Judy, the "white mold" you mention could very well be Boisduval scale, a hellishly difficult pest to get rid of. As another poster mentioned, pests are often attracted to "weaker" plants and when present in sufficient numbers, will outright kill a plant. Sounds like you have a combo of things and if your summer was anything like ours up here (cool and wet), that certainly contributed to it. My suggestion to you is to take the plants out of their pots and clean them thoroughly using a mild dish soap like Ivory and lukewarm water. Get rid of any dead roots or growths. Stand up in the pot and place a bit of damp sphag at the bottom around the roots. Now dip or spray them like crazy. Repeat every 7 to 10 days or as recommended on the product you'll use. Keep your plants in a bright and warm spot, with ok humidity and air circulation. Spray the sphag when it is dry. The advantage of leaving the plants more or less bareroot is that it is easier to see any returning bugs and to then treat them. You're also less likely to rot anything. Hope this helps. Julie

Jean, yes, inspect ALL your plants.. It's the crawlers, (babies) that are hard to find.. That's the reason it's important to spray all parts of your Agave/s. Leaves/stems, etc. I think Baby Wipes contain Rubbing Alcohol, right? It's been a long time, lol. If it does, alcohol will help somewhat, but Jean, to rid those suckers, literal suckers, you better get to work. Clean and inspect daily until you get hold of Bayer or whatever you choose to use. They multiply fast. Are these guys hard-shelled? Yuck, plant bugs are gross looking, especially when magnified. I read an article that explained how eggs are in waiting, during winter months, then when climate is 'just right' they come out of hiding. Hatch. As much as I dislike Scale, IMO, they're easier to rid than Mealy.. I purchased an Olive tree from an online nursery. I ordered from this place several times, and never ever found insects, but there's always that first time, you know? The olive tree arrived. I set it beside a group of citrus and other tropicals. (BTW, it was winter, days cloudy, and my eyes aren't what they used to be.) I can't recall how many days later, while misting, I spotted a brown lump on a leaf..then another and another. Jean, I wanted to cry..there were hundreds of scales..truly that many and more. Then, I looked at citrus neighboring the olive..all branches growing nearest the Olive had loaded..which is one advantage..scale move slower than say, mites. What do you do with a hundred scale? Hand-pick each? What? Earlier in that summer I spoke with a woman in Fl who owns a citrus nursery. She's the person who told me they use Fish Emulsion as a scale preventative and insecticide. I phoned her, explained the situation, asked the portion of FE to water. She gave me the recepie, and it worked! Talk about grateful. One thing that bothered and still troubles me to this day. The olive was delivered in winter. It was very cold outside. Yet, the cold didn't bother or kill the scale. This was pre-heat-pack days..the cold didn't bother the tree either, so I don't have an answer. The olive is alive and well to this day. So are the citrus. So, IMO, scale aren't terribly destructive IF something is done, but if left to live, bye-bye plant.Good luck, Jean, Toni

Hi...I have found that if you get mealy bugs they are everywhere... I had them on my hoya hindu rope....and I could not get rid of them so I took everything apart and they were on the underside of plant stand, in the rope hanger the plant was in, under the rim of the pot...and the pot had a tray and they were in that....I read some where that mealy bugs don't stay on the plant they go off the plant...and that is why its hard to get rid of them, you treat the plant and then the bugs off the plant come back on, and on and on...so I bought some, 'Bug Max', bug spray and I sprayed the whole plant and washed every thing and waited a week and sprayed the plant again, waited a week and sprayed again....I waited a month and there was no bugs and so I rinsed the plant down with plain water.. and cross my fingers and knock on wood they are gone finally.....linda

I live in ohio so i keep them as indoor plants. I have never had plants before & my mom kills all of hers so I've never witnessed proper care. My window blinds are usually closed unless I'm home. They are the basic white drawstring blinds. I cant control the temp of my apartment so it is usually about 75-80F & I don’t usually use my AC in the summer. I have had these on the windowsill, the more prickly one actually died. I'm not sure how often to water them either because I read mixed information on succulents and im not sure the exact type of cacti they are. I am trying to figure out the perfect lighting as well, I have only one large window in my living room. My window is facing north so I don't get much direct sunlight. I have a money tree which sits close to my window but on a table next to the wall so it is not in direct light. The building in general has pretty dry air. I was debating on purchasing a humidifier because I wasn’t sure if the constant high room temp was an issue. if you need anymore info feel free to ask!