Clean plants are healthy plants Does everything seem especially dusty to you right now? Maybe the sun is shining into your accounts more now with the bright summer days and you can see the dust better. No matter the cause, plants can become dirty very quickly and it's important to their health to keep [...]
Control pest infestations for healthier plants As an interior plant technician, it's important to carefully check over each plant with every visit to inspect it for possible pest outbreaks. Diagnosing a pest population on a plant before it requires replacement or a Special Services spray is critical to your work. There are several steps [...]
Neem oil treats pests organically Here's something new to try in the war against insects taking over your interiorscapes. Neem oil is a natural, organic insect and pest control made by pressing the seeds of the neem tree (Azadircta indica). This plant is native to East India and Burma, and is a tropical evergreen [...]
Jade pothos Epipremnum aureum is a wonderful addition to any interiorscape. Also known as Golden Pothos, this plant was formerly known as Scindapsus aureus. A member of the Araceae (Philodendron) family, they are native to the monsoon tropics of Malaysia. Here they are tropical climbers, creeping by rootlets, attaching to tree trunks to climb upwards through [...]
Watch out for signs of mildew on ivy plants One day, when watering your favorite grape ivy, you may discover something new. A white, floury deposit is suddenly covering the new growth! What could it be? This powdery looking deposit is actually mildew. Various conditions like fluctuating temperatures and stagnant interior air can create [...]
Dracaena marginata is prone to spider mites The month of May might bring up lovely images of fresh spring flowers for some people, but it also brings nightmarish pictures of multitudes of spider mites living on interior plants. When warm weather hits and the day length gets longer, mites are having a feast. Mites [...]
Plant diseases will change the appearance of a plant A broad definition of a plant disease is any condition in which a plant varies in some way from a normal/healthy plant either in structure or function. The plant can appear to be shorter, have more, less or deformed branches and fewer leaves that somehow [...]
Many interiorscapers have stopped relying solely on pesticides to control insects and mites on indoor plants. Instead, they rely on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a combination of cultural and mechanical controls, plus least toxic pesticides. When targeting a problem, the least toxic pesticides are generally considered to be the last control measure — to be used [...]
It's that time of year again... when fungus gnat populations are on the rise. If you have a plant in an account with fungus gnats, put it on a water starvation diet. I can't stress enough how important this step is to eliminating gnats. Gnats breed in moist conditions. If you eliminate the ideal environment for [...]
From a tropical plant's point of view, winter is just an all-around bad thing. It is cold, far beyond what a tropical plant prefers. It is dark for too long within each twenty-four hour day. The heated indoor air is too dry, lacking needed humidity for proper growth. And, the air is stagnant, there are no [...]
