Feeling a little defeated as I’ve done the sprays, the soaks etc but for some reason I just cannot get rid of these pesky little bugs. They have infected our pothos, our bamboo, and our monstera plants! Sometime I find them in the leaves, stem or near the roots. Any help would be greatly appreciated! We have so many plants and we don’t want them dying due to these annoying shitty bugs
Little context – the majority of our plants live in water and we try our best to fully rinse, clean/ sanitize the containers and give them all fresh water!
by OrneryMasterpiece455
16 Comments
Just here to provide emotional support! I’ve been battling them too. I just keep wiping them away and doing the soap spray. I despise these bugs so much.
I would definitely separate the infested plants to a whole other area from the rest of your plants and be careful handling them then handling the others. Mealy bugs are very difficult and spread even on clothing possibly. They’re tough to get rid of and will cause alot of damage if left. So sorry that you’re dealing with this. I lost about 35 healthy orchids many years ago because I had no idea what they were. By the time I found out it was too late.
Looking at them even in pictures turns my stomach. I hate them.
The easy way, systemic granules if you can get them and don’t have pets or kids that mess around in the pots or chew on the plants. If systemic granules are not an option, then Captain jacks dead bug brew every 4 days until you have gone 2 weeks without seeing any new signs.
Get some rubbing alc, dip a Qtip in it and put it on every bug you find. They should turn reddish. Once you have killed every bug that you can possibly find with the rubbing alc, put the plant in your shower and wash every inch of the plant. Make some spray:
– 2 CUPS WATER
– 1 TSP 70% ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL
– 1 TBSP PEPPERMINT CASTILE SOAP
– 2 TBSP NEEM OIL
Absolutely cover all of your leaves in this spray once it is dry from the wash. Make sure you spray the top of the soil as well (if any at all; I know you said they were in water). While this is happening, disinfect the areas that you plant sits at that check often.
Those bugs on pothos are so tricky due to the intricacy of the plants! Good luck!
We have two very dense podocarpus trees that we used in our wedding. I did the whole spraying with rubbing alcohol and Dr. Bronners thing, plus watering the tree with Bronners in the water. Did it for weeks with no reprieve.
Work got even more stressful and one day I said F it, stripped the leaves, dumped the soil, soaked the roots and repotted both. Now we have two trees growing back cuter than before.
People say not to go scorched earth but if that’s what it takes then it is what it is. I wasn’t going to lose our wedding trees but I also, mentally, couldn’t take babysitting the trees every day for weeks.
https://preview.redd.it/2n6num4bltee1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dcc9148f35071c61eb0e171d4059effdf1464991
mealybugs 🙁
[Here’s](https://www.reddit.com/u/charlypoods/s/fB8XxJWjCY) my mealybug treatment protocol I’ve been updating and fine tuning for the last few months. It has been called an aggregation of many methods, so i guess hopefully at least one or two can be applicable for you. But i really do believe in the step by step nature of it. I tried to make it more user friendly and readable, but am aware it could still use significant work. It’s really thorough I think, but if you have any questions, suggestions, or critiques please lmk!
I had these and I just took the L and threw the whole plant out before it spread to my other plants. There’s so many nooks and crannies they can hide in
Here’s a suggestion. What you doing is not working so let’s see what happens when you just leave it alone. Meanwhile just relax. Allow yourself to find a solution during your patience don’t try to figure it out now. Sometime you need some time and clarity. Your plants is like your emotions if you become relax it will also.
Release some lady bugs on them! They won’t stop eating until they are gone lol. Some predatory mites will eat them too
There are two ways of dealing with this. Spray the plant down with a mixture of water and dish soap. This will not harm the plant, but will suffocate the mealybugs. Another option is to get a plant spray with Neem oil. This was the most effective way.
Ahh, the forbidden forbidden parmesan
what i did to get rid of mealybugs (one of my mums plants had a horrific infestation) is we removed all we could see with cotton buds dipped in rubbing alcohol, then repotted into fresh soil after cleaning the pots it was in thoroughly. while my mum cleaned the pots, i filled up a bucket with room temp water with a tiny but of dish soap and gave the whole plant a soak for a few minutes to get any last bits and to get all the soil off. after we repotted, we kept it isolated from other plants for two weeks, and every 3-4 days i sprayed it with a 7:3 water to rubbing alcohol to make sure they didnt return. it was wayyyyyy worse than what your plant has (looked like someone poured baby powder on the plant) and due to the severity we did loose most of the leaves (which you wont have) but weve got new growth so this process did work when we did it.
I found the only way to get rid of them was to pull the plant out of its pot and wash as much dirt off the roots as possible. Then I sprayed roots and plant liberally with an insecticide like Safers End All and repotted in new soil and new pot. Mealy bugs live in the soil and roots as well as on the leaves so you have to treat everything.
Have you tried throwing the plant out 🤢😅