of water, mixed with insecticide. The insects are gone in all the pots minus one. Looks like they made a come back in one pot only.
Maybe the eggs survived on that particular pot. Yes these things are tiny like dots. They don't leave the pot, so they are harmless in that sense but not sure if they are sucking nutrients from the plant.
I like the going nuclear option, only 1 pot so I will place the soil in the oven for 1hr!
I just envy your eyes ..seeing anything of 0.05mm would take me 10000 lumen and 100x microscope ... maybe that's the very reason my flowers don't have an issues ...until they suddenly must go ?