Stuck between a ROCK and a HARD PLACE!?!?!?!?!

[dyvonnetxgal]

I took in four plants that my mother-in-law was having some difficulty keeping safe in her neighborhood. She has had several plants stolen while being on her front porch. Some were beautiful specimens, others were common plants that you can get at any nursery, grocery store, hardware store,......etc. Well, two of them were from the funeral from her late parents. She asked me to take them in because of fear that these were next to bet taken. Well, of course I took them in without any hesitation, but I am having second, third, and fourth thoughts about taking in these plants. I discovered while watering them about a week ago that they are infested with some type of critter that I am not too willing to contend with. This critter is of the Blattidae family and I do not care to have them around........I can tolerate any other type of bugs, but there is something about those that I can not stomach. This is the situation...I think they are starting to migrate to my plants !! While watering them again and my plants as well I found one that was hiding in one of my hanging baskets..........What should I do......

1. Should I ask my mother-in-law to take the plants back?
2. Should I put up with the pest and hope that it will not migrate to my plants?
3. Break out a no holds barred fight against the little creature. (Organically) of course.....if there is such a way against that particular critter?

Please help........I informed my mother-in-law about the pest and she was shocked for some reason...... . I believe she knew about the problem already....... Oh, another thing my mother-in-law has an obsession with plant saucers to catch the water from when she waters her plants.......therefor the majority of her plants are sitting in water for 2 or more days. Which of course attracts the WRONG type of insects that you don't need around (mosquito) I have told her that it was not good for the plants as well, but she fails to take that as good advice and contiunes with her habitual suffocation of plant roots. Sorry about the long thread.

[Grey]

By Blattidae family - you mean roaches?

I've had those critters come along with a plant before. I'm originally from Florida, so I am more than familiar with these nasty things.

Since they have a food source and water in the pot/plant, it's hard to get rid of them. Since I avoid pesticides and I hate those things so much, I usually took the affected plant outdoors with a new pot and new soil and made sure all the critters and the eggs were not left in the plant/soil I kept. And I happily squished all the critters I found in my need for revenge for the added work they caused me.

However, there HAS to be a more gentle, less plant-life-threatening way to get rid of them.

Take no chances on them migrating to other plants! For the safety of your other plants, and your house, can you set the affected plants on the porch for a little while until we figure out a good way to get rid of them?

I know how to get rid of them in your house - just in case - mix equal parts powdered sugar and boric acid together, and dump a teaspoon of it or so in lids in good hiding places (under furniture, behind appliances). The sugar attracts them and the acid destroys their stomachs.

[dyvonnetxgal]

Thank you so very much Grey for answering my questions so quickly. Yes, I know that they are cockroaches....... ........ I was just putting the ones that I found in a family because I didn't know the exact species. I was extremely concerned about this because we just moved into our newly constructed home.....and I do not want them around already!! I am just going to have to break the news to her and we will repot it at her home........ I hope she doesn't take offence to it. I am familiar with roaches......they are bountiful in the Bayou City (Houston). I just didn't think they would be living in a potted plant.....I have also heard about and seen tree roaches before as well. I am definitely taking everything you mentioned and putting it to some serious and quick use.

Thank you.......... Dyvonne

I hope she doesn't get upset

[Grey]

Well, hopefully she won't be too upset. Be careful taking the plants back to her house - if you have to drive... ew. Maybe wrap a plastic bag around the pot so they're trapped. Good luck!

Tree roaches are great. The flying ones we had in south Florida were even better.

[grandpasrose]

Not a very nice surprise for you! Creepy things!!! And here you thought you were doing such a nice thing!
Roaches are killed quite well with boric acid placed around on small plates or lids. They also carry it home to their nests so that the others all get it too!
Maybe try putting a little dish of it in the top of the plant pot?
Good Luck
VAL

[dyvonnetxgal]

Creepy is an understatement.....hahaha !! Thank you Val for the reassurement. I am just at a loss for words.....it would have not been such a big deal if all of the plants were just ordinary plants that she bought just recently.....but the caladium is 8 years old and it is from her fathers funeral. So I can't just tell her to throw it out. Well, as soon as I recieved information from Grey I moved it WELL AWAY....... haha.. from my other plants and throughly checked my plants that were in close proximity to the others. I looked through the soil with a fine tooth comb.....hahaha, and when I watered them I didn't see anything running away from the sudden flood.....hahaha......EWWWW Also, I am known as the family gardener therefor everyone comes to me for questions because they feel I know a lot about gardening, and if I tell them that I don't they know I will be deligent to get information about what is happening to their plants...whether it is by the means of the internet or library. I am just going to have to tell everyone that I will only make house calls for sickly plants.......My Plant Hospital is now officially closed.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Yeah, those hand me downs can be dangerous things. Dyvonne just learned a hard lesson about checkinmg them on-site BEFORE you move them home. May we all learn from her misfortune...

On a related topic, I was suprised to find roaches in a cabin we rented on Cape Cod. Turns out they were a very rare beasty; the only native roach in the Continental U.S.! Don't do well elsewhere, and never bothered us...

Scott

[dyvonnetxgal]

I check all plants that come into my garden. Whether they are from a nursery or someone that needs help with something. I keep them in a different location from my other plants. I didn't check this one because (hence the italics) it was from my mother-in-law. And another mistake that I made was that it was transported at night time when I would have not seen the pests that it harboured. So it passed the threshold into new uncharted territory ready to spread havoc to my garden.

[Grey]

Cape Cod Mass? We used to have a house in Provincetown.

Dyvonne - good luck with them buggers! Squish them all, I say...