Question
bugs
I recently noticed that too many leaves on my corn plant were turning brown. I checked the soil and saw many of these bugs (shown in picture) along with what seems like millions of very, very, very small bugs. I am convinced these bugs are killing my plant. Can you please help me save my plant without having to use any harsh chemicals?
AnswerHi Lakisha,
The best way to deal with this problem without using harsh chemicals is to repot the plant and entirely replace the soil with fresh potting soil. Since there will likely be insects and eggs hiding in the soil around the roots, you will need to remove all of the soil in the rootball. Brush off all of the soil from the roots that you can.
The easiest way I have found to remove the rest of the soil from the roots is to rinse the roots with a strong, steady spray of room temperature water.
After all the soil has been removed, put the plant in a pot of fresh potting soil.
If you want to repot the plant into the same pot that it was in before make sure you wash the pot well in hot, soapy water then soak the pot in water with bleach for about 20 minutes. Rinse the pot well after soaking it in bleach water.
Be sure the outside of the pot is washed and soaked in bleach too (Don't just fill the inside of the pot with bleach water). There may be insect eggs on the rim and the outside of the pot.
It would also be a good idea to thoroughly wash the area around where the plant was sitting with hot soapy water. It is not uncommon for insect eggs to be found on the shelves, window sills and/or the floor around a plant.
If you decide to go with using an insecticide, drench the soil with a solution of 50% Malathion and 50% distilled water.
Even if you decide to use the Malathion, I would still recommend repotting the plant into fresh potting soil. Although since you will be drenching the soil with the Malathion there is no need to remove the soil from the rootball.
After you repot the plant with fresh potting soil, then drench the fresh soil with the Malathion solution to kill anything that is still there.
Repeat the treatment with the Malathion in about 5 days.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions or need additional information please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks
Tracy
