Many people, especially the fair sex, are fond of flowers and even plant them at home and take care of them. But there is one serious threat in the face of the scale insect. This pest has a shell that provides it with reliable protection, and is able to adapt to a variety of poisons in a short time. Fortunately, it is easy to notice it - a sticky coating appears on the leaves, resembling sweet syrup. It is this insect that secretes it, which serves as a favorable environment for fungal microorganisms. You can learn how to get rid of scale insects from this article.
Currently, floriculture has become a kind of hobby, and quite useful. There are plants that are pleasant to admire, others have healing properties, and they are able toreplace the home first aid kit (aloe). And geranium, chlorophytum, myrtle, asparagus purify the air from impurities and heavy metals. For this reason, it is important to detect the presence of scale insects as early as possible and take the necessary measures in a timely manner.
Schitovki and its imitators
In nature, there are both pests themselves - scale insects, and its imitators - false scale insects. The first are insects that belong to the family of Hemiptera and the superfamily of worms. In nature, you can find a variety of types of scale insects (there are about 2400 of them in total):
- cactus;
- laurel;
- brown;
- ivy;
- pink;
- palm;
- oleander.
Among false shields, the following varieties are common:
- hawthorn;
- hemispherical;
- olive;
- soft.
They are also called coccids, and they do not have a dense wax shell like the original pests.
How to get rid of scale insects on indoor plants? You need to know the enemy in person
Insects have an oval body shape. Because of their wax shell, with which they are completely covered, scale insects got such a nickname. These parasites can be of different colors: red-brown, dark yellow, light gray or just gray. On the leaves of indoor plants, pests resemble a speck or a small plaque. They mainly settle on the lower surface of the foliage.
As for size, adults reach a length of 2 to 5 mm, but canthere are also larger female specimens. In addition to their direct duty (laying eggs), they also protect them until the larvae appear. Perhaps that is why they have a much longer life expectancy than males: 4 months (no more) versus 3 days. At least the males can fly. For this reason, if you decide to get rid of scale insects on indoor flowers, then you should not shelve them.
The emerging larvae immediately begin to search for food - the whole point of their existence at this age is devoted to this. And having found a suitable plant, they are fixed on it to absorb the life-giving juice. After some time, a wax coating appears on their body, which serves as a reliable protection from external influences.
The diet of scale insects includes not only indoor plants, but also garden plants. Citrus fruits are especially preferred: lemon, dracaena, dwarf tangerines and many others.
Symptoms of defeat
The main threat from scale insects is that they are able to completely deprive the plant of juice, which actually leads to the death of flowers. How can you tell if indoor plants are at risk? In this case, their appearance changes: first of all, you can notice brown spots, and then some parts of the plant fall off.
Before analyzing the methods that will help get rid of scale insects on indoor plants, you should know the characteristic signs of damage by these insects:
- during a visual inspection, you can notice a slight coating, which upon closer inspection looks likebrown bumps. This is actually a pest colony.
- The leaves of the flowers begin to turn yellow, and after a while they fall off. In this case, this indicates that the plant is "dehydrated" to a large extent - some parts do not receive juice in full.
If you do not take everything into account, then in a short time, parasites can destroy all available indoor plants! For this reason, it is necessary to deal with their destruction in a timely manner.
Causes of pests
Many flower growers, when they find characteristic signs of infection, involuntarily think about where these parasites came from? Often this is facilitated by a new plant purchased from a flower shop.
How to get rid of scale insects at home? Tellingly, adult scale insects do not migrate from place to place, but having chosen suitable conditions for themselves, they are fixed and remain here all their lives. What cannot be said about young parasites - they are more active in search of food. And so the infection is spreading at a high speed.
In this regard, any new plant after purchase should be washed with warm water without fail, and then quarantined. It should take several weeks. This time is enough to identify the parasites. And only after the grower is convinced of the complete absence of pests, the plant can be placed among other flowers.
How to get rid of scale insects on flowers?
When an enemy is found on indoor plants, it costsprepare for a very laborious process. Especially when there is a whole colony of them, and all the flowers in the room are affected. Shields are equipped with a durable shell for a reason, which provides them with reliable protection against chemical and mechanical effects. How to get rid of an uninvited and dangerous guest?
As a rule, many gardeners use ordinary household products, wiping every part of the plants with them. In addition, insecticides are highly effective, but this can already be considered the most extreme measure. The specific method of fighting depends on the severity of the infection.
We get rid of mechanically
This technique is the most environmentally friendly, safe not only for plants, but also for residents and pets. All that is required is warm water (45 ° C), a bar of soap (any, household soap is also suitable), cotton pads, gloves. Also, you just cannot do without great enthusiasm and great desire.
How to get rid of scale insects on an orchid or any other flowers? All work consists of several stages:
- First you need to prepare a concentrated soap solution at the rate of: 10 grams of soap per 400 ml of water. Wetting cotton pads in it, you should wipe the whole plant. As a result, the sticky secretion secreted by parasites is removed. During the procedure, it is necessary to cover the ground with a plastic bag.
