Root vs Foliage Mealybugs & How To Treat Them

Mealybug is THE pest and can wreak havoc on many different plants, not just succulents. To make things worse, one type of mealybugs is a master at hiding.
The foliar-feeding mealybugs can be a scary thing to find but at least they can be seen. But there's another mealybug species that feeds on roots and lives below ground, in the soil. They often go unnoticed until there's a whole load of them.
Mealybugs are one of the worst pests you can get on your succulents and they have some great defences. This means getting rid of them can be hard.
In this video we'll have a look at what both types of mealybugs look like and what the control options are for them.
Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:26 Foliar-feeding mealybