There are no pests, one or two get rust on thier leaves, but new leaves come up. So I don't stress out. Norma

OF COURSE there are pests that create great problems with sansevierias in certain parts of the country. One of the worst are a sucking insect that appears in colonies on leaves AND roots as a white, 'fuzzy', very small insect. It is known as a mealy bug. If left unchecked, it will kill a large plant, or leaf, in a matter of weeks. Topical sprays are only mildly effective as they do not penetrate the waxy body covering, and in addition they do not kill the eggs that have already been laid. The insects and their eggs are "farmed" by certain ants that eat the "honeydew" secreted by the mealy bugs. The ants spread the bugs and their eggs.

I have found a chemical spray at Lowes / Home Depot made by Bayer called, 'Complete Insect Killer', that it attached to your garden hose where it is metered out automatically in the correct dose. Look for the active ingredient called Imidacloprid in the label. This is a systemic insecticide which is taken up by the roots into all the cells of the entire plant. The insects die when they "drink" from the plant fluids. Spray the plant down good and make sure the roots have plenty to drink.

i guess it must be a regional thing then, cuz i have plenty of mealies (sadly) in my garden. i have stem mealies, root mealies and spine mealies. i also have A LOT of sansevierias, but i never find mealies on them. they seem to prefer most of the other genuses (aloes, haworthias, gasterias, echeverias).

anyway, to combat the mealies i do have, i use a 50/50 mixture of water and (50%) rubbing alcohol. which, i guess, would make me a solution of 25% alcohol. it seems to work well.

Bri.

You may have pest I don't I don't even have ants running around. I do have rats and mice, but they can't get into the greenhouse, spider mites do not like water, and can be misted away. They are mimute little red dots, running here and there. I leave all spiders in my greenhouse to eat them. No ants, no mealies, no scale, no snails, nothing, end of conversation that is what Hermine would say. Norma

End of conversation? Pity. I have experienced tow different mealy bugs on my Sans (Several years ago even a beetle who ate several holes into my S. trifaciata. Both survived, the beetle AND the plant). So it is NOT true that Sans never suffer from pests. Think about the rotten hectars of Laurentii in SE Asia due to Erwinia bacteria a few years ago.

The minute red dots are predatory mites BTW.

Helli

Hadrian,
Your alcohol mix will probably kill the adult insects, but the mealies lay their eggs in the tiniest crevices and chances are good the eggs will reinfest your plants. If anyone is having problems with mealies, you will have to either use a systemic poison, or take them outside and spray them down, roots and all, with a garden hose using a little force, and repot.

Helli, it may just be a regional thing, no one seems to get insects on their plants here, we do have cultural problems however, we are very dry, next to no humidity. I put a tub of water in my greenhouse to keep the humidity up. Actually the plants grown outside on top of the table in the shade do better, no heat, no problems. I gave my green house plants their first water in a month, our weather has not settled down yet, I turn the heat off during the day, put it on at night, I try to hold the heat to 62F Norma

hi Michaela,

thanks for the heads up. i actually do use a systemic. i use Bayer's rose systemic insecticide/fertilizer i get at home depot. it gets mixed into all of my soil. i just use the alcohol spray whenever i actually see mealies or other bugs.

Bri.