One of the things that I love about houseplants is that they teach you things.
I was not expecting this lesson to be about pests, but here we are. (It's really okay. Everything is under control.)
Last week my partner and I were inspecting the cane of one of my dracaena that wasn't looking super great. It was squishy exactly - not actively rotting - but it also wasn't as hard and strong as the cane above it (it was at dirt level). While doing so, my partner noticed (they have much better eyesight than I do) a tiny bug jumping on the surface of the soil.
Bugs on my plants isn't a new thing per se but it's Winter so there aren't outside bugs which severely limits the number of inside bugs. And I jumped to the conclusion that the bug was either making or eating the spot of weakness on the cane of my plant.
Part of it is that there is a ton of emphasis on "bad bugs" in the plant community. And people with huge plant collections are full of stories about that one time when they got thrips and it killed half of their houseplants. Mind you half of their houseplants is still more than all of mine, but I have worries.
Anyway, it turned out to be fine - they were probably springtails. We removed the soil and the bugs don't seem to be on any of my other plants. (The dracaena didn't have a rotten or being eaten cane, either) But, I decided that I had gone far too long as a plant parent without owning Neem so we made plans to go to the plant store.
They were having a buy one get one half off houseplant sale.
Even then, I almost made it out of the store without anything other than the Neem. I really want a Scindapsus pictus (Satin Pothos) but the specimens they had in the size that I wanted were very sad looking and over watered. But as I made one more circuit of the store, I realized that they had put the hoyas in the succulent aisle. (I am not sure where I expected them to be but they aren't full sun like the sign said...so?!?)
I sort of said that I wasn't going to get any more hoyas for a while but they had some Lisas (Hoya australis ssp. tenuipes). It turns out that I love the yellow variegation as much in person as I have in photos. Plus my partner immediately fell in love with the Compactas because they look like brains.
I checked the plants in the greenhouse. It wasn't until I came home though that I saw the mealies. (on the Lisa - despite the Compacta's reputation for harboring mealies, neither of us has spotted anything untoward...yet)
There weren't many and I'd only ever seen one mealie infestation in person before and it was an INFESTATION. This is a bit of fuzz between a few branches on one of the three plants in the pot. I'm proud of myself for catching it. And now I get to treat for mealybugs for the first time. Like a real plant mom.
(I've only ever dealt with aphids and fungus gnats prior, at least on inside plants)
I actually thought that I would be more grossed out.