Help! Pests on my seedlings!
 

They are small, green caterpillar type bugs. I wasn't able to see them until I used a magnifying glass so I can't get a picture of them. You can sure as heck see the damage though. I'm beyond pissed off! I worked super hard on these guys, as they are my first flask seedlings. :((

I sprayed the seedlings with insecticidal soap. Is there anything else I can or should do?

Pics of the damage.....:((:((:((

Oh your poor babies :(
Good luck getting rid of them!

Thanks! I have no idea if insecticidal soap will even kill them or not. Worms/Caterpillars were not on the list of bugs it takes care of. :_(

Sorry about your seedlings! I would bet what you described in your post is some type of larvae. If you want something stronger to treat your seedlings, Bayer 3-in-1 should do the trick.

If you want something more organic, completely submerge each compot in water and leave them in there for an hour, don't allow any of the leaves above water. This should drown your bugs and give your seedlings a good watering. If you choose the method, I would repeat this in a week, in case new eggs hatch during this time.

The soap should kill those worms. I mix my own soap spray...20% dish soap, 20% alcohol (I use the 91%) & 60% water. Works for me every time...BettyE

Should I use this as a perventitive solution or only when the larva are present? Will this work on fungus gnat larva? (little clear fly worm babies :(( )

Also will 70% ISOPROPYL alcohol work if I mix that in 20% of the entire solution with soap and water?

in my conditions, and with lots of seedlings and mature plants , I have found the ideal is to spray at least every 14 days with a rotating list of pesticides and then a fungicide. Its a real pain but I bought a one gallon sprayer and that made the job much easier. If you have a lot of houseplants like I do, you also have to consider whether they are home-base to some pests.
I use Sucrashield, Safer Soap, Neem Oil and then Thiomyl. I also use a home-mix of Dr Bronner's/rubbing alcohol/water approx every 3 months. I find spraying the plant containers, mix and stands also helps.

Thanks for the info. I'll start this. The fungus gnats are getting worse. :(

as for fungus gnats - the best solution to that problem are butterworts/pinguicula. Even though I have a rigid spraying regime, I still find a couple trapped in my butterworts' leaves.
Butterworts are also fascinating in that they reproduce so easily - they develop keikis freely, you can obtain plantlets from planting a cut leaf. I had started with 1 and at one stage had over 20 with my propagation efforts. There are a couple of threads on them...

I also bought 2 butterworts, 2 pinguicula, and a venus fly trap. It seems for me that the pinguicula is much better at trapping the flies than the butterworts.

Your 70% isopropyl alcohol is simply more diluted with pure water. Adjust your formula to include a higher percentage of it.

70% isopropyl alcohol (undiluted) is a better disinfectant, as the water helps the alcohol penetrate and destroy protein shell instead of hardening protein shell causing protein to go dormant.

? butterworts and pinguicula are the same thing...
Don't give up on them clearing your gnat problem. It may take a while but catching adults eventually breaks the lifecycle and vastly reduces the adult population.

The original photos also show circular patches - any chance those are scale insects? If so, I would go with the Bayer 3-in-1 or Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower.

If not, another option for caterpillars is to try a Bacillus Thuringiensis control (also called BT). It is bacteria-based, only affects insect larvae, perfectly safe for other critters. Widely available in powder form in garden centers. YOu may need to re-apply if it washes off.

Fungus gnat larvae will do that sort of damage to leaves that are close or on the media. They are more clear than green, but I am sure the green from what they are eating will show thru on them. I would spritz the media generously with Malathion if you don't get results from something more gentle first. I don't think Malathion will hurt the seedlings. It certainly doesn't hurt any of my orchids.

Someday I'll tell the story about the Ortho™ salesman who was supposedly drinking Malathion to demonstrate the low human toxicity level. I don't know how he could stand the smell. (I've been in this industry far too long... :rofl: ).

Oh my goodness!!! I hope they paid him well and he has good health insurance. Not to mention the smell. But I have seen where it is the active ingredient in salves used to treat scabies and other 'bugs' that humans get (not from personal experience). So it must have a fairly low toxicity. It stinks but I find it deals with most pest problems quite well.

Fungus gnats are more of just annoyance than problem makers.
I strongly recommend pings. They are like fungus gnat magnets!! :)
Venus Fly trap won't help with such tiny delicate bugs. They might catch occasionally housefly.

Insectiside lable usually include millipedes & caterpillars, which are insects. So insecticides should affect them badly.

Ingesting malathion??? I thought it was supposed to be topical only back when it was in use. I feel bad for the guy.
By the way, even drinking malathion won't help getting rid of parasites if that's what you meant by "bugs" in humans, not on humans. ;)

Have you seen the program called "Monsters Inside ME"?? I never thought parasites can be so deadly and scary!!!

Answer to top question: YES. Bottom question: NO, I don't think so...but try it and tell the rest of us...BettyE

Malathion is still in use but I meant it was the active ingredient in salves for itchy skin pests like scabies and crabs. Again, note, I DO NOT know this from personal experience :rofl:

I think you're referencing my photos OrchidW? I saw the bugs personally, and squished them. They were definitely wormy larvae of some type. Then I sprayed with the insecticidal soap. So far, no scales. I really should move the seedlings inside, but I'm lazy. We have 90% humidity levels so i don't have to worry about keeping humidity up. Guess this is the downside. The soap has worked so far, so we'll see if any more hatch.

You're right they technically are the same thing, but I call this Butterwort (Common Butterwort)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-q...-no/14%2B-%2B7

And this Pinguicula:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V...-no/14%2B-%2B8

They look different lol.

they do ! Try an experiment - twist off a leaf or 2 of the top 1 ( cos its special ) and plant 1 next to the parent. I'd say about 1/4 twisted end into the sphag. No 2 leaf lay flat and use a scissors to make small incisions along the outside of the leaf. That leaf should be pressed into sphag about 2mm ( not buried ). Both should grow babies if kept moist !

PS - that's if you don't know this already !

I did not know this. :O I tried it. :) I took a leaf off and planted it:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...-no/14%2B-%2B3

and made small incisions on the 2nd leaf:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d...-no/14%2B-%2B4

And I planted them in sphag. They look funny lol.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...-no/14%2B-%2B2

the leaf with incisions - lay it flat - sticky side up - on the sphagnum and cover with sphagnum in the middle to keep it all touching the sphag. Plantlets will grow from the incised areas...
You will then have 2 ways of propagating.
Good Luck !

Mine/(some)- all from the same plant I got about 2-3 years ago. Notice the bigger the leaf, the bigger the prey. That's a small housefly that has been caught in the bottom right plant.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/08/24/e8adugy8.jpg

Whoa, those are so cool looking! I might have to get some of these guys! I actually plan to build a bog garden next year since there are a lot of species native to my area. I'm particularly interested in Drosera. Will have to add Butterwort on there :)