Pests Indoors
Aphids
These creatures like the warm and still airfound indoors. Outside, aphids get eaten bypredators such as ladybirds and lacewings.However, these predators don’t normallycome inside. To help control aphids youneed to grow plants that will encourage lace-wings, hoverflies and ladybirds to come in-side. Californian poppy and poached eggplant are good ones. You can also squashthe aphids with your fingers.
Red Spider Mite
These are usually found underneath theleaves of plants. They feed by sucking the juices from the plant, and creating fine webs.The leaves begin to look yellow and mottledand if the pest is not controlled they will suckthe leaves dry. Control by spraying with in-secticidal soap or use the biological control
Phytosieulus persimilis
the predator of RedSpider Mite. Mist plants often as this pesthates moisture
Soft Scale and Mealy Bug
Soft scale looks like small brown lumps.Mealy bug looks like small lumps of fluffy cot-ton. Both these pests can be removed withtooth picks. Just scrape them off carefullywithout damaging the plant.
Types of Plant
There are a number of different types of plantthat you can grow.
Half-hardy
— need to be germinated inwarmth, and grown in warmconditions until the lastfrost has passed.
Hardy
— seed will germinate andplants will grow outside.Some of them will growbetter if started in pots ortrays inside at first as thiswill protect them from theweather and animals.
Annual
— grows from seed, flowers,produces new seed and diesall in one season.
Perennial
— grows from seeds or cuttingsand survives year after year.
Biennial
— grows from seed in one year,overwinters, then flowers,produces seed and dies thenext year.
A student’s guide togrowing plants on awindowsill.
DUCHY ORIGINALS HDRAOrganic Gardens
for
Schools
Windowsillplanting
Leave a Comment