Is your beloved Bromeliad suffering damage from invading pests? Like just about any houseplant, these long-leafed beauties can be plagued by a variety of insects and arthropods. This article will introduce you to some of the most common Bromeliad pests and explain how you can clear them off of your plant.
Spider mites, mealybugs, aphids, and scale are the most common Bromeliad pests for indoor gardeners. Infested plants should be quarantined and treated with mild pesticides. If you’re growing Bromeliads outdoors, they may be attacked by snails, slugs, or weevils. These pests can often be removed by hand.
A brief warning up front: battling with houseplant pests can be a drawn-out, frustrating process. If you’re determined to save your Bromeliad, you may need to prepare yourself to repeat the same treatments three or four times. But if you’re patient and thorough, you should hopefully be able to get your plant pest-free.
Where Do Bromeliad Pests Come From?
Keeping pests out of your house is a much more effective and less tiresome strategy than trying to exterminate them once they arrive. So, we should take a moment to talk about how these bugs made it onto your Bromeliad in the first place.
The #1 source of plant infestations: newly-purchased plants. The rigidly climate-controlled environment and abundant food make plant nurseries and garden stores ideal breeding grounds for bugs that eat houseplants. Most commercial sellers do their best to keep their products pest-free, but a 100% success rate is rare.
Always inspect your Bromeliads — or any other plants you buy — before setting them up in your home. Ideally, you should uproot them and search them from top to bottom for stowaways. Even if you don’t see obvious signs, keep the new arrivals separate from your other plants for at least two to three weeks.
If you have both outdoor and indoor plants, make sure to wash your hands after handling the ones living outside. Pests are more common in outdoor environments and tend to do less damage since predators and environmental constraints hold them in check. If they hitch a ride indoors, though, they can have a devastating impact.
Finally, keeping your plants in good health will also help. The most common Bromeliad pests are opportunists that prefer to attack weakened targets. When it comes to plant pests, the best offense is a good defense.
Now, let’s review some typical pests of Bromeliads and how to take them down.
Mealybugs
The most telling sign of a mealybug infestation is the fluffy-looking white wax these pests deposit on the leaves. It often looks like someone shredded a cotton swab and sprinkled it over your plant. The bugs themselves also aren’t hard to spot, at least in their adult forms. They’re shaped like little whiskery ovals, and they’re generally coated in the same white wax.
Another indicator is the presence of sticky slime — a sugary substance called honeydew that these insects excrete as they drain your plant’s juices. And, of course, there’s the damage they do. A Bromeliad suffering under a mealybug attack will typically display wilting, yellowing leaves, sometimes with small discolored spots where the pests have been feeding. They may disrupt the development of newer leaves, causing them to curl and shrivel.
Treating Your Bromeliad for Mealybug Pests
The most effective treatment for mealybugs is usually rubbing alcohol. Dilute it first, creating a 1:1 mix of alcohol and water. Adding a small amount of gentle dish soap should help the two fluids mix. Dip some onto a rag or cotton swab and gently wipe down the leaves and flower stalk (if it’s blooming).
It’s crucial to get every inch of the plant’s surface you can reach, because you’ll only destroy the mealybugs and eggs that the alcohol touches. Putting it into a spray bottle may make this easier. You can also alternate this treatment with applications of sprayable insecticidal soap or an equal blend of water and 3% hydrogen peroxide. Any of these chemicals should destroy the soft membranes of a mealybug’s body, killing it more or less instantly.
Make sure you’re getting the undersides of the leaves and the gaps between them. Mealybugs are adept at squeezing into tiny spaces to hide from vengeful Bromeliad owners.
It may be a good idea to lift the plant out of its pot so you can coat the base of the plant as well. This is less stressful for most Bromeliads than it is for other plants. Many of them are epiphytes and use their roots more for gripping other plants than for taking in water and nutrition. Let the plant air dry, then rinse it off after a day or two.
Armored Scale
You wouldn’t necessarily know it to look at them, but these insects are closely related to mealybugs. Technically, mealybugs are just a type of scale. However, armored scale look more like little warts or tumors than bugs. The adults are covered by a rigid shell, and once they find a spot on the plant that they like, they clamp down and never move again.
Identifying scale usually means noticing the odd clusters of smooth brown or reddish bumps on your Bromeliad’s leaves. Like mealybugs, they also produce honeydew, and the two types of pests produce very similar damage. Wilting, yellowing, and curling leaves are typical.
Treating Your Bromeliad for Scale Pests
You can take a similar approach to scale as you would with mealybugs. It may also be helpful to physically remove the adult insects to reduce their population and make treating the plant easier. A cotton swab should work well for this, as will an old toothbrush with soft bristles.
