Planta
Tillbaka till Pests, diseases and problems 🇺🇸

Argh! I posted earlier today about noticing that the back of the… | Pests, diseases and problems 🇺🇸 | Planta-community

happysoxdonkey

Argh! I posted earlier today about noticing that the back of the leaves of my peacock plant were sticky. I checked my other plants and sure enough, my pin-stripe calathea had at least one mealy bug. It had sticky leaves, also. I repotted and hosed off the peacock and pin stripe calathea. I isolated all my calathea in the garage because they were near each other. So I found one mealy bug on my favorite plant, a Thai constellation. I repotted the Thai and the deliciosa right next to it after showering them with a hose. My monstera deliciosa was two in the same pot. One wasn’t as healthy as the other so I tossed that one. The roots on the Thai and the remaining deliciosa both looked good. I watered ALL my plants with arber insecticide. Is there anything else I should do? How soon should I treat them again with the arber insecticide? I’m hoping I caught it early enough to save most of my plants. About a week ago I threw away a Dottie calathea that was in terrible shape. I thought it was because I had left the window open and it was too cold that night. Now I’m wondering if it was mealy bugs. I got two alocasia this week and while they’re mealy bug prone I don’t see any at all on them. I think it might have been the calathea, not them.

Bilaga 1 av 2Bilaga 2 av 2
3 gillningar 12 kommentarer

12 kommentarer

  1. Janeen

    I’ve never had to deal with mealy bugs so I can’t give any advice. I’m just here to cheer you on and wish you and your babies best of luck .

    3 gillningar
    • happysoxdonkey

      Thank you! I needed that emotional support! I am so worried about all of them. I hope they will all be OK. It feels a bit like failure.

      0 gillningar
  2. Janeen

    I have read that you can take a Q tip dipped in alcohol and wipe off any bugs or their “stuff” that didn’t come off with their hose down. So scary! But you’re doing good!! 👍❤️

    0 gillningar
  3. SWDK

    3-7 days with insecticides, Every 3 for severe cases and 7 for more mild days. Hopes that helps.🙏🏽 You’re doing great.

    1 gilla
  4. Phil

    Almost everyone deals with mealy bugs if you have a lot of plants. It’s odd because I have six Alocasia and they have never had them. Anyway I have about 160 plants and do have mealy bugs once in a while. Normal treatment is use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. Remove each bug from your plant with the swab. It kills them immediately. They can be in the soil also. They will hide and be hard to find on the leaves. So that’s why you spray the plant totally with something to kill them. Cause most likely you missed some. Then repeat treatment about every 5 days for 6 weeks. And should isolate the plant. Seriously they really are not that difficult to eliminate. Because I have so many plants, I use Bonide systemic. Applied every two or three months. It works from within the plant. When I find mealy bugs, it’s usually only a couple on a plant. You don’t need to throw out the plant unless it’s a bad infestation.

    2 gillningar
    • Marni

      How does a plant get mealy bugs

      0 gillningar
    • Phil

      Usually from new plants. Or from other plants where they were never eliminated.

      0 gillningar
  5. Phil

    One more thing, the sticky residue on the calathea leaves is not from bugs. That’s guttation (sp). Common on calatheas. Just take it to the shower and rinse it off. It’s from excess water caused by high humidity, low air flow, and maybe a little overwatering.

    1 gilla
  6. Nan
    Bilaga 1 av 1
    1 gilla
  7. Amy

    How well does the barber insecticide work for your Calatheas? I’ve used the cotton swab dipped in alcohol to get a few mealy bugs but not on multiple plants. Wondering if a neem spray would work?

    1 gilla
    • Nan

      I find the spray works, I used it for two treatments and got rid of the issue right away

      2 gillningar
  8. Marni

    I’m a new plant mom and this section is terrifying. I need to research these pesky creatures.

    1 gilla