Question
I have a chamaedora elegans (I think - it looks like it but is bigger - the typical palms you can buy at every home depot). It has more than one sort of pest. It has the sucking bucks on the leaves that can be washed off with soap water, but also something crawling and flying in the ground. When I pull out the dead leaves (they start turning bround at the edges and continue fast until the whole leave is brown) I can see o lot of little animals moving between the roots. At home (Germany) I used Lizetan tabletts to put in the ground. Here I haven't found anything similar. The pest is too big to just use spray from the outside. However, the plant is still alive and would grow again as it still has green healthy leaves. I don't want to lose it!


Answer
Susanne,

It sounds like you have fungus gnats. They are usually caused by overwatering which causes the roots to begin to rot and and attract the gnats.

You can water the plant with rubbing alcohol which will kill the gnats. However after that you need to cut back on the water or they will come back. Have you repotted the palm since you bought it? If so what was the diameter of the original pot andn what is the diameter of the pot you moved it to? Let me know and I will try to give you more suggestions. Good luck.

Darlene