- Now you can take a fabric with a rough texture (for example, a waffle towel) and also go through all parts of the affected plant, firstalso soaked in soapy water. In this case, special attention should be paid to the stems. There may be insects here too, and here they are much more difficult to detect.
- In the third step, the plants need to be washed from the remnants of the soapy solution with running water. To do this, they should be moved to the bathroom.
- Now the plants need to be allowed to dry, and then (preferably the next day) to be processed using special preparations. The leaves should not be wiped afterwards!
It's not as important how to get rid of scale insects in room conditions as the correctness of the work. For greater efficiency, such mechanical processing must be performed at least 4 times a month. If it is limited to only one session, then the recurrence of infection cannot be avoided.
Folk remedies to help
When processing plants, you can use not only a soap solution, but also compounds that include other components (kerosene, alcohol). Cleaning with a soft toothbrush will remove parasites from the plant faster.
Combined methods are effective. For example, first onion gruel is applied to the leaves of plants, after which insects are mechanically removed. Then the affected flowers should be treated with soapy water.
Another remedy that contains green (25 g) and tar (100 g) soap, a liter of water, kerosene (5 drops) will also help get rid of scale insects on home flowers. Pour the solution into a spray bottle, with which you need to spray everythingplants. After a while, the flowers should be washed with soapy water, and then with running water. Other equally effective recipes are listed below.
Soap with alcohol
The solution should be prepared from the calculation: in one liter of hot water you need to mix 15 ml of liquid soap and 10 ml of alcohol. The mixture is thoroughly stirred until foam appears and applied to the insect shields and the area around them. Only the tool is not suitable for plants with thin leaves. It is worth doing a little experiment - apply the mixture on a separate leaf and wait 30 minutes. If it remains intact, then the product is safe to use.
Butter soap
How to get rid of scale insects? It is necessary to combine liquid soap (10 g), water (30 ml) and a small amount of machine oil. The composition is effective against insects, but can harm the ground and therefore the soil should be covered with polyethylene during processing.
The mixture is applied to the leaves and stems of the affected plants, after which you need to wait 12 hours. Then the plants should be washed under running water, and after a week the procedure should be repeated.
Burdock oil powder
To prepare this product, you need to mix a good washing powder with burdock oil in equal proportions (10 g and 10 ml, respectively) per liter of water. Before use, the solution must be allowed to brew for 4 hours. As a preventive measure, it is enough to wipe the leaves with this remedy once a month.
Tar soap with wood ash decoction
10 is taken per liter of watersoap. To prepare the product from the ashes, you need to take 300 g of the desired material and pour a liter of water, then boil for 30 minutes. Before use, this mixture should be diluted with cold water (10 liters) - leaves, stems of plants should be treated. The earth also needs to be protected by covering it with polyethylene. If you can’t get rid of the scale insects using the listed methods, then you will have to use a more effective method.
Last measure
If absolutely all plants in a house or apartment are captured by scale insects, then you cannot do without the use of insecticides. Such an extreme measure is recommended in cases where other methods are ineffective against a dangerous pest. After all, these drugs are very strong means and are dangerous to the environment. For this reason, it is essential to choose highly specialized insecticides.
Good results can be achieved using these drugs:
- "Akarin" - is inexpensive, contains Avertin. The product is less harmful to humans and beneficial insects.
- "Aktara" - contains the substance thiamethoxam, sold in ampoules, the product is expensive and therefore effective. Moderate danger to humans.
- "Aktellik" - contains the organophosphorus insecticide pirimiphos-methyl. It is quite expensive and poses a greater danger to people.
- "Bancol" - contains bensultap, which is why it is moderately dangerous for the human body.
- "Vertimek" - made withusing abamectin. Not only is it highly effective in terms of pest control, but it can also have a negative impact on humans.
- "Karbofos" - has a specific and pungent odor, a danger to humans within reasonable limits, but care should be taken when processing plants.
- Fitoverm is as safe as possible for humans, but at the same time it poses a serious danger to parasites.
You can easily get rid of scale insects on plants if you use insecticides. But, since most of these drugs still have a negative effect on the human body, the procedure is recommended to be carried out outdoors. If this is not possible, then open all the windows in the room.
Before applying the drug, the leaves of plants should be wiped with soapy water, and then washed in running water. Only then can insecticide be used. You can wash it off no earlier than 30 minutes. The plant at this time is better to cover with polyethylene. It is also worth removing the top layer of soil from the pots, where there may be scale insect eggs.
Prevention measures
It is worth regularly ventilating the room with indoor plants and spraying them with water. Always keep new flowers in quarantine for a month, no less! From time to time, conduct visual inspections to detect the presence of uninvited guests in time.
If you detect an insect in a timely manner, it is much easier to deal with this pest,using simple home remedies. It is possible to defeat the colony, but it requires a lot of effort and the use of rather dangerous means.
Now, after reading this material, the question of how to get rid of scale insects will no longer arise. The main thing is to prevent the appearance of a pest, otherwise the chores will be provided!
