My mom has 2 string of pearls plants. She’s had a lot of issues with small flies for the first year and a bit shed had them. I think the white spots are dead bugs carcasses or shells they morphed out of. She’s really concerned about the ends of the strings being super white. A lot of pearls seem to have a split/stretch marks on them too, which seems odd.
I can take more pics if needed.
Any help is appreciated thanks!
Uschisewpie
Aphids! Blast them off in the sink or shower and spray with a pyrethrin based insecticide.
Shower the entire plant down with a strong stream of warm water, that will dislodge most of the aphids. Regular showering will remove aphids. No harsh insecticides are needed.
When showering, stay away from the soil – you want to rinse the strings – not get the aphids in the soil.
Doveluver270
The “stretch marks” are actually a normal part of this plants. It’s a translucent “window” slit that allows more light into the inside of the plant for photosynthesis. Many succulents have a version of this. Some say it’s useful to watch the windows for when they kind of close up and then you know it’s time to water. But yes there’s also aphids here and the white tips probably have something to do with the amount of light it’s getting or possibly lack of nutrients?
purple-people-eater1
I don’t think the water method (alone) works for an infestation at this scale.
I would recommend a few things. If you don’t want to use pesticide: After washing all the aphids off, dilute hydrogen peroxide 2 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroxide and water the plant with it. This will not hurt the plant- it sounds scary but hydrogen peroxide is chemically H2O2 so pretty close to water. I would not recommend you drink it, but it’s totally safe to water your plants with.
This will help kill any eggs in the soil. You will need to do this for honestly months even up to a year to fully get rid of the aphids. Also keep the plant away from others otherwise aphids will spread.
I have done that in the past and it did work to keep aphids down but never really got rid of them.
I said fuck it and moved up to Bonide systemic pest control. It works so much faster 1 or 2 treatments gone for good.
Don’t use Bonide on edible plants, how it works is it gets absorbed into the plant from the soil, and when the bugs chew on the plant they die. So not safe for living things fo eat. If you have a pet they chews on the plant you might want to stick to method 1.
5 Comments
My mom has 2 string of pearls plants. She’s had a lot of issues with small flies for the first year and a bit shed had them. I think the white spots are dead bugs carcasses or shells they morphed out of. She’s really concerned about the ends of the strings being super white. A lot of pearls seem to have a split/stretch marks on them too, which seems odd.
I can take more pics if needed.
Any help is appreciated thanks!
Aphids! Blast them off in the sink or shower and spray with a pyrethrin based insecticide.
The white “spots” are exoskeletons of aphids, which means there is an [aphid infestation](https://www.treehugger.com/how-get-rid-aphids-4863913) nearby.
Shower the entire plant down with a strong stream of warm water, that will dislodge most of the aphids. Regular showering will remove aphids. No harsh insecticides are needed.
When showering, stay away from the soil – you want to rinse the strings – not get the aphids in the soil.
The “stretch marks” are actually a normal part of this plants. It’s a translucent “window” slit that allows more light into the inside of the plant for photosynthesis. Many succulents have a version of this. Some say it’s useful to watch the windows for when they kind of close up and then you know it’s time to water. But yes there’s also aphids here and the white tips probably have something to do with the amount of light it’s getting or possibly lack of nutrients?
I don’t think the water method (alone) works for an infestation at this scale.
I would recommend a few things. If you don’t want to use pesticide: After washing all the aphids off, dilute hydrogen peroxide 2 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroxide and water the plant with it. This will not hurt the plant- it sounds scary but hydrogen peroxide is chemically H2O2 so pretty close to water. I would not recommend you drink it, but it’s totally safe to water your plants with.
This will help kill any eggs in the soil. You will need to do this for honestly months even up to a year to fully get rid of the aphids. Also keep the plant away from others otherwise aphids will spread.
I have done that in the past and it did work to keep aphids down but never really got rid of them.
I said fuck it and moved up to Bonide systemic pest control. It works so much faster 1 or 2 treatments gone for good.
Don’t use Bonide on edible plants, how it works is it gets absorbed into the plant from the soil, and when the bugs chew on the plant they die. So not safe for living things fo eat. If you have a pet they chews on the plant you might want to stick to method 1.
Good luck!