I’ve noticed some pest damage on some of my plants and want to try the soapy water soak method to make sure I kill them all. However, I have questions – do I soak the entire plant, including the substrate (I use mostly pon, but I have a fair few in sphagnum and perlite)? How long do I soak for? Does this method result in a lot of leaf loss? Any help/advice is appreciated!! (Pic is just a gloriosum I rescued from Home Depot)
by Florahelm
3 Comments
Don’t go easy on them lol
So me personally, I’ll just take a damp towel and wash the fronts and backs of the leaves (that’s where the pests like to live anyways) while also using captain jacks insecticide soap on it. Alo’s are so finicky and mine only get distilled water so I would be a little weary of soaking them, however I did see a major collector say that she sprays down her plants every so often. She does it w a hose cause they’re huge but apparently it helps w pests, also clears off dust so they can photosynthesize better
*oops thought I was on the Alo thread 😂😂 but some of the advice still applies ❤️
I saw one gal post recently that she’s soaking hers for an hour. I’ve seen others with the pot and substrate all under water, other times not. I’m going to try the beneficial mites route since I want to be thorough and not drag out weeks of re-treatment.