How to get rid of malicious mealybugs?

What is more vexing than finding a troop of malicious mealybugs? Oh well, it may make your plants look sick, and not only that, it can as well as spread to others, so on any occasion don't let a mealybug ever comfortably rest with a cocktail on your plant's leaves!

Listen to this amazing video showing visually how to get rid of mealybugs by my favorite plant expert, Juliette, from my city plants: click here to learn more.

 

An aloe vera plant sick with mealybugs.

Mealybugs are really a menace, they find our plants as delicious treats and so without asking they'd trespass one's property and have a delicious plant juice for dinner. They are also absolutely contagious to others and easily spread through many ways including from outside, or from another plant, or in a more likely case from vegetables you might purchase. They move fast when small and gradually get slower and more noticeable when bigger.
They suck out plant juices from plants which cause them to get sick and die, however, there are plenty of ways to get rid of them and prevent further damage to your plants, so skim this beneficial post and rush to your plants to help save them in 3 easy and simple ways!

What conditions do mealybugs prefer and what to do if  I spot some?

Photo by Severin Candrian on Unsplash

You can name it. Like all pests generally, mealybugs prefer warm moist conditions to thrive, which doesn't mean if you live in a tropical country you've got to leave. With a watchful eye, you can spot them and immediately quarantine that particular plant so that it wouldn't spread to others, and remember they are super contagious, so you will not be in favor to see all your plants snow-covered and an avalanche of snow occurring in your home!

I  personally have done this once I spot some, I quarantine them in our back yard which I call the 'sick nursery', (my mum didn't like that negative name, she suggested 'the recovery nursey'!). I try to solve the issues that the specific plants in that area have, and when they are healthy and recovered, I plant them in new pots and bring them to my indoor jungle.

How to get rid of mealy bugs?

1. Soap water 

When I initially didn't know, I researched how to get rid of mealybugs and some excellent answers came which had some complicated substances to apply which wasn't available at that very moment I looked it up on Google, and so as desperate as I was, with a worried heart for my sick Chinese evergreen, I decided to do what I had known from my mother, to scrub mealybugs off with soap water, and so I ran to the kitchen and brought a cup of soap water, a toothbrush, and a scissor.

 My evergreen was gifted, it was severely infested with these mealybugs and it reminded me of another plant I had of the same type that I had a strong bond to, that had died. I started by scrubbing off the bugs with the soap water and the toothbrush and saw them run across each other, noticing them feeling extremely perturbed by that.

After doing my scrubbing session, and knowing they have died, I chopped off all the leaves that I previously scrubbed because of past experience. I have experienced in the past by my banana tree and many others, that when you be greedy and keep your plant's leaves after cleaning the bugs, they tend to appear again. This is likely because you are missing a particular devious group of bugs that manages to hide from you and breed a few more babies, or an enormous amount, to surprise you with a new army. So, in such an inconvenient case, it's best to save your time and plant by cutting all the infested leaves, although it is unheartening. In my case, this plant had just around five leaves that were super unhealthy and about to die, so when cutting each of them I was backing off further and got sadder each time to see the leaves lessen. Eventually, I ended up with two remaining.

I was super doubtful about this technique because I wasn't confident with dealing with mealybugs, and as previously mentioned, I used to not chop off the leaves so my plants got infested again, which made me this time even after knowing that precautions were done, nervous that it wouldn't work because I didn't find it up on the internet stated by any plant expert.

Surprisingly, I never met a mealybug ever again (except from the bananas that we buy!), and that's why I recommend doing this easy way to never sight a mealybug again. And just to let you know, the leaves that I chopped became compost and my plant thanked me with many more new leaves, I am so grateful every time I see that adorable evergreen baby.

2. Neem oil

"Neem oil is malign" mealybugs have consistently told me, in fact, they have warned you from directly rubbing neem oil to your plant leaves because they would die.

Neem oil can kill all stages of mealybugs, from adults to immature ones. Use the precautions when applying to different plants.

3. Alcohol

If you watch the video recommended above you'll know that alcohol won't just do. You must use a cotton bud or moist, damp cloth, then rub alcohol on the cloth and wipe all the infested leaves until clean and good. You must follow the rest of the stages to get rid of them.

You can clean the plant as told, then bathe it in water or gently clean it another time with water. Remember this won't completely do the job so you will need to repeat it a few more times.