Like all palms, the Areca palm is very robust and is rarely attacked by pests. In any case, pests only appear if the palm tree is not properly cared for. How to recognize pests and what you can do about it.
Pests primarily attack weakened areca palms
What pests are there?
Two pests can cause problems for the Areca palm: spider mites and thrips. A healthy palm can deal with these pests quite well itself.
Only when the plant is weakened anyway can the pest infestation cause the palm to lose its fronds or die altogether. Thrips show growth disturbances.
When pests appear, you must immediately quarantine the palm. If it is close to other plants, there is a risk that the unwanted visitors will spread everywhere.
Fight spider mites
You can recognize the appearance of spider mites by the fine webs that can be seen on the fronds. They are mainly located on the leaf axils and the leaf edges. They are particularly evident when you spray the Areca palm with water.
Rinse the palm tree well with the shower, from above and from below. You should then carefully wipe the leaves with cloths. You can achieve good results in combating them if you soak the cloths in alcohol beforehand.
What can you do about thrips?
You can recognize thrips by the suction marks that the one to three millimeter large pests leave on the leaves. Sometimes there are also small bumps that are brown or almost black.
Shower off the areca palm. You should repeat this process several times. Cover the soil so that the pests cannot hide there. In the case of a severe infestation, setting up blue boards helps. These boards attract the thrips so they don't settle on the palm.
Thrips like it dry. Spray the areca palm regularly with rainwater to prevent these pests from appearing in the first place.
tips
Spider mites on the non-toxic Areca palm can be combated naturally by using lacewings or predatory mites. You can get these biological fighters in specialist garden shops or on the Internet.