Hibiscus is a stunning plant with attractive lush and leaves funnel-shaped blooms in different colors. Unluckily, most gardeners don’t like this lovely specimen; A lot of insects find that the hibiscus plants are irresistible. Continue reading to learn how to deal with hibiscus plant pests.
What Bugs eat your hibiscus plants?
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Your hibiscus leaves will be eaten by a variety of insects.
Many pests find the attractive, big curved foliage to be a tasty meal.
As hibiscus is inherently voluminous and beautiful, it’s a foregone conclusion that bugs will wreak havoc on it and infest it.
The following are some of the most popular hibiscus-eating bugs:
- Flea beetles
- Mealybugs
- Thrips
- Ants
- Aphids
- Scale
- Whiteflies
Other common hibiscus-loving bugs include:
- Ladybugs
- Spider mites
- Slugs and snails
- Moths, worms, and caterpillars
You will see drooped flowers, browing foliage, holes, torn leaves after bugs infest the hibiscus plants.
There are a variety of insects that invade hibiscus and can bore holes in the hibiscus plants.
If you need to keep your hibiscus plant healthy, you will need to prevent the bugs from devouring your plants quickly.
It’s why you read our articles.
How to Eliminate Bugs On Hibiscus Naturally
We’ll go through all details about how to eliminate them naturally.
The methods for getting rid of an insect vary depending on the different types of pests you have in hibiscus plants.
And, the main methods for reducing toxic compounds mentioned here are 100% natural. So they’re do-it-yourself treatments.
Mealybugs On Hibiscus Plants
This kind of Pest would make you insane.
Because it is very difficult to remove them due to their web-like, waxy shelter, and they can excrete the sticky goop that will attract many ants and other pests to your hibiscus plants.
Mealybugs have a hard shell with a coating, so that is hard to get rid of them with some normal solution.
They leave a white stain and stains on the leaves that are unsightly. They even suck the hibiscus plant juice until the hibiscus is completely destroyed.
Isolate the plants first. Mealybug-infested hibiscus should be kept apart from the others. Place it in other areas and trim the ruined leaves.
Scrape out any residue deposits with a sponge dipped in the soapy water.
These seem to be white spots on the hibiscus plant which should be easy to remove. If necessary, a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol may be used.
For a week or two, repeat the procedure every few days.
Neem oil and horticultural oil are also effective. If the conventional solutions fail, you will have to resort to synthetic insecticides.
When you see white webbing on your hibiscus plants, you need to isolate them because the mealybugs are hyperphagic eaters.
Green Worms on hibiscus Plants
These kinds of green worms are potentially looper caterpillars.
They’re normally found creeping on your garden plants with the leaves or fruits.
Green worms can lay their eggs on leaves and hatch into larvae. And they are from adult moths. The green worm larvae cause a lot of damage to your plants. Before they grow into moths, they will eat many hibiscus leaves.
In addition, it is easy to eliminate the looper worms.
And they are very big so that you can get rid of them manually with the soapy water and gloves.
To kill them, pick them up and throw them into the bucket. If you don’t need to touch green worms directly, you should use tweezers.
This would drastically reduce the number of green worms over time.
A garden hose may also be used to kill them. This should be done any time you need to water your hibiscus plants.
The eggs that they deposit on the leaves can be killed by soapy water. When sprayed, it can also drown all caterpillars you find in your plants.
When sticky traps are set along the base of the stem, they perform. If the base of your hibiscus stem is covered in the sticky tape, the caterpillars that escape from your hibiscus plants will not be able to climb back. This can be used as a shield.
After you eliminate all pupating larvae in the soil, replant the herbs. This would either disrupt their life cycle or remove them. This will completely kill the next generation.
Allow the larvae to be exposed to sunshine and a surface where they can be found and eaten by other bugs and birds. Alternatively, you should fully replace the soil.
They just stay on the surface of the soil, and then the larvae can be found on a dark substrate. And it resembles small cocoons in the form of dried peppers.
Then, rotate crops daily to help deter further infestations. The larvae will not be able to hatch into new host hibiscus plants.
Like some other pesticides, neem oil works very well. It would almost immediately eliminate the larvae. Ensure you’re doing it properly and diluting it appropriately.
Since it can damage your hibiscus leaves, you can try to use the neem oil if you find other solutions that don’t work.
If necessary, you can use natural methods because it is very easy to kill green caterpillars.
Aphids on Hibiscus Plants
The insect that everybody despises is Aphid.
These pests feed on the juices of your plant leaves and appear in the small clusters. It isn’t difficult to eliminate aphids, and there are a lot of do-it-yourself options.
The following are a few of the most popular methods:
- Vinegar is an effective way to get rid of them quickly.
- Grow a companion plant that automatically repels aphids.
- Use soapy water to destroy aphids by wiping the plant with a sponge dipped in it.
- Damaged foliage can be pruned.
- Make use of neem oil.
- Horticultural oil may be used.
- Using a nozzle, spray them out.
- Sticky traps or sticky tape can be used to protect the hibiscus plants.
Scale
Scale is soft or shield-like bugs with needle-like, piercing mouths that suck plant juice. Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil works well on them.
If you find a soft scale, you can kill it with some soapy detergent. To kill the hard-shelled scales, you need to use some methods to remove them.
