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African Violets

Probably Mealy Bugs...But I have some questions

11 years ago

Hi,

I've been reading on this forum about mealy bugs attacking your AV and killing it. This I THINK has started happening to my one beloved AV I've had for years, that I have almost killed a few times before (over watered/under watered) but has managed to make it through and has bloomed continuously for the last year.

Recently the leaves started getting wilty and the flowers started dying but I didn't change anything about its location/lighting. When I inspected it, I noticed that it had some white fuzz underneath all the leaves so I tried dabbing it (the fuzz) with both alcohol and vinegar but it kept coming back. (I know, it sounds a lot like mealy bugs...).

But then one time I lifted the leaves and the entire top - all 3 crowns - popped off like something had been eating away/rotting away its stem. I thought maybe it had gotten too moist or something under there so I dabbed the area with alcohol and put it in some water to reroot. 2 of the 3 crowns stopped being wilty and looked good but a 3rd stayed about the same (icky). I would lift the plants out of the water and clean them from time to time and there was always this white film sitting on top of the water that seemed to attach itself to the icky one.

I have decided to toss the yucky one but the other two look like they're pretty healthy. Except that the big one, which is 2 circular bunches attached together, definitely has white fuzz in between its leaves. And they are pretty tight/close together so I may not be able to get in every cranny.

The baby, surprisingly, has never seemed to have fuzz on it. Currently I have separated the big from the baby.

I want to replant them but w/o the white fuzz coming back. (I honestly haven't seen any bugs at all, are they too small to be seen with the naked eye? )

The only way I can think of that this plant got the white stuff (if it's not mold) would be from a little some sort of flower my daughter gave me for mother's day from her school. I have checked that plant and there is nothing on that one that would make me think it had a parasite/disease etc.

Sorry this is long but I'll summarize my questions.

1). Can I save the plant? It has a lot of sentimental value.

2). Is there any chance the white fuzz could be mold?

3). Would method dish soap work to clean them or do I need to buy something special?

4). Should I repot?

5). Should I toss the other flower even if it doesn't seem infected?

I'm going to try to put pictures here. However, I did clean off most of the fuzz off before I came here.

Thank you!

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Comments (5)

leeloolyndsie
Original Author
11 years ago
Here is the full view of the big part of the AV.
taxonomist3
11 years ago
That webbing is very distinctive of mealies. I've just recently had a few go-rounds with soil-mealies, and the best advice was to just throw everything away and start over after disinfecting and treating to kill the beasties in the area where you grow your plant.

That said, I can also empathize with wanting to keep a plant for sentimental reasons. With foliar mealy bugs, getting rid of them is very very difficult because they lay their eggs in hard-to-treat areas of the plant. If you really want to save the plant, you'll want to get a strong bug-killer (work with it outside) with pyrethren or malathion. Treat the entire plant by submerging it. You'll want to repeat this one or 2 more time at least a week apart. The other way you can go about saving the plant is to clone it from a leaf cutting and treating the leaf cutting with the bug-killing chemicals.

I'm sure there are other ways to go about killing mealies or controlling their populations, but this method I know works reasonably well.
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tommyr_gw Zone 6
11 years ago
I'd take a few leaves, hit them with some mealy bug spray and start new ones.
aegis1000
11 years ago
Sounds like you only chance of saving this plant (besides putting down leaves) ... is the baby plant.

If it were me, I'd repot the baby plant (along with putting down some leaves) and let it grow, watching carefully for any sign of mealy-bug recurrence (any white fuzziness).

Throw everything else away. Keep your hands and tools spotlessly clean because you can easily pass the pest around otherwise.

Keep everything associated with this plant separate from any other African Violets (as these pests will spread) ... and see how it goes.

I've had mealy-bugs before. It came in on a Begonia (from LOWES) and before I knew it, had infected all of the plants around it. I ended up ditching everything.
irina_co
11 years ago
You can do several things -

first - separate your 2 crowns and take off several rows of lower leaves.

Make a solution of 1 part rubbing alcohol and 3 parts of water. Swish your plants in it.

Pot them in fresh soil, cover thme up with a baggie and let them root for couple of weeks out of direct sun.

The area where you grew your plants is probably full of mealy bugs eggs. Spray everything you can with Clorax and wipe clean.

There is a systemic pesticide Imidacloprid that is the best to treat them. So if you want to use it - when your plants are rooted and growing - get Bayer Lawn or Bayer Tree and Shrub pesticide - check that Imidacloprid is the active ingredient, make the solution according to the instruction - and water your pots until the solution runs through. It will be the end of mealies.

But you probably will be OK with the first 2 steps.

irina

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