🐛 Common Pests & Treatment
Early detection and proper identification are key to effective pest management.
🦟 Fungus Gnats (Low Severity)
Time to React: Days to a week
- Symptoms: Small dark flies near soil, slowed growth in seedlings
- Causes: Overwatering, consistently wet topsoil
- Treatment: Allow topsoil to dry, yellow sticky traps, BTI (Mosquito Bits), beneficial nematodes
🕷️ Spider Mites (High Severity)
Time to React: Hours to a day
- Symptoms: Tiny white/yellow dots on leaves, fine webbing on undersides
- Causes: Warm, dry conditions (low humidity)
- Treatment: Increase humidity, predatory mites, insecticidal soap, neem oil
- Point of No Return: When webbing is widespread and plants severely weakened
🔬 Detection Tip: Use a 60x-100x jeweler's loupe to spot pests early. Spider mites are barely visible to naked eye but devastating if left untreated.