The scales have a smooth defensive shell and resemble ovular, tiny beetles. They are tan or brown. You can find them on the bottom of the hibiscus leaves. Both the soft scale and armored scale can be seen on indoor and outdoor plants.
They excrete a coat of honeydew, which will then transform into a black mold. The mold can prevent the plant’s ability from receiving the sunshine.
Clean the hibiscus plants with a cotton ball that has rubbing alcohol. It can help you eliminate some of the scales at once. You should either use a toothbrush or a hose to clean them.
Neem oil is also effective, but it can damage your hibiscus by forming a sticky layer that causes the leaves to overheat.
Spray a thin layer of neem and then hose it off if you want to use neem oil.
While the sunlight isn’t very strong, then use it. You should avoid the humans and pets from touching it. Neem can cause allergic reactions in some people. Before using, read all of the manuals.
With a few simple ingredients, you can make insecticidal soap at home. You can mix One quart of the water with one tablespoon of the dish detergent. This mixture can help you eliminate scales on the leaves’ surface.
Make your own oil spray at home. Mix two tablespoons of the cooking oil with one cup of the rubbing alcohol and two tablespoons of the dish soap. Then, add one gallon of water. This mixture can help you to get rid of the scales.
Make sure to wash your hibiscus before eating it. You don’t want to consume infested plant foliage, and you certainly don’t want to eat something with soap!
Ants
In this section, we will talk about the ants.
Ants have little interest in hibiscus, but they are interested in beneficial insects such as syrphid fly larvae, parasitic miniature wasps, green lacewings, assassin bugs, and ladybugs.
These beneficial insects eat the pests that damage the hibiscus, mostly aphids. Ants eat aphids for the honeydew that the aphids create after sucking the hibiscus leaves. As a result, the primary problem is the beneficial insects that it can consume from time to time.
Sticky traps can be used to control ants. Since most worker ants cannot fly, they must stroll over to your hibiscus plant to collect honeydew.
Place a large piece of sticky tape all over the hibiscus plants. Then, any ants attempting to crawling it would get stranded.
Mint and cinnamon are also repulsive to ants. To naturally repel them, scatter these around the base of your herbs.
To disrupt their pheromone track, you can also spray the region with pure ammonia. This will make it impossible for them to navigate the place.
Other Plants that can repel ants can be planted alongside hibiscus, such as:
- Henbit
- Chrysanthemum
- Garlic
- Calendula
- Mint
- Aster
- Geranium
Thrips
There are tiny insects with a narrow body. They normally lay their eggs within the hibiscus buds, causing the hibiscus buds to fall off before flowering. The best way to get rid of them is to use the trick.
Horticultural oil is the only effective tool for removing thrips from the hibiscus plants.
You can use some neem oil to repel them naturally. Spray the hibiscus plant with a diluted neem oil method to eliminate any thrips. After spraying, quickly wash your plant leaves. It will overheat your hibiscus leaves and destroy your plant if you leave it on.
If neem oil is not effective in killing thrips, try using your horticultural oil or homemade soap water, all of which have a high success rate in removing thrips and other bugs.
White Flies
They’re also most widely seen on the hibiscus plant, which is gnat-sized and minuscule in scale. They can suck the nutrient-rich juice from the flowers.
In order to keep these whiteflies under control, you can use sticky traps. They land on the adhesive and get trapped. To capture flies, position them around your sensitive plants.
You may also use sticky tape as an alternative. You may also use sticky tape as an alternative. If you’re planting hibiscus in a jar, you can use a sticky trap to line the bottom of the pot to trap any creeping pests that are flying cross it.
And you can also use insecticidal soap and horticultural oil to keep these whiteflies away from your hibiscus plants.
How to Prevent the Animals from eating your hibiscus plants
If your hibiscus plant is being eaten by predators, there are some methods you can do to repel them.
Rodents and squirrels can eat those delicious sour leaves. Here are some methods to prevent the animals from eating your plants.
Use the hair from your cat or dog.
If you have pets, such as cats or dogs, you can use their fur to scare squirrels away.
After vacuuming your house, use the hair as a natural repellent. Decorate the hibiscus plants with a sprinkling of hibiscus flowers.
Squirrels will sense the presence of a dog or cat and will not come again.
Spray the essential oils
Strong-smelling oils, such as eucalyptus or peppermint, should be applied to the area to drive critters away.
Cotton buds may also be dipped in the oil and then placed around the hibiscus plants.
Try coffee grounds
Squirrels dislike coffee, but sprinkling a thin coating of recycled coffee grounds in your yard will deter them.
Because of the heavy smell of the coffee grounds, critters and mice will stay away.
In the soil near your hibiscus, sprinkle used coffee beans. Replace a week or two, or after a period of heavy rain. The acidity of the coffee is good at the soil and plants by naturally increasing the pH of the soil. If the previously used grounds aren’t working, consider using the fresh ones.
As a natural fertilizer, coffee grounds are beneficial to hibiscus plants. And used coffee grounds should be added to compost and dug into the flower beds.
Use peppers
Squirrels don’t like eating pepper, so you should spray the hibiscus roots and leaves.
The fragrance of pepper can repel them naturally, preventing them from your hibiscus.
You can also make your method to repel them with a gallon of the water, some hot pepper sauce, one teaspoon of the dish soap. Spray it on your hibiscus. This should deter them from entering your flower bed.
