How to deal with cyclamen mites on indoor plants?

The microscopic cyclomene mite most often settles on cyclamens and violets, but it also affects other indoor plants: pelargonium, balsam, azalea, ivy, etc. The body length of an adult pest is 0.2 mm, it is transparent or yellow-green. It is impossible to see a tick without a magnifying glass, but you will definitely notice the results of the activity of this parasite.

Ways and signs of infection

We bring the pest into our house ourselves along with the flowers purchased in the store, ordered via the Internet, presented to us for some holiday. Just one diseased plant can become a hotbed of infection for the rest. Ticks crawl into neighboring pots and even fall on flowers in other rooms, moving there with our help: on a watering can, on our hands, clothes, tools with which we loosen the earth, do pruning, etc.

Unfortunately, we can already recognize the pest on the damaged plant. The cyclamen mite settles on the most tender leaves that have just appeared, makes punctures in them and sucks out the juice. The female lays dozens of eggs every 2–3 weeks. Ticks are becoming more and more, they populate leaf by leaf.

On saintpaulias and similar flowers, young leaves grow from the center of the rosette, and on balsam, ivy, pelargonium, azalea - on the tops of the shoots. This is where you need to look for the pest.

Signs of infection:

• The center of the outlet or the top of the shoot thickens. Young leaves appear one after another, but do not grow, remain small.
• The color of the leaves changes to light green with a yellow tint, creating a dusty effect.
• A dark bloom is visible on the reverse side of the sheet, and specks, puncture points, on the upper side.
• The entire surface and edges of the leaves are curved. At the last stage, they curl up and dry out.
• Buds and flowers turn yellow, dry up, crumble.

Moist and warm air contributes to the rapid reproduction of the pest. But even if you made a mistake and another mite appeared on your balsam or ivy (for example, a spider mite or a flat heifer), the methods of dealing with these parasites are the same.

How to get rid of a tick?

Discard these methods immediately:

• wash the leaves with soapy water;
• hold the flower in hot water;
• take, in your opinion, a healthy stalk from a diseased plant or leaf and plant it again.

In most cases, these are useless activities. Improvement is possible for a while, but with a high degree of probability, at least one individual will remain, which will again breed a whole colony of ticks.

Therefore, go directly to the radical method - treatment with pesticides. The sooner you do the first spraying, the faster you will restore health to your green pet.

Please note that a tick is not an insect, it is useless to fight it with insecticides like "Aktara" or "Decis".

Buy Acaricides or Insectoacaricides:

• "Actellik",
• "Karbofos",
• Fitoverm,
• Sunmight and the like.

Processing will have to be done at least three times with an interval of 7-10 days. If necessary, this cycle is repeated, but with a different drug, so that the pests do not develop addiction.

Please be patient and follow this pattern:

1. Isolate the infected flower from others - take it to another room. Ideally, all nearby plants should be treated, at least for prevention.
2. During processing, transfer the plants to the balcony or find another isolated room where children and pets will not get in and you will not enter for a while. Most pesticides have a strong odor and are unhealthy.
3. Dilute the drug according to the instructions on the package.
4. Spray all the leaves with the solution, thoroughly wetting the back and the ground underneath.
5. Leave the plants in place until the leaves are dry. On the Internet, you can find recommendations to cover the flower with a cellophane bag, but in the same place, on the forums of flower growers, you can find stories about how some people after that the flower died. Better not to risk it.
6. While the leaves are drying on the treated violet or other flowers, wash the window on which they stood, with soapy water, you can use "Whiteness", wipe with a cotton pad moistened with alcohol or vodka. Treat infested flower pots in the same way.
7. Bring the flowers back in, set them apart from the rest.

These control measures will be effective if they are repeated three times as recommended. After the third treatment, the plants must be in quarantine for another month. During such a period, signs of the tick's vital activity may appear again - then three more treatments are done, but with a different drug.

After a cycle of chemical treatments, feed the plants. Buy a complex mixture or a liquid concentrate created specifically for your flower, for example, for azaleas, for violets, etc. Spray on the leaves with a growth stimulant: Epin, Energen, HB-101 or one of the analogues.

If the defeat is strong or you do not have the time and desire for such a struggle, then it is better to get rid of the flower.

In a recovering plant, curved leaves will begin to straighten and grow. Blooming species will thank you with the appearance of new buds.