I’ve recently been asked this question dozens of times from readers. How to Remove Bugs From Plants Before Bringing Inside This Winter?
As you know, potted plants don’t do well outside during the cold weather months. Most of my flowers are in pots because I can control the temperature for them better in Texas. We have bad heat and can have bad winters too.
The worst thing about bringing in your potted plants is bugs!
Today I want to share with you some easy tips on how to remove bugs from plants before bringing inside this winter!
There are different types of bugs that can live in plants. Some stay on the leaves, others live in the soil.
These tips work for both!
I don’t deal with too many insect issues in Texas luckily, but ants are the biggest pests we have.
For this post, I dug deep into my horticulture book from college which had some great tips! I follow these as well when I’m dealing with bugs on my potted plants.
How to Remove Bugs From Plants Before Bringing Inside This Winter
Step One: Spray the Plant With Water
First, simply spray your plant down well with a water sprayer. It doesn’t need to be a heavy spray, just strong enough to clean the debri off plants. Many times this will remove all the bugs from the leaves.
Step Two: Dunk Plants in Water with Soap
For smaller potted plants (this isn’t going to work for large ones), dunk the entire plant into a large bucket of water with a few teaspoons of dishwashing liquid. I use blue Dawn as you know 🙂 It is best to remove the plant from the pot first (if you can), then add to the bucket of water. Let it sit in the bucket for about 10 minutes. Remove from the bucket, then place back in pot.
Step Three: Check for Bugs
Once you’ve done both steps (or just the first step for larger pots), allow the plant to dry, then check for any bugs that may linger. If there aren’t any, your plants are good.
Step Four: Apply Insecticidal Soap
If you see anything, you can now apply insecticidal soap. You can buy an organic spray from your nursery or hardware store. Follow the directions on the spray. Make sure to spray the leaves, stems, and soil top to bottom.
You can also make your own with blue dawn! Here is a tutorial.
Step Five: Keep Plants Away From Others
Once you bring plants inside, be sure to keep the plants away that still had any bugs. The insecticidal soap should work 100%, but just in case, make sure to keep the plant apart from the others.
Be sure to check your plants throughout the winter months to make sure they are still bug free!
I also recommend talking with your local nursery or county extension agent about common bug issues in your region. They can tell you what to look for, and how to keep them away too!
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Alexis is an investigative chemist sharing her expertise in cleaning, skincare, gardening, and home hacks. She personally tests out products like the best skincare products or home products then shares not only the science behind how it works, but also her personal results. She is the mom of two living in Texas with her husband. Find her on Instagram for fantastic videos, tips, and behind the scenes.
Would distilled water be best because it has no minerals?
I just use water from the water hose. It works fine! If you have heavy minerals, you can use distilled. 🙂
This is interesting and also makes sense. Since I live in a milder weather area of California I don’t bring my plants in for the cold weather. Or maybe I’ve been doing it wrong? Hmmm. I need to check. Thanks for the tips. ?
I bet your plants do fine outside all winter 🙂 I only bring my in for the freezes we get! Some years, we don’t get any, so I keep them out!
I love in NWFL panhandle. We have numerous types of roaches which makes my skin crawl!! I have about 8 potted plumeria outside that need to come in for winter. I do Not want these insects in my house!! I tried to the recipe for the insecticide but the page would t open! Please help me prepare my plants for indoors!! TIA!!
The insecticide recipe listed on this post says “The recipe for homemade insecticidal soap requires only three ingredients: Dawn dish soap, vegetable oil and soft water. Mix 2.5 tablespoons of the Dawn dish soap and 2.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil with 1 gallon of warm soft water. The Dawn dish soap used in the recipe must not contain bleach, which could harm the plants. Furthermore, you should always use soft water when diluting pesticides. Hard water contains minerals, which interfere with the insecticidal soap, reducing its effectiveness.”
I have used this and it worked! You can also head to your local nursery and buy a good insecticide to use. You can also check with them about any tips they have!
Bringing my flowers in today going to mix this up in a spray bottle now
Bringing my flowers in today going to mix this up in a spray bottle now
I hope it is successful for you!
Hi. Back in the spring I foolishly added 5 bags of mulch which I had sitting on the side of my house for roughly 4 or 5yrs to my garden of beautiful Asiatic and Oriental Lillies. When opening the very last bag, I noticed that all the mulch looked like it was moving, but in fact it was all ants carrying what I guess was their eggs and scattering all over the place. That bag I put at the bottom of a tree near the curb, which was only about 25ft from the garden. I’m guessing the other bags were likely full of ants too! The whole summer I was trying to save my plants from a severe infestation of ants, aphids which almost wiped the garden out, and all types of other pests! I tried numerous DIY treatments, and I also used some neem oil to soak the plants down and that actually worked well. The temperature lately has dropped to the 70s so I thought they were gone for good, but then today I noticed aphids all over the undersides of the leaves again!! So I’m thinking I should use the neem oil again, but this time also use it as a soil drench, and maybe also a hydrogen peroxide soil drench which I read are supposed to work very well. But I don’t have any actual experience using neem oil or hydrogen peroxide as soil drenches.
So I was wondering if you can please offer me some assistance and info in using these 2 types of soil drenches? Also, if you can offer any additional info to help me save these beautiful plants, and rid my garden of all these pests so I can have a fresh healthy start and nice healthy soil for my lillies next spring. I’ve had this garden for almost 10yrs and I’ve never had problems with pests like this! Btw, I’m going to remove all of the mulch, which I now realize I should’ve done immediately when I first noticed all of those ants. Thank you for any help you can provide, and I’m sorry this is so long!
Best regards,
Jay
Hi! I don’t have a post on doing a soil drench with neem oil, but I would recommend using that over the peroxide. I found this article that has some good ratios to use neem oil as a soil drench. I would start with that and see how it goes. If you still are having issues or think you might need to do something further, I would contact you local extension agent. They can tell you what treatments in would work in your area for this time of year. Depending on where you live, there are different things to try. They will have great tips for you. I have called my local extension agent several times the last few years 🙂
Thanks for tips