Plan the perfect garden with our interactive tool →

How to Kill Mosquitoes on Indoor Plants

...
Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images

When the blood-sucking mosquito that’s been eluding you for hours finally lands on your potted indoor plant, you stop dead in your pursuit, checking your swatter swing in midair. It occurs to you that giving that pesky bug a good solid whack will likely cause grievous injury to your precious indoor plant. As awful as they are, mosquitoes are pretty delicate when it comes to killing them. You can outmaneuver and squash them easily, or use any commercially produced insecticide to achieve mosquito mortality. It’s a little dicier when it comes to applying chemicals to your indoor plants, however. Chemicals that kill mosquitoes might well do the same to your potted beauties. Some insecticidal products work well and are safe for use around the other living beings in your household.

Turn the light off in the room if there are multiple mosquitoes buzzing around. They’ll soon light and settle on furniture, walls and ceilings as well as on your plants. Turn the light back on and quickly suck up as many of the little buggers as you can with your vacuum cleaner. Don’t try to vacuum bugs off of your plants -- you can easily suck parts of them into the machine, too.

Spray mosquitoes on indoor plants with insecticidal soap. It’s a contact killer, so you have to squirt it directly onto the little creatures. Insecticidal soaps may be the perfect bug killers. These products are harmless to most of your indoor plants, but they’re deadly to bugs. Follow the packaging instructions carefully.

Repeat treatments of insecticidal soap whenever you see a new mosquito arrive. Since these materials are contact killers, they have no residual action. That means that even if the bug walks through a recent application, it won’t be harmed.

Spray mosquitoes on indoor plants with pyrethrin aerosol or spray labeled for indoor flying insects. Pyrethrins are made from chrysanthemum flower seed cases and are safe for your plants. These materials do have residual effects. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations carefully.

Warning

Don’t use insecticidal soaps on bleeding heart, crown of thorns, gardenia, jade or lantana plants. Some varieties of azalea, begonia, impatien, fern, poinsettia and palm, and some succulents are sensitive to these products and may suffer damage from them.

Related Articles

Natural Hornet Repellent
Natural Hornet Repellent
Sooty Mold on an Aloe Vera Plant
Sooty Mold on an Aloe Vera Plant
How to Keep Grasshoppers Off Plants
How to Keep Grasshoppers Off Plants
How to Use Mosquito Dunks to Control Gnat Infestations in Houseplants
How to Use Mosquito Dunks to Control Gnat Infestations...
Will Listerine Harm Garden Plants?
Will Listerine Harm Garden Plants?
Hydrogen Peroxide for Garden Bug Spray
Hydrogen Peroxide for Garden Bug Spray
How to Treat Fleas on a Porch
How to Treat Fleas on a Porch
How to Kill Gnats in Your Yard
How to Kill Gnats in Your Yard
How to Use Tempo Insecticide
How to Use Tempo Insecticide
How to Get Rid of Whiteflies on Hibiscus Plants
How to Get Rid of Whiteflies on Hibiscus Plants
Soapy Water for Plants
Soapy Water for Plants
Homemade Bug Spray for House Plants
Homemade Bug Spray for House Plants
How to Keep Spiders From Living on Patio Furniture
How to Keep Spiders From Living on Patio Furniture
Garden Guides
×