Easy Home Made Insecticides for our Bonsai Plants

Dear friends, now the weather is changing . It is going to be winter now in the next few months that is December and January. There are many chances of insects and flies attacking the plants. We have to keep our plants away from insects. today we speak about common insects which attack our Bonsai plants.

Small home remedies for our small Bonsai gardens makes a lot of difference to keep all the pests away and our Bonsai will  be Happy with a big smile.

Many of our friends are having Ficus nuda/ benjamina as a bonsai.First we will see the insects that attack our ficus plant. The most common insect which attacks the leaves of this plant is thrips. It is transparent. This insect attacks the new leaves of the plant, then the leaves of the plant will be sticky and will be folded inside.

If leave them like tat it effects the entire plant and plant can die back completely. First and foremost thing is to remove infected leaves  and branches.

To get rid off these thrips spray insecticide oil or the smell of lasun (Garlic) juice made from grinded lasun cloves keep these insects away from the leaves, they cant survive. This juice can be sprayed above the leaves and below the leaves twice in a week  for two weeks depending on the spread of the disease and to be controlled completely.

Second option is neem oil insecticide. This can be used in dilute quantity when we are using for the first time. check the plant response by spraying only on infected areas not on complete plant, if the plant is responding well after one week, second time spray can be done. we can continue till the bugs can disappeared from the plant. Neem oil insecticide can be made by mixing one table spoon neem oil , half table spoon mild liquid detergent mix them in one liter water and spray it on the leaves and below the leaves.

Second one insect is White flies and mealy bugs, they look like cotton balls spreading mostly at the nodes of the leaves and below the leaves. But White flies. Mealy bugs stays on plant .  They Mostly attacks fruiting and flowering plants and sucks juice from the plant. and the plant becomes weak. One more danger is if ants are there on the plant they start spreading white flies on the entire plant.

White Flies     

The best remedy is mild liquid detergent .water. When we spray on it, the outer body of the insect which white fluffy like a cotton ball will be damaged with soap water. The insect becomes dehydrated and dies because of soap water. First clean white flies affected area of the plant with a brush. and spray soap water twice in a week.

Red spider is very minute and hosts underneath the leaves and destroys the leaves by sucking juice leaf and mostly chlorophyll. 

  Red Spider

The first Home remedy is separate the plant and give a bath to the plant like jet spray and remove topsoil and fill with fresh garden soil. They lay eggs in soil, that is the reason we have to remove top soil and fill with fresh soil Then spray neem oil mixed with water. Neem oil prevents the insect eggs  from maturing and it closes the breathing holes of the spider and makes them die..

Some other homemade pesticides are take neem leaves, adarak and lasun mix them in grider and spray juice on the leaves of the plants and below the leaves. twice in a week. it helps the plant to keep away most of the insects.

Still some crawling insects and some fugus are there , we can talk about them in next chapter. we follow these methods nothing can damage our Bonsai plant.

Normal other Home made insecticides are water made with turmeric powder or spraying pepper powder also keeps all the bugs beyond our Bonsai plants.

Happy Bonsai Growing.