Succulent plants are a success among gardening enthusiasts, since they are species as diverse as they are beautiful, which also tend to be very undemanding in their care. However, pests are one of their worst enemies, and that is that they can be attacked by a multitude of insects.
If you want to learn how to combat pests on succulents, keep reading us in this practical Green Ecologist article full of tips to get rid of them and prevent them.
The aphid is one of the pests that most commonly affects all types of plants. These insects are commonly green in color, although there are also black and yellow, all of which are a few millimeters in size. They feed by sipping the juices from the leaves and stems of the plants, but they also secrete a sugary substance that promotes the appearance of ants and a black fungus.
The best for remove aphids from succulents is to use a home remedy in the form of insecticide for succulents, always making an ecological one ourselves or buying an ecological one, always without resorting to those that are commercial chemicals too harmful to plants.
In addition, we recommend these other Home Remedies to eliminate aphids on plants.
The cottony mealybug it is another of the most feared and common pests. They are insects of about 4 mm in size, light in color and covered by a white layer of a substance that they produce and that accumulates in plants. They usually accumulate on the underside of the leaves or under the roots, although they are easier to distinguish by that species of "cotton" that gives them their name and which is actually egg sacs.
It is a dangerous pest because the substance they produce can cause the appearance of other diseases, such as black fungus, so it must be remedied as soon as possible. If we locate the pest in a very early stage, we can remove the insects ourselves manually, with a swab or cotton impregnated with alcohol or potassium soap. If not, it will be better to spray with a solution, as with aphids.
We can also use Dishwasher soap diluted in water or Neem oil, very effective remedies against many pests in succulents. Neem oil is an ecological product that can be purchased online or in specialized surfaces, it is applied by mixing a tablespoon of the oil in two liters of water and spraying the solution on the plants, at dusk and once a week.
In this other post you can learn more about How to eliminate the cottony mealybug.
The snails and slugs They can be very voracious and eat a large part of our plants, doing them a lot of damage and even killing them if we do not do anything in time. They are an outdoor pest, which practically never appears on indoor plants.
If you see a snail or slug on your plants, don't hesitate to remove it manually, take it to another green area suitable and seek more to do the same. When they are few, manual elimination will be enough, but if the pest has spread it will be necessary to protect your plants by spreading circles of eggshell crushed around it or by placing beer traps, which eliminate them with great effectiveness. Here you can learn more How to fight snail and slug pests naturally.
Weevils They are small beetles with a large number of shapes and colors, which tend to have a kind of elongated snout in their adult phase. Their larvae eat the roots of the plant, while the adults are not limited to these. They are especially dangerous in vegetables, as they force the product to be thrown away by causing diseases and infections that affect humans. It is best to resort to neem oil, although in severe cases we can resort to biological pest control and acquire beneficial nematodes, which attack their larvae and do not affect plants.
We recommend you read these other articles on How to eliminate weevils and What is biological pest control, its advantages, disadvantages and examples.
To finish talking about how to eliminate pests in cacti and succulents, we want to indicate other pests that can also affect these plants. These are other pests of succulents common:
Against all these pests, alcohol, potassium soap and Neem oil will be great allies.
As always, prevention can save us a lot of work and trouble when it comes to pests. Therefore, here we give you some tips to prevent pests on succulents:
Now that you know all this, we encourage you to learn more about Succulent Care with this other gardening guide.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to combat pests on succulents, we recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.