The Solution that Helped with our Higad Issue

It did not survive :(

Dealing with the higad infestation is so far the biggest challenge we had in our tiny garden. It was a harrowing experience to say the least. The lot beside us is undeveloped so it has a lot of unmanaged trees and plants. That meant we really had to control the infestation. With all my citronella plants dead, we really had to find a good solution.

Here's what we did:

1. Sprayed neem oil with castille oil on the leaves of the plants. This takes time to take effect and doesn't kill the pests immediately, but you should continue to do this to also kill the eggs.

Mixture: 1/2 teaspoon neem oil + 1/2 teaspoon castille oil with 1 liter of water.

2. Water the soil with the neem oil and castille oil mixture if you notice tiny critters in your pot. That means they laid eggs there and you could address it by watering the soil with the mixture. Do this also if you see eggs on the floor. Alternatively, you can also use water mixed with hydrogen peroxide. That will also help disinfect the soil and kill eggs. I alternated both for a few days until I saw the tiny wrigglies die.

 

3. If you want the critters to avoid your plants altogether, spray it with lemongrass and oregano. They won't kill the critters, but they would avoid your plant because of the smell. 

Mixture: boil tanglad (lemongrass) and oregano together in a gallon of water. 

4. Squishing the higad is nasty. Ants normally take care of clearing them, but it can get messy. We were wary to use fire since I have asthma. The alternative is to have a small bucket of water laced with neem oil and hydrogen peroxide. We just throw the critters in it whenever we catch one (use a pandakot or shovel, don't touch them!). They die in less than 10 seconds (And this also works for millipedes and slugs).

Mixture: 1/2 tsp neem oil + 1/2 tsp hydrogen peroxide in a half a gallon of water

5. Keep your garden clean. Remove dead leaves because this is where they hid during the day. Also discovered it's helpful if you use a planter for your pots. 

We were happy with this solution since it protected the birds in our area. We know they eat the pests so we had to make sure it was safe in case any died from whatever we sprayed on the plants. I'm happy to say that the infestation is under control now. Continuing to be vigilant since we're still seeing eggs in our garden. 

Happy gardening!