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Cacti & Succulents

PLEASE HELP...bug living off of my bamboo plant! :(

8 years ago

I found my bamboo plant with fuzzy white specks under the leaves and along the insides of the sprout. Below is a picture of the "bug" i found living on it...there are so far 2 that i found. Any ideas what it is? ...and how do i treat it? :(

Featured Answer

cactusj

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Mealy Bug. Eventually it will try to form a little cotton-y membrane around itself. The best way to get rid of it from succulents is... manually. Squish them, Squish them all! A very strong jet of water may also work, but you'll most likely have to do it more than once. I would also change the soil if its potted, in case there are more eggs.

If left there, it will inject a little proboscis into the plant and suck the sap out of it, causing irregular growth and in most cases leading to the plant not being able to continue growing.

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Comments (9)

Winnie Chiang
Original Author
8 years ago
oh my goodness! THANK YOU SO MUCH! i will do this right away! would it be more beneficial to keep it in pebbles/rocks rather than soil after i do the jet of water?
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cactusj
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I'm not sure I follow you, has the plant been rooted yet? Also I'm not exactly sure what type of plant that is through the image alone.

What I do is move its pot to an area I can point a hose straight down at (or close to that angle and then just turn the thing on full blast. This works for my Sedums and Sempervivums. I am not sure what your plant is though, I am so sorry for not making that clear before, some plants can get really damaged by blasting water like that.

From what you said, it sounds like your plant isn't infested. The best course of action if there isn't a lot of them is to just find and squish.
Winnie Chiang
Original Author
8 years ago
so sorry, i dont have a picture of the full plant at the moment, but it's a bamboo plant and it is potted indoors. it is definitely infested because it has the white webbing and cocoon looking bits all over it. i originally had 3 stalks that came together grown in pebbles...and it did very well for months. i recently added 2 extra stalks to it and potted them together into soil. im guessing the 2 extra stalks carried the bugs with it :(
cactusj
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I feel stupid, I didn't read the actual plant name in your thread title. I'm sorry, that's completely my fault.

If the plants seem fine where they're growing use the same mixture you used before, but I strongly recommend that you get a fresh batch of your mixture and dump the old in a trash can away from the plant. In addition to that you should fully and completely wash the pot, especially in any crevasses or if your pot has a lip to it. Use a high powered jet of water at your own discretion, if you can manage getting them off in the sink by rubbing, that's probably better.
Winnie Chiang thanked cactusj
Winnie Chiang
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you soooo much! I will get on it right away! :(
cactusj
8 years ago
No problem, don't give up if you see them come back. At times you might have to take these steps more than once with mealybugs.
Crenda 10A SW FL
8 years ago
I also spray the plant with a 50% solution of rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. It will run into the places where they hide and kill them. If there are just a few, I use a cotton swab dipped in the alcohol to remove them from the plant. They will turn a dark orange! Do not spray the plant while in the sun if you can avoid it.

I have a Draecena in my outdoor foyer that gets mealies every year! First I blast it with water, then I spray the alcohol solution. About a week later I repeat. Like cactusj said, it sometimes takes several treatments to get rid of them.

Good luck!
Winnie Chiang thanked Crenda 10A SW FL
Winnie Chiang
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Thank you Crenda! So I flushed out the stalks the best I could. Cleaned the pot and ran it under hot water for a while. Hopefully I got everything. Tossed out the pebbles and soil it was in and repotted them. Thanks for the alcohol suggestion. I sprayed the stalks tonight. I guess I have to keep an eye out for a while to see if it reoccurs :) I'll be ready to do a retreatment. However because I am keeping them indoors, hopefully it won't be as likely to get infested again :

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