How I got rid of mealybugs
About 8 months ago two of my new plants turned out to be a haven for root mealybugs. When I took off the plastic pot there was so much white bugs and "cotton" that I could barely see the soil.
And strangely, some other black little bugs where living alongside the mealybugs, many of them inside the leafcrowns and hard to spot. And I found a few spiders aswell that seemed to be hunting those bugs. (But obviously way too few spiders, but as a thanks for trying I put the spiders I found outside haha)
What a horrible mess, some of the soil had loosened when I took off the pot and there was now huge, well fed mealybugs crawling on the floor, and not too far away from many of my other plants. My first instinct was to just throw it all away and clean the floor. Which I did.
But the next day I regret throwing the plants, and decided to give it a try to save them.
Both of my Sans had such impressive developed root systems, but sadly I had to cut most of it away. I then rinsed most of the soil and stuff off the plants, before giving them a long bath in warm water (not hot, just fairly warm) and lots and lots of dish soap. Then they had thoroughly shower and repeated the bath in water and dish soap for another 30 minutes, (had no idea how long I should leave them in the water), and then gave them another shower.
When finished I left them to dry hanging upside down.
Repotted them in fresh soil a few hours later, watered and left them alone for 2-3 months, before I repotted again to make sure the mealybugs where all gone, and no sign of them since then. (I did theck one more time, just to make sure)
Last time I checked the roots are now recovering and growing like crazy, the leaves aren't growing at all yet.
I'm very impressed that the Sans survived all of this water I exposed them to :)
Later I did the same thing to another Sans that I suspected had vermin, but wasn't sure. And the dish soap bath didn't harm that one either!
How did you get rid of mealybugs? Or any other vermin on Sans, if you hade the misfortune to get them.
Some pics of the treatment:
Comments (12)
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EB88
6 years ago
Stush2049 Pitts. PA, zone 6
6 years agoUser
6 years agoEB88
6 years agoMaybe hanging them upside down on/above a radiator to dry might be a good idea if it's cold outside? Will try that if there's a next time for more security.
This is the Whitney from the pics above. It got a little bit scarred on the leaves from the rough treatment, but nothing major and now looks very happy I think.
Oyster
6 years agoEB88
6 years agoSoap for washing machines is so strong, I'm not surprised it harmed the plant :( I use ordinary dish soap you can wash the dish by hand with.
I recently bought a new Laurentii and found some small unknown bugs crawling in the soil. Gave it a dishsoap bath aswell in warm water, and it's still doing fine a few weeks later :) Left it to dry hanging on radiator in the bathroom this time for an hour or two, and it got dry very fast and then repotted it in fresh soil. And no sign of bugs so far.
Oyster
6 years agoEB88
6 years agoEB88
6 years agoHahaha thank you, the Laurentii that took the last bath from the pics above is still happy and healthy now several weeks later and no sign of the bugs :)
petrushka (7b)