So I was doomscrolling through here and I saw another poster had this plant and I realized… mine wasn’t big enough. So as one does, I went out and got another. Saw this one. It didn’t have webs and it was nice and bushy so I went for it.
Got home and with the pull back of every vine…those white fluffy guys were there. At almost every node, hiding in crevices or leaving a snail trail of fluffy residue.
I picked them off, leaf by leaf, strand by strand, root by root.
I bathed them in a soapy-alcohol-water mix for any sneaky eggs (they were f**king everywhere.), sprayed them with a similar mix that included neem oil, and put them in a pot with fresh soil. Am I missing something???
This also took approximately 3 hours. Not sure if I would do this again. Will definitely check better in the future though 😅
How long would you spend before tossing?
*** Pics are of after, and yes I should have taken some ‘before’ pics, please take into account my utter shock and disgust that triggered “go”. Now if someone so much as spots an egg… 🤯
by Scary-Case-4791
24 Comments
Depends on the plant… something rare and expensive, awhile. This plant, definitely not 3 hours lol
For something like that id cut everything back to the first couple nodes coming out of the dirt, remove all the leaves. toss the rest and treat remaining stems with your preferred method
Chop it up and make a new plant. Toss the roots and soil. They prop so easily.
I battled mealies on a marble queen pothos for a coupl3 years before finally tossing it the other day. I loved it so much, and it was so healthy despite being infested. I did manage to get cuttings that weren’t infested before tossing it though.
For a store-bought heartleaf philo like this, zero time given- directly to the trash. For my grandma’s 50-yr old jade, AS LONG AS IT TAKES!
Hose it off with the plant kind of upside down, then dab off the water on the leaves.
You just bought it?? Go return it!
If I paid more than $50 for a plant and it has mealies, I’m treating it for as long as it takes. If I paid under $50, straight to the trash with it.
i got a bunch of pothos and philo cuttings i was really excited for and they were INFESTED with mealies. they were immediately bagged and trashed. i’m not risking it nor do i want to waste that much time and money for such common plants.
2 months on a bird of paradise recently (apparently they’re super susceptible to them!!). I gave up after treating it with alcohol sprays and systemic granules. Gave it to my mom who planted it in her outdoor garden and it’s thriving.
If from any big store, go get your money back lol there’s no point
Depends on the plant, but I’d just throw this out.
Omg they come back!!!
I battled mealies on a large deliciousa for over 2 years. Never threw it out, just chopped and treated over and over until they were finally eradicated. I’ve never been one to quit or give up on anything. Lol. That being said, I wanted to give up a few times, and it was extremely stressful to deal with. 😪😪 I think if it’s causing you too much stress, it’s okay to give up sometimes. I just never know when to let go. I will say, since winning the battle- my deliciousa is coming back even more bushy and beautiful so it for me it was worth it. Thankfully, they were only centralized to that one plant because had they spread out onto my entire collection, I would have dieddddd!
Not long lol. Depends on the plant I guess. Really though, an hour?
The cost and sentimental value of a plant..
Try if it’s new, return it. Otherwise spray with an insecticide. You have to be super thorough–underneath every leaf and in every crevice. Add a systemic to the soil. I just haven’t had much luck with gentler options.
I would pick off all I could see then spray with safer soap. If they come back then try bonide systemic granules.Mine never came back after safer soap.
I think I’d make a mixture of neem oil, house plant insecticide and alcohol and trash the dirt, rinse the plant and roots off really well then let her soak in that tub for like 30 minutes then repot in a good chunky soil. 🤷🏼♀️ I had some issues with mealy bugs on a few of my Jade n’ pearl pothos and that’s what I did then just moved them back out to my porch and haven’t had any trouble since.
The key to getting rid of Mealy Bugs is breaking the life cycle. Many Growers/PlantParents treat once and think it’s a wrap. It is not a one-and-done issue… you’ll need to treat every 3-4 days for atleast 21-24 days so that You kill adult bugs, larvae, aaaaand eggs.
Make an Alcohol solution (1:2-3 parts) with Water. Spray all parts of your plantbaby abovesoil to kill adults and larvae.
Make an Hydrogen Peroxide solution (1:2-3 parts) with Water. Spray through your soil to kill the eggs.
I’ve had great success with treating Family, Friends, SoilSistas plants using this method.
🪴 Good Luck! 🪴
Until it’s dead. Why get a plant if you don’t want it to live and do what it takes to keep it alive? If mealy bugs keep coming back, keep at them. Dish soap in water spray or pesticide. Do a soil change and saturated the new soil.
1 year 😭😭😭
TAKE THE PLANT BACK WHERE YOU BOUGHT IT. ITS NOT WORTH IT.
This looks small enough to go for a dunk. Fill a bucket with water, add like 10% of the volume of water in 90% rubbing alcohol, dunk the whole damn plant, roots and all. Congratulations, you’ve killed all the mealies.