FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Thes little pests have popped up in the last few months and ever since they’ve been here my seedlings have been in decline! They don’t spread to other plants and the capes won’t eat them themselves. What do I do?

Fuzzy image, hard to see. If it's bugs, maybe use some alcohol on a cotton swab?

Little white bugs...spider mites, aphids, mealy bugs, springtails... I'm not sure about mealy bugs as I don't know if they move around a lot. Aphids move some and springtails are all over the place. Springtails tend to populate areas where a lot of moist organic matter is experiencing decomposition...how long has it been since the pot has had the growing medium refreshed? Of course, in and of themselves, springtails usually don't cause a problem as long as they can scavenge for dead/rotting plant matter. Do the bugs move fast or slow or not at all if you disturb them? Springtails, well,...spring!!!...they jump. Aphids might move a little bit, mealy bugs don't move much at all.

From the blurry photos they kind of look like white spider mites. Have you looked *really* close for spider webs? They are pretty mobile, too.

Just some thoughts...I'm no bug expert. Better photos will help!

Those look like aphid sheds. They will spread like wildfire amongst your plants, so the first thing to do is isolate then infected plants. The sundews won't like it, but a good spraying with Bioadvanced 3-in-1 each week for 3 or 4 weeks should knock them out.

I second Pandude, they appear to be aphid sheds.
Sundews hate chemicals, but Bioadvanced 3 in 1 is a great, and mild, treatment. They'll pout a bit, but they'll recover

If they're just seedlings, and the pests are aphids, you can submerge the whole lot in water for ~24 hours to drown the bugs. Aphids in my yard seem to hit VFTs the hardest, while the sundews have no problem eating them. Odd.

elaineo wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2023 4:13 pm If they're just seedlings, and the pests are aphids, you can submerge the whole lot in water for ~24 hours to drown the bugs. Aphids in my yard seem to hit VFTs the hardest, while the sundews have no problem eating them. Odd.

Worked on my sundews last spring.

Time to get soaking then! If that doesn’t work I’ll try that bio advance stuff.