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If you grow your plants in good organic potting mix, give them the correct amount of water and light, and repot reqularly, you shouldn't have many insect or disease problems. Avoid bringing problems in on new plants.
It's a good idea to inspect your plants regularly so that if a problem develops, you catch it early. Isolate suspect plants. Yellowing or discolored leaves may mean disease or incorrect light or watering practices. Overwatering probably kills more houseplants than anything else.
Damaged or deformed leaves or flowers or a sticky deposit may indicate insect problems. The following pests are common on indoor plants.
Mealybugs: These insects look like tiny tufts of white cotton. They are often found under leaves and in sheltered areas of stems. Both the immature stage and the adults can crawl, but often cluster together in one place. Remove each insect with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab, or spray with insecticidal soap.
Whiteflies: These ubiquitous pest are about 1/16" long. They fly in a cloud whenever an infested plant is disturbed. Wipe crawling young off the underside of leaves, vacuum up the flying white adults, and spray with insecticidal soap. Place a yellow sticky trap on a stake in each pot to catch them.
Mites: Mites are tiny pests about the size of a grain of salt. You are likely to notice plant symptoms before you actually see the pests themselves. Leaves attacked by mites are stippled or mottled; flowers may be deformed. Wash plants with a hose or shower to remove pests, mist daily, and spray with insecticidal soap.
Aphids: Aphids are small, translucent, pear-shaped insects. They may be many colors including white, green, and black. Sticky deposits of plant sap in growing tips may indicate aphid activity. Remove these soft-bodied sucking insects by hand or wash them off by spraying the plant with water repeatedly.
Scales: A sticky coating on leaves may also indicate scale insects. Adult scales develop a hard shell, making them difficult to kill. Remove them by pruning out heavily infested areas and scrubbing off all the remaining adults with a toothbrush and soapy water, them rinse the plant thoroughly. Young scale insects (called crawlers) can be controlled with soap spray. Spray the plant once a week for at least a month, and coat the stems and leaves thoroughly. Continue this process until no adults or crawlers are detected for several weeks.
In summer, you can place the plants outside and let their natural predators, including lady beetles and parasitic wasps, help control the problem. Before bringing your plant back inside, inspect it carefully. As an added precaution, you can spray it with a light all-season or summer horticultural oil to smother any remaining scale insects.
Whatever treatment you use for any of these pests, repeat it several times to control later hatchings.
