Question
We purchased two tropical bird of paradise plants two months ago from a Phoenix-area nursery, and we have since realized that they are infested with hundreds of very small bugs.  These bugs are all over the flowering portions of the plants, covering the flowers themselves and extending down the stalks of the flowers.  Only a few are on the leaves of the plants.  The bugs range from sub-millimeter to maybe 1.5 x 1 mm.  They are elongated, elliptical or fusiform in shape.  They are black.  They usually remain still, but occasionally one can be seen crawling along the plant.  They do *not* look like the red palm mites I read about on the web while searching for help, nor mealybugs.  Could they be aphids?

We had no house plants before buying these, and they are each in a corner of the dining room, remote from the other four plants we purchased that day.

What on earth are these things, and can I be rid of them?  The plants do not seem to be suffering for their presence, but I cannot bear the thought of them in my home.

Thanks.

Answer
Hi Ceil, I can only speculate on the species of insect, could very well be aphids, but nonetheless, the cure is the same; you need to remove the plants from the house and take them to an area where you can remove them from the container they are in and wash the container out with a bleach mixture. After you do this and have washed away the residual Bleach, replace the potting mixture with new soil; while you are doing all this, the plant itself should have been sprayed thoroughly with either a Horticultural Oil or an Insecticidal Soap, so while you are changing out the pot, the oil or soap can be killing the existing insects on the crown itself. What has happened here, is the soil was obviously laced with eggs, and the heat of the house hatched them out and they permeated the crown. Spray the root ball also to suffocate any eggs or insects that are hiding out there; let the plant sit outdoors for several hours (repotted of course) and then take your hose and wash the crown down well to eliminate all the dead insects and residual oil or soap. Nick