This is on a spiderplant (a "green heirloom", which is not variegated), which is in Leca (semi-hydro). I water-propagated it from an offshoot in April, and put it in Leca in late May. Repotted it 3 days ago, which is when I saw the bugs.
BUGS & ROOTS:
There were no visible bugs around the base or the roots. Some mild root rot at the ends of the roots, but overall a very good root system – unfortunately, I didn't take a picture. Sorry.
The white spots on the shelf underneath are sand grains from an art project. I wiped then away and took another video to avoid confusion, but the zoom didn't get the bug as nicely. Sorry about that.
WATERING:
I used to water it to have consistent water levels, but I was told last week that's not how you use Leca, so from then on I (will) give it dry periods of a day or two every week, and then exchange the water. I only use nutrient solution every second week.
I also have hydrogen peroxide on hand, if anyone thinks that would help.
LIGHT:
It's 30cm/1ft away from a south-facing window, which never gets direct light due to a balcony right above the window. It gets between 1000-1800lux (~100-180fc) for at least 12h.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Any help is appreciated – this is propagated from a plant from my favourite restaurant before they closed up. The manager hugged me when I asked for a cutting to remember it by.
Also, uh. Sorry for the over-explaining. I'm autistic and don't know what's important, and I often miss things that "seem obvious" or contextual. Thanks for your patience.
by SammuelPho3nix
5 Comments
Oh, these need 1000 to 2500 ft-c of light, like 10x more. Plants are a lot more likely to get pests when they have insufficient light exposure because then they just don’t have the energy that they need. edit: Low energy is like a beacon call to pests.
edit: I’m autistic, too, so I get it! 💚
Juvi thrips?
Dont clip the tips! And as someone else said, more light. The leaves will be wider then.
I wish every post was this nicely detailed.
You have thrips. If you don’t have pets/children, i strongly suggest using sistemic pesticide (in foliage spray form as you don’t have soil for granule use). You spray it, plant absorbs it, whatever muches on plant dies (bugs, pets would prob get mild tummy ache, but better not riks it). If using regular contact pesticides, spray, then bag the plant and keep it bagged until the whole length of the treatment is done. It is always better to keep any pesticide sprayed plant away from pets/children even of the plant has to be put into a darker corner. It will have the chance to recover later.
Thrips have an interesting life cycle and that’s why they are a bit hard to get rid of. They lay eggs inside the plant tissue, that’s why there is so much 3D damage. So the babies are protected inside the leaf until they hatch (they are white-yellow when hatched), adult thrips are black and can fly, so try to get rid of them before they spread easy via flying.
Because of their life cycle, it is important to use the pesticide weekly for at least 2 months, to be sure all the eggs are hatched and then killed. This will probably damage the plant, but after they are all gone, it can start pushing out new growth and recover its energy slowly.
As someone else already said, if there is no direct light in that window, put it directly in the window, spider plants just eat up light, more than a few hours of direct are a bituch for them and the leaves will start looking faded, but they do need a lot of light.
Thrips. Aside from the suggested systemic pesticides (which are banned in some areas due to environmental concerns), captain jacks dead bug brew does wonders against thrips.