What Are the Pests of Gerbera Daisies?
Gerbera daisies are brightly colored, hardy flowers that can grow in areas with full sun to partial shade. They grow best in well-drained, but not dry, soil. According to the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, healthy gerbera daisies do not suffer much if they do get attacked by insects, but letting pests settle in can cause permanent damage to the plants.
Aphids
Aphids are insects that eat the sap from gerbera daisy leaves, which makes the leaves turn yellow. Ladybugs and spiders are the aphid's natural predators. You can spray a soap solution on the leaves of the gerbera daisy to keep aphids away, or apply an insecticide for aphids from your local garden supply store.
Whiteflies
Whiteflies also eat plant juices and saps, and lay eggs on the underside of the leaves. The best way to control whiteflies is spraying insecticide not only on the top, but on the underside of each leaf of your gerbera daisies. You should also avoid planting healthy plants next to infected ones.
Thrips
As well as damaging gerbera daisies by eating their leaves, thrips can also bring diseases from other plants they have previously eaten. In "Greehouse Production of Gerbera Daisies," ACES said that a thrip infestation can also cause the flowers of the gerbera daisy to have a distorted shape. Green lacewigs are a natural predator, or you can use a soap shield to get rid of thrips.
- Aphids are insects that eat the sap from gerbera daisy leaves, which makes the leaves turn yellow.
- Green lacewigs are a natural predator, or you can use a soap shield to get rid of thrips.
Spider Mites
Spider mites damage gerbera daisies by sucking the sap from their leaves to the point where the leaf yellows or even drops off. Like many other gerbera daisy pests, the predators for spider mites include ladybugs and lacewings. Spraying the plant with a cold water and soap solution can also keep them away.
Leaf Miners
Leaf miners lay eggs on the leaves of the gerbera daisy. Larvae from the eggs tunnel into them, stunting the plant's growth. Using row covers may prevent leaf miners, but if you get an infestation you may have to destroy the infected leaves or plants.
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Marissa Robert graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English language and literature. She has extensive experience writing marketing campaigns and business handbooks and manuals, as well as doing freelance writing, proofreading and editing. While living in France she translated manuscripts into English. She has published articles on various websites and also periodically maintains two blogs.
