Natural way to deal with Pests in Houseplants.

If you’ve been a houseplant lover and have owned few plants, you might’ve already dealt with pest issues and if you haven’t yet then many claps for you! I know it's hard to believe that pests could form in your indoor plants, but it can and it's not because you have a dirty house. The most common pest Fungus gnats happens when you overwater and the soil is wet for longer periods of time- making it the perfect breeding ground for fungus gnats to thrive. Other common houseplant pests include spider mites and mealybugs, so if you haven’t come across the first one, you might suffer with the others. And with rising evidence that some pesticides are harmful to humans and some advising to not spray inside an enclosed room, we run out of options real fast as to what we should use to treat those pests inside our homes. Luckily for us, nature knows how to deal with nature so here are three natural pesticides that can be used inside homes. 

Neem

Native to India, neem oil has been used for centuries to treat many issues- both greenhouse and beauty related. They are biodegradable and non-toxic so you won’t have to worry about your furry friends getting toxic gunk on their snoot if they choose to boop the houseplants. Neem oil pesticides do not form a death zone, instead they target the pests only- meaning they won’t hurt the healthy bacteria's that are a part of your houseplant’s ecosystem. Neem pesticides can be used all year round, simply follow the instructions on the bottle label. 

Sand for Gnats.

Our second and third recommendation focuses just on gnats. Gnats form when we leave the soil wet for long periods of time and they tend to breed only in the top inch of the soil. By sprinkling/covering the soil bed with sand, the environment becomes dry and the gnats are robbed of nutrients they need to breed and continue the infestation. 

Ceylon cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon is another great way to get gnats out of your houseplants. The cinnamon destroys the fungus (ones that are a part of your houseplants ecosystem) that gnats like to feed on, so without food the gnat population will slowly decrease with PERSISTENT application of ceylon cinnamon. We would recommend that you use true ceylon cinnamon instead of the regular.