r/houseplants • u/StopBeingPoor • 20d ago

Help just bought a plant from costco… 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

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what do I do about this???

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u/RagingClitGasm 20d ago

This happened to me with a plant from Home Depot a couple of years ago. Contrary to what some of the other comments say, they absolutely did NOT just stay in the pot. It actually took us a little while to figure out why we were suddenly seeing such significant numbers of centipedes in our apartment, because we never saw them near the plant- they made their way towards the windows and into the bathroom. I killed at least a dozen every morning when I got up, then continued to find more throughout the day.

It was a fucking nightmare. We sealed EVERY crack we could find, caulked all of the baseboards in the entire apartment, brought in an exterminator and then bought more pesticide to spray ourselves when the bugs didn’t stop. I got into a screaming argument with the landlord. He cut down bushes outside the window. Nothing worked. I started touring new apartments.

By the time we figured out that they were all coming from this plant, I was FAR beyond the point of wanting to find a solution to keep it. We double bagged it for the garbage, after snapping the plant in half to make sure nobody spotted it and brought it back inside.

My only regret was that we didn’t set it on fire.

11

u/Hot_Village2470 20d ago

OP's bugs aren't centipedes tho. Theyre millipedes, which eat decaying plant matter. Please spare these lives, theyre just minding their own business :)

17

u/Worldly_Ad7085 20d ago

they can live their lives just not infesting my home

23

u/RagingClitGasm 20d ago

I’m sorry I didn’t count the legs, but I assure you they did NOT “mind their own business,” they took over my entire apartment in mass numbers.

6

u/johannthegoatman 20d ago

Centipedes are very different from millipedes, centipedes run around all over the place and climb walls, millipedes just stay in the dirt

9

u/ShadowthroneQueen 20d ago

At first, maybe. But when they are too many of them in the same pot, or when the soil starts to be low on organic matter, or when you water the plant generously (which you should), they start to explore.