Expert: Christopher Littrell - 7/30/2007

Question
Can I use homemade organic pesticides with detergent?
I think my plant has scale pest because it has deformed leaves. and it also has
brown spots with holes.
do you know any homemade pesticides i can use?
When I bought this plant it had ants all over it and now I'm keeping it in a
terrarium.

Answer
Hello Sebasian,

Here is a site that specializes in home made organic pest remedies for using on plants:

http://wiwi.essortment.com/homemadeorgani_renu.htm

Regular detergent should not harm your Nepenthes, just be cautious of any special additives in some detergents. In addition, some of those remedies might add nutrients to the soil if they get in it since they contain natural substances that break down. If you find something that you intend to just use on the leaves, it would be fine, but ants in the soil pose a different problem.

When you indicated ants and scale insects, I realized your problem might be worse than you think. Ants and many pests, like aphids and scale insects, live in sybiotic relationships where the ants protect the pests, moving them around and herding them like cows and keeping them hidden underground in times of danger or at night. In return, the aphids and scale insects produce a sweet liquid that is nourishing to ants.

Your problem might be in the very soil your Nepenthes lives in if any ants and scale insects transferred to the terrarium with your Nepenthes.

In any case, you can also try neem based organic products as insecticide and fungicide as neem oil is a natural product of certain plants. It can be irritating to human skin and lungs, but is not generally as toxic as chemical pesticides and breaks down easily within a few days or weeks.

Keep up the fight against those pests,

Christopher