Early this AM, before I put on my contacts, I was admiring my brugs in the office, and noted to my horror, some light brown small spots on one leaf of one brug. I was able to squish them off gently with my fingers, and found a whole bunch more on the top of the leaf, and removed them, and a few on a couple other leaves of the same plant. This evening, I found some more on a couple more leaves of this same plant, and removed them. I wonder if these are the dreaded "spider mites", and I looked up to see what kills them, and in one of our threads was a granule product, that I looked for, and couldn't find (our local store is stocking Christmas products now, and gardening is not high on their list of things to stock).
Question: Will I ever get ahead by squishing them? Will these go to other plants? (They are in close proximity to one another). Is there something I can spray on them to kill the little buggers? (Can I put the dog product "advantage" on them? I have that.) Thanks for your help.

Selma, if it is a soft body sucking insect soapy water spray might help. I wouldn't know about the advantage.

Kristy
Copperas Cove, Tx
USDA Zone 8a
Heat Zone 9

Selma, Are the bugs very soft bodied? Maybe they are aphids. I found 2 leaves covered in them on my Iochroma this am. I am sure they were not there Friday when I watered. Later My DH will be helping me to drag all the plants & cuttings from the dining room to the bathtub to hose them down & spray them with Wilt Pruf. If you go back thru previous posts, you will find good info on brug problems & what others do about it.

Selma, I seem to get aphids indoors every winter. They are often a light tan color, so I suspect that's what you're dealing with. If you type in the word aphids in the Search box, you'll find quite a few discussions about them.

Most of the outdoor bug sprays we could use on aphids are probably too harsh to use indoors. You might check the label on Safer Soap Spray to see whether it's effective on aphids. I use the following home rememdy...it seems to work but I'm beginning to think I need to avoid spraying the growing tip of the trunks - looks like I have some damage from saturating that area. This home remedy has been passed around a lot.

1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
1 tablespoon cooking oil
small squirt dish soap
add water to make a quart

mix the above in a quart spritzer bottle & shake well before applying.

Patrick
Brug Moderator
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Selma I can't remeber what kind of winter storage you do, but if they're in your office then you're pretty much guaranteed to have bug problems all winter. They really don't like it in heated living space.
Do you have anyplace cooler you can keep them? A garage or basement or unheated back room?
For any bug infestation your first line of defense should be blasting water on and under the leaves, every time you water, to dislodge some of the bugs and wash off the sap, dust, etc. that starts the food chain that feeds many of the bugs.
The other remedies mentioned work great too, but if you're trying to grow them in heated space then nothing is going to stop them completely.

Tom H.
Marysville, WA Zone 8a