Household Plants and Pests

When we say household plants, we do not mean plants that are meant to be used in the houses only. There is no category like ‘household plant' in nature. Nature has not produced plants for houses separately. It is that we started using small plants to decorate our homes, to make our home environment colourful and different. Besides being used in general houses, these plants are now being used to decorate public places like hotels, offices, theaters, malls etc. These plants look fine when they are healthy, but like humans they are also prone to infection. Therefore a lot of care and control is needed to keep them in good health. They also require the same attention that we humans need to keep fit.

When exposed to outdoors these plants tend to be infected by pests. As we all know that pests uses plant leaves to nest and lay their eggs. Some of the plants come already infected with mites, insects or their eggs. So when you buy plants to be used indoors always be careful to check it properly first.

There are different ways of getting rid of pests. It depends on the type of infection the plant has. Some pests can be removed very easily without using any chemical or pesticide. This is comparatively safe, as it keeps the environment safe too. But there are some pests which cannot be removed easily. It is then that you will have to use insecticide to get rid of them. The insecticide should be finely sprayed on the plant, especially on the affected areas. If you spray for a couple of days the pests will go away.

We have a saying that Prevention is better than Cure. This applied for household plants also. You should carefully inspect the plant before you buy them. You should always try to buy the healthy ones. Very often close inspection too cannot detect an infected plant. What you should do is, when you buy a plant keep it isolated somewhere for a couple of weeks for observation. If there is any infection it will show up in these weeks. You can then treat it fully as per requirement. After you have made sure that the plant is now infection-free you can then put it wherever it is meant to be put. If you see a healthy plant you will recognize it by its lush leaves and healthy branches with blemish.

Thereafter, to prevent the plant from getting infected further, you have to spray it with mild pesticide at regular intervals and intermittently spray them with fresh water. You should avoid using duster or any such thing to clean the plant. If you do so you are making sure that the other plants will also get infected, because you will be dusting all the plants with the same duster. It will be very easy to transmit the pests from one plant to the other.

After you have installed a healthy plant indoor you should make sure that the plant is sprayed with water every month or so.