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What the heck is this?
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What the heck is this?


Help please.

Came back from vacation to find this on my desert rose.

How do I treat this? Also what is it!?

by ivanboywonder33

18 Comments

  2. MasterpieceMinimum42

    Mealybugs, definitely. Get cold pressed neem oil, spray the whole plants in the evening after sun set.

  3. EntertainerForeign77

    stop, you can do better than that. throw that away.

  4. ParrisPropagations

    Where did this leaf come from???? The main plant is DEFINITELY infested with mealybugs.

  8. kindmomenergy

    Those white fluffy bits on the desert rose leaf are almost certainly mealybugs, and you can treat them by dabbing them with a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol or using an insecticidal soap spray.

  9. Oh-shitake-naw

    Yikes mealy bugs! Barehanded too 🤢

  10. NRazzo

    I take diluted rubbing alcohol and a cotton bud and regularly remove them. You can get ahead of them eventually

  11. coleus-obsessed0810

    I ordered a plant off Etsy from a place called “Bearfoot farms”. It was seriously a few weeks later it pops up infested with mealy bugs oh no, after the whole thrips nightmare that I feel I am continuously battling. Well mealy bugs definitely NOT threw out my beautiful Begonia rex rt there on the spot well after i tried everything i could think of get rid of them without having to resort to that but , next morning woke up started examining her and I’ll be damned here comes another one uhh, uhh got to go. That was a fight I wasn’t willing to fight. So unless ur looking forward to weeks upon weeks of hard work , frustration , and dedication then id seriously reevaluate my attachment to the plant. Just throw it somewhere far away lol. Sorry op thats a bummer.

  12. Technical-Escape-419

    what the heck is this? it’s grody to the max, fo sho!

  15. Nivaris

    Desert rose (Adenium) is a succulent plant, very robust. It can lose all its leaves and still survive, and it doesn’t mind if you throw away the entire soil and give it a rinse. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this drastic procedure for the more sensitive kind of houseplants like calatheas, but with succulents, it’s generally a good idea to get rid of the whole soil and thoroughly wash off the mealybugs from the plant.

    Once the plant is uprooted, you can apply a solution of isopropyl alcohol in water and then wash it off after a few minutes. Pyrethrine-based insecticide also works well. Once your plant is in fresh soil again, you can spray it with neem oil for prevention.

    Keep in mind that mealybugs prefer damp, organic soil, so with any succulent plant you can be generous with the mineral components (e.g. Lechuza Pon or similar, all succs and many other plants dig pumice) because your plant will like it, and as a bonus, the mealies are less likely to return.

  16. Objectalone

    1 part isopropyl alcohol, 4 parts water, in a spray bottle. Give the plant a thorough soak so that it dibbles into crevices. Then do it again with straight water to rinse. The alcohol instantly kills the mealybugs. Monitor and repeat in a few days as needed unit they are all gone. It may take a few rounds until the problem is solved.

  17. Bae_Victis

    You’re….touching….so many….so, many….mealybugs 😱😰😰😱😰😰

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