What's eating my pelargonium 'ginger'?

Pelargonium 'Ginger', a ginger-scented cultivar, is most commonly affected by aphids on new shoots, whitefly beneath the leaves, and spider mites when grown indoors in dry conditions. Vine weevil grubs can destroy roots in containers. Aphids are the single most frequent pest of this cultivar.

Soft insects clustered on tender shoot tips; honeydew deposits, leaf curl, and slowed growth. Spray with insecticidal soap or neem oil; blast off with water; introduce Aphidius parasitic wasps under glass.

Adult whitefly scatter when plant is touched; yellowing and sticky leaves with sooty mould below. Yellow sticky traps plus weekly insecticidal soap or pyrethrin spray for 3–4 cycles.

Fine pale stippling and webbing on leaf undersides; foliage may bronze in warm, dry indoor air. Increase humidity; apply neem oil spray; release Phytoseiulus persimilis for biological control.

Notched leaf margins from adult feeding; root-eating larvae cause pot plants to collapse without warning. Apply nematode drench (Steinernema kraussei) in late summer; remove grubs by hand when repotting.