Wednesday, January 3, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Head off houseplant pests with vigilance, cleanliness Apply now
By Kym Pokorny
Oregon State University Extension Service
CORVALLIS – Insects
lurking under leaves, climb-
ing up stems and settling into
the soil of houseplants frus-
trate indoor gardeners to no
end.
But there are answers,
according to experts with
Oregon State University’s
Extension Service.
Winter is a good time
to check indoor plants for
sap-sucking insects like
mites, thrips, mealybugs,
scales, whiteflies and aphids.
Spotting problems and
responding to them early
can keep populations from
exploding.
There are a number of
strategies to keep your indoor
pests at bay without resorting
to chemical controls.
First of all, learn your
houseplants’ needs and keep
them healthy with the cor-
rect amount of light, water
and nutrition. Stressed plants
encourage problems. For
example, hot, dry and dusty
conditions promote mite out-
breaks and feeding plants too
much high-nitrogen fertilizer
makes for a delicious dinner
for aphids.
When you spot some
insects, it’s necessary to iden-
tify the pest before treating
since different insects require
different treatments. If you
don’t know, put a few infested
leaves in a plastic bag and go
to your nearest Extension
office or take a photo and
submit it to Ask an Expert,
an online Extension question-
and-answer feature.
Once you determine that
you’ve got a problem, isolate
infested plants from others so
the insects don’t spread from
plant to plant.
If whiteflies are present,
you can carefully vacuum
them off with a hand-held
vacuum, dislodge them with
a soft spray of water or wipe
leaves with a sponge. If you
go the vacuum route, freeze
the bag to kill the contents.
Another trick is to place
aluminum foil around the
base of a plant. This may dis-
orient winged pests like thrips
and aphids and discourage
them from landing. Or paint
a small dish yellow and fill
it with water to attract and
drown them.
Use yellow sticky traps,
available at garden centers, to
capture aphids and whiteflies.
Blue sticky traps are good
for snaring adult thrips while
white ones work best for adult
fungus gnats. Kill fungus gnat
larvae that live in the soil by
reducing the amount of water
you give plants; they love
moisture. Also, remove stand-
ing water in the saucer.
Swabbing bug-ridden
leaves with a small paintbrush
dipped in rubbing alcohol will
destroy soft-bodied aphids
and mealybugs. This works
best when infestations have
just gotten started.
Some pests can be easily
eliminated by shaking them
onto a sheet of paper and dis-
carding; or by hand if you
are not too squeamish. Pinch
off heavily infested leaves or
other plant parts and destroy.
Spray plants plagued by
soft-bodied pests with gentle
insecticidal soaps or light hor-
ticultural oils available at gar-
den centers. These may hurt
some plants, so spot treat one
leaf first. Also, soaps and oils
are not as effective on winged
adults, because they fly off
and come back later.
You may want to consider
throwing out heavily infested
plants. Discard soil and clean
the pot or container as well.
If you feel you have to
resort to chemical pesticides,
keep in mind that few pesti-
cides are registered or con-
sidered safe for indoor use
on houseplants. Read labels
Woman’s estate files
lawsuit over killing
PORTLAND (AP) — The
estate of a woman has filed a
$3.6 million lawsuit against
Backpage.com and the own-
ers of the Portland hotel
where she was killed by a
man she had met for sex.
According to the law-
suit filed Friday, 25-year-old
Ashley Benson had been traf-
ficked by an abusive pimp.
The lawsuit says she was
killed in 2014 by 27-year-old
Tae Bum Yoon who found her
through Backpage and lured
her to the DoubleTree by
Hilton hotel in Portland.
The
Oregonian /
OregonLive reports Yoon
was sentenced to 18 years
in prison after he was
found guilty of first-degree
manslaughter.
The lawsuit claims
Backpage.com and the hotel
failed to establish and use
practices to protect victims of
sex trafficking like Benson.
Representatives for Hilton
and Backpage didn’t imme-
diately return requests for
comment.
for master
gardener
training
PHOTO BY STEPHEN WARD
Keeping houseplants healthy is one strategy to avoid pests, but there are
effective control methods for infestations.
carefully for where and how
to use a pesticide. If indoor
use is not listed on the label,
take the plant to be treated
outside, away from children
and pet traffic areas. Leave
the plant outside a day or two
after spraying.
Applications for the OSU
Master Gardener Program
in Central Oregon are now
available. The program tar-
gets individuals interested in
becoming a trained volunteer
who wants to learn and share
research-based gardening
information.
The program starts with
10 classes that meet on
Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
January 19 through April 6,
at the OSU Cascades cam-
pus in Bend. It continues with
hands-on training through
September.
Applications must be
received by January 9. Cost
is $295 and includes tuition,
text book and supplies. Partial
scholarships are available.
More information is
available at http://extension.
oregonstate.edu/deschutes.
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