Once you’ve done that, you can use a similar rubbing alcohol treatment as you would with mealybugs. Insecticidal soap should also kill any larval scale that haven’t yet developed their armored coatings.
Another useful tool is horticultural oil. Spray it over the leaves of your Bromeliad, just like rubbing alcohol or neem oil, to smother the bugs. It doesn’t matter how tough their shells are if they can’t breathe.
Spider Mites
Some readers may already be shuddering at the sight of the header. Spider mites aren’t just common Bromeliad pests — they’re one of the most common foes for home gardeners of all kinds. They’re most common during droughts and heat waves, and they’re particularly hard on thirsty plants.
You’ll almost always see the scars that spider mites leave before you see the bugs themselves. This damage typically resembles millions of tiny yellow pinpricks that make your Bromeliad’s leaves look dusty or faded. A closer look may reveal strands of wispy webbing running between the leaves. If you hold a sheet of white paper under the foliage and tap on the plant, some tiny red or black specks — the spider mites — may drop onto the page.
Treating Your Bromeliad for Spider Mite Pests
A good first step for getting rid of spider mites is to thoroughly rinse off your plant in the shower. You’ll get rid of a lot of the pests, and you’ll make life uncomfortable for the ones that remain. This may be even more effective if you mix a small amount of mild soap in a bucket of water and wipe down the leaves.
Next, treat your plant with some kind of pest killer. Insecticidal soap and rubbing alcohol work just as well for spider mites as they do for other common Bromeliad pests. Neem oil is another useful product. You can mix the concentrated oil with water and a small amount of soap, then apply it using a spray bottle. A good ratio to use is:
- 1 ½ teaspoons of neem oil
- ½ teaspoon of mild dish soap
- 1 quart of lukewarm water
Mix thoroughly, then spray it over every bit of your Bromeliad that you can reach. As with other insecticides, you’ll want to let it dry and sit for a day or two before rinsing the oil off. Be aware that neem has a strong, somewhat unpleasant smell. You may want to find an out-of-the-way space to store your Bromeliad while it’s being treated.
Slugs and Snails
You’ll only encounter these critters if you’re growing your Bromeliad outdoors. Gastropods such as snails and slugs will tend to chomp big bites out of the leaves rather than draining their fluids like the previous pests on the list.
Aside from the bite marks, the slimy trails these pests leave behind are the main signs of their presence. You might have to check after dark or before sunrise if you want to see the slugs in person. If you head out there with a flashlight, you’ll likely see them crawling over the foliage.
Treating Your Bromeliad for Slug and Snail Pests
Gardeners have all kinds of tips and tricks for getting rid of slugs and snails. Spoiler alert: most of them don’t actually work very well. Crushed eggshells, cornmeal, and coffee grounds don’t actually deter slugs. Beer traps might catch a few, but they’re only effective at a very short range, so you’ll need tons of traps to make a serious dent in snail populations.
Removing the slugs and snails by hand is one option that does work, though it’s labor-intensive. Get up while it’s still dark, or go out at night and pluck them off the leaves, drowning them in soapy water.
You can also try tidying up the area around your Bromeliad, removing any old boards, chunks of wood, and other common gastropod hiding spots. This may discourage them from making a home in your yard.
Another preventative measure is wrapping your Bromeliad pot in copper foil. For whatever reason, slugs and snails seem to hate crawling across copper. But the metal should never touch your plant. Copper is toxic to Bromeliads.
Aphids
Aphids are quite common in gardens, but they can sometimes make their way indoors as well. Like spider mites and mealybugs, they bite into the leaves and drink the sugary sap that your Bromeliad needs to live. Because aphids tend to focus on newer growth, you’ll often see the damage on flower stalks and emerging leaves first.
Aphids aren’t too hard to spot. They look like vaguely pear-shaped little blobs. Colors can include green, red, orange, and black, and you might also see their flaky white exoskeletons lying around. Like scale and mealybugs, aphids also produce honeydew. Sometimes, an ant infestation will accompany the aphids — many ant species “farm” these bugs for their sugary secretions.
Treating Your Bromeliad for Aphid Pests
The same methods recommended for getting rid of spider mites should work on aphids, too. These soft-bodied insects are easily killed by soap, neem oil, or even rubbing alcohol if necessary.
If you see ants around your Bromeliad too, you may want to put out some ant traps. It’s not unheard of for them to carry aphids onto plants. If you don’t get rid of the ants, the infestation may be back within a few weeks.
Thrips
Thrips are tiny winged insects — so tiny that many gardeners never realize what’s killing their plants. You may be able to see them darting around if you inspect your Bromeliad very closely. Thrips in the juvenile “nymph” stage are easier to spot because they’re creamy white rather than brown or black.
