Greetings, caretaker. I am a Daphne, a fragrant and beautiful houseplant, but my lush leaves and sweet blooms can attract unwanted visitors. When I am stressed, I become vulnerable. Listen to my leaves and stems, for they will tell you when I am under attack. Here is what to look for and how you can help me recover.
You will often find these tiny, soft-bodied insects—green, black, or white—clustered on my tender new growth and the undersides of my leaves. They pierce my tissues and drain my vital sap, which weakens me and causes my beautiful leaves to curl, yellow, and become sticky with a substance called honeydew. This honeydew can then attract sooty mold, further blocking my sunlight. To help me, first isolate me from other plants. A strong jet of lukewarm water can dislodge many of them. For persistent problems, treat me with insecticidal soap or neem oil, ensuring you coat the undersides of my leaves thoroughly.
These are not insects but tiny arachnids, barely visible to your eye. They thrive in hot, dry conditions—the very environment that stresses me. You will know they are there by the fine, silky webbing they spin on my stems and leaves. They suck the chlorophyll from my cells, leaving a stippled, dusty, or bronzed appearance on my foliage. My leaves may eventually turn yellow and drop. Increase humidity around me with a pebble tray or humidifier to deter them. Regularly rinse my leaves. If an infestation occurs, insecticidal soap or a miticide labeled for houseplants is necessary. Repeat treatments are crucial as their lifecycle is rapid.
Scale insects are deceptive. They appear as small, brown, bumpy growths stuck firmly to my stems and the veins on the undersides of my leaves. They are immobile for most of their lives, protected by a waxy shell, and they feed incessantly on my sap. This drains my energy, leading to yellowing leaves, stunted growth, and honeydew excretion. You can physically remove them by gently scraping them off with a soft brush or your fingernail, or by dabbing each scale with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. For larger infestations, horticultural oil or insecticidal soap can be used to smother them.
Look for clusters of white, cottony masses in the leaf axils (where the leaf meets the stem), along stems, and on the undersides of leaves. These are mealybugs. Like their aphid and scale relatives, they are sap-suckers. Their feeding causes leaf yellowing, wilting, and leaf drop. The honeydew they produce leads to sooty mold. They are particularly stubborn. The most effective immediate treatment is to dab each bug with a cotton swab soaked in 70% isopropyl alcohol. For broader treatment, insecticidal soaps or neem oil applications are effective. Be persistent and check me regularly, as they hide in tight spaces.
Not all pests attack my top parts. Root mealybugs infest my root system, appearing as white, powdery patches on my roots and causing me to wilt and decline despite adequate watering. Fungus gnats are small, flying insects whose larvae live in the soil and can nibble on my delicate roots. For both, the first line of defense is to let my soil dry out more between waterings. Repotting me into fresh, well-draining soil can help remove these pests. For fungus gnats, yellow sticky traps can catch the adults, and a hydrogen peroxide soil drench can address the larvae.
