Name: Will Creed
NYC
Prof. plant consultant & educator
Answer from WillCSeptember 15, 2017
If you are using this plant indoors, it is a lost cause. Majesty Palms have a terrible record as indoor plants. They need a lot of direct sun, lots of water, frequent fertilizing, generous air circulation and moderate humidity. They are very susceptible to spider mites, scale, and mealybugs. They are rarely presentable after being indoors for more than a year.
Your local climate is probably too cold to maintain it outside in winter, but it does better outside than in.
Soapy water alone will not be effective with scale or mealybugs. You will have to mix alcohol in with it. If you have flying gnats, that is an entirely different problem.
Frankly, I wish retailers would stop selling this plant for indoor use! |
Name: Scott
Tampa FL (Westchase)
Answer from ScotTiSeptember 11, 2017
If the palm is inside take it outside and with your garden hose blast (just hard enough to remove the pest) them off with water. Then spray with your soap and water mixture. |
Name: Scott
Tampa FL (Westchase)
A comment from ScotTiSeptember 11, 2017
Looks like scale insects. |
Name: Carol
Santa Ana, ca
Sunset zone 22, USDA zone 10 A.
A comment from ctcarolSeptember 11, 2017
The soapy water needs to be repeated at 5 day intervals to get new generations until the plant is free of them. |
Name: Andrea Reagan
Astatula, Florida (Zone 9a)
I collect seeds
Try airing your palm by taking it outdoors as much as possible. Use a horticultural oil (outdoors) and repeat the treatment in about two months. After that keep an eye on the plant for reinsfestation. |
Name: Jim Brewer
Littlestown, PA (Zone 6b)
The problem sounds familiar to me. In raising hot pepper plants indoors, from seed, I have encountered a pest common to indoor plants....the Fungus Gnat. I have had success in controlling them using a combination of yellow sticky strips, "BioCare Gnat Stix Traps for Fungus Gnats and Aphids" and "Mosquito Dunks", a biological mosquito control which contains Bti, a natural mosquito larvicide, which also works for Fungus Gnat larvae. The adult gnats are very tiny and almost invisible except for when you see the glint of their wings. The larvae feed on the roots of indoor plants. The adults are attracted to the yellow sticky strips which are their ultimate demise. Hope this helps. |