Usually, you’ll need to identify them based on the effect they have on the plant.
The feeding habits of thrips leave distinctive, silvery streaks or patches on the leaves. Over time, the accumulated damage will lead to mottled yellow and brown patches. The foliage will wilt and begin to die off if the infestation isn’t checked. You may also see small black smudges of excrement.
Treating a Bromeliad for Thrips Pests
Most of the pesticides we’ve already listed can kill thrips, though repeated applications are very important. Thrips like to nestle their eggs in tiny pockets they carve out of the leaves. This can offer them some protection from leaf sprays, like insecticidal soap. You’ll need to re-treat your Bromeliad every two to three days to kill successive generations.
Neem oil may be more effective as a soil drench than a spray. You can pour it into your Bromeliad’s potting mix, and the plant will absorb the active ingredient (a chemical called azadirachtin) into its tissues. Thrips that bite into the leaves will get a hefty dose of the pesticide. Use the same blend of neem, water, and soap that we recommended in the section on spider mites.
It may also be a good idea to set up some sticky traps around your plant. The thrips will blunder into the adhesive and die. Sticky traps won’t kill all of the pests by themselves, but they can often knock down the population enough to make your other efforts more effective.
Weevils
Outdoor Bromeliads may also be targeted by a nasty bug known as the Mexican Bromeliad Weevil. Some growers not-so-affectionately call it the “Evil Weevil” due to the sheer amount of misery it can inflict on these plants. These beetles have become common Bromeliad pests in southern Florida, where they’re particularly notorious for destroying Air Plants (Tillandsias).
Just about every stage of this bug’s life cycle can be devastating to Bromeliads. The adults are black beetles about half an inch long, with a single orange or yellow band running across the wing cases. These pests slice holes in the leaves with their mouthparts, then deposit larvae, which tunnel their way down to the base of the plant. There, they gobble up the Bromeliad to fuel their growth and pupation into adulthood.
Large brown spots on the leaves are common signs of Bromeliad Weevil feeding, as are the long streaks carved out by the grubs as they head toward the bottom of the plant. Over time, they’ll chew large holes in the stem and crown. The damaged spots will often be coated with a brownish gel. Extensive weevil damage can cause your Bromeliad’s roots to weaken until the plant flops off of its perch.
Treating a Bromeliad for Weevil Pests
We’re sorry to report that there aren’t many effective treatments known for Bromeliad Weevils. The one chemical that’s been reported to be useful is imidacloprid. You can buy sprays containing this ingredient online or at your local garden store.
Be careful when applying, as imidacloprid may harm beneficial insects that stop by to visit your Bromeliad’s blooms. It may be a good idea to move the plant to an enclosed indoor space while you’re treating it. If imidacloprid doesn’t work, discarding your Bromeliad and starting over might be your only option.
General Bromeliad Pest Treatment Guidelines
No matter what pests your Bromeliad is facing, you should keep the following tips in mind:
- Step one is quarantine. You should always isolate your plant when you discover that it has a pest problem. Keep it in an enclosed bathroom or closet far from the rest of your collection.
- Mix up treatments. Many common Bromeliad pests, like spider mites and thrips, can rapidly develop immunities to specific pesticides. It’s often a good idea to switch between different chemicals. For example, you could start with insecticidal soap, use neem oil a couple of days later, then try hydrogen peroxide.
- Prune when necessary. Pest infestations aren’t always evenly distributed around the plant. If you see one or two leaves that are completely overrun, consider slicing them off with disinfected shears and throwing them out. This can help reduce the parasite load and improve your Bromeliad’s odds.
- Shade your plant. Most spray-based pest killers will increase the sunlight sensitivity of the leaves. To avoid sunburn, move your Bromeliad away from windows to ensure it gets only indirect light during treatment. For outdoor plants, consider putting up shade cloth.
- Repotting may be necessary. Certain pests, such as thrips, may spend part of their lives in the soil. Consider replacing your Bromeliad’s potting mix as part of your pest control efforts. You might also want to sanitize its container with rubbing alcohol.
- Know when to walk away. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a pest problem may simply get out of control. If your Bromeliad is crawling with bugs and half-dead, trying to rescue it may not be worth the effort. You may have to make a tough choice — is it better to throw out this plant to reduce the risk of the infestation spreading?
Final Thoughts
Houseplant pest control is never fun. Whichever treatments you choose above, you’ll likely have to repeat them several times at least to get rid of the most common Bromeliad pests. You’ll need to be patient and thorough, applying your pesticides to every part of the plant where bugs might be hiding. If you’re willing to put in the work, though, it’s often possible to fight off the attackers and restore your Bromeliad to its former health.