Pests on indoor flowers - scale insect settlement
If your houseplant has started to become covered with "sweet" honeydew, but no crawling insects are visible on it, then most likely it is infected with a scabbard. These pests often appear on plants with dense leathery leaves, such as indoor lemon, ficus, ivy, asparagus, palm, and other indoor plants.
Scabbard - insect pest
The scale insects are small brownish insects. They are so small that it is almost impossible to see them on the branches, but on the leaves of the plant, bugs are perfectly visible. These insects are motionless. They stick to the underside of leaves and stems, feeding on plant sap. Because of this, it develops poorly, withers and may even die. In addition, the pests emit "sweet" honeydew on which the fungus can settle. It spreads throughout the plant, clogging the pores on the leaves and preventing them from absorbing oxygen.
How to deal with a scabbard
Pests lay eggs from which larvae hatch. They are not visible to the naked eye, but unlike their “parents”, they are very mobile. It is the larvae that spread throughout the plant and can crawl into the soil, as well as on nearby indoor flowers.
The first thing to do is wipe the leaves of the plant with alcohol or garlic infusion to remove the "sweet" honeydew. Then you need to wipe the sides of the pot, as they may contain "vagrant" larvae.
Insects are protected by a very durable shell, under which water does not penetrate, so no amount of spraying with insecticides will help get rid of scabbards... It is necessary to use a drug that will penetrate the plant through the roots and poison its juice. Having drunk such juice, the pests will die.
Aktara is an insecticide that destroys the scabbard. If you need to process, for example, a fruiting indoor lemon, it is better to water the plant with "Aktara" after fruiting.
After the first watering, the pests and their larvae will die, but insect eggs may remain on the plant. Therefore, watering with an insecticide must be repeated after a week.
Treat the pots next to the infected plant with the drug, because the scale insect larvae can infect other indoor flowers.
After you destroy the scabbard, the plant will need to be rinsed with warm water to wash off the dried pest shells from it.
In order to protect the indoor flower from the scale insect in the future, it is necessary to remove the top layer of soil, and it is better to transplant the plant into another pot. So you can play it safe and prevent the insect from hatching from the eggs remaining in the soil and infecting your pet again.