Hi everyone,
Just looking for some advice. This is my little monstera (not entirely too sure what type.. I've been told aurea, albo or Thai con).
As you can see Thrips have really attacked it. I've done physically taping them off the leafs. Just last night I tried to spray them with rubbing alcohol. I'm wondering what else I might be able to do.
Unfortunately being in Canada we don't have a lot of systemic stuff. But alas this was my prized possession.
by Content_Albatross621
2 Comments
I’ve taken to a pressurized auto spraying bottle thing and filling it with dish soap and water. Kills mine on site. I also take an alcohol wipe and clean the leaves down, rubbing just hard enough to not quite rip leaves. Pressure from the shower also helps. There’s also a lot of limitations here in the Netherlands, but I did find a generic brand thrips killer at the garden store which did work great. But it says to only use ex a year which i try to follow so i usually just use dish soap for every pest. French the plant, head to toe.
I do it in this order:
Shower
Alcohol wipe
Shower (best not to leave alcohol sitting on the leaves it can damage em even more)
Dish soap spray
I repeat the dish soap spray again in a few days every few days then end the cycle with a shower again.
Beneficial mites are a godsend. N. Cucumeris are lit little tanks, absolutely destroyed my thrips. Got em on Amazon lmao who knew?
If all else fails, soaking the plant in the tub or a big bucket overnight with dish soap water etc helps.
If it truly gets unmanageable you can always cut this plant down to wetsticks since that’s very easy to clean.
Make sure you check your other plants. For me, the problem was usually an infestation on a Pothos downstairs that I missed BC it’s in the window behind a curtain. Once the plant is stressed it’s far more susceptible to pests, so they’ll keep coming back. But it doesn’t mean that plant is patient 0, adult thrips can fly.
Everyone does it differently. This does work for me, in not making promises but it’s what *I* did lol
So my ‘go to’ for bug issues including thrips is to water my plants with regular strength uncoated aspirin. I use 1 full tablet per 3 gallons of water. Used on water only days (not used with plant food) depending on the severity of your issue I would recommend using it every week for a month and then every 10-14 days. The aspirin makes your plant taste terrible to bugs and this trick has served me well for years. Plz note I’ve never had to do this on my rare indoor plants (i baby them so this doesn’t happen anymore) but it’s worked on every plant I’ve tried it on. The ratio of water/aspirin can be played around with too! Hope that helps. Otherwise get some yellow sticky traps too. Work wonders. Hope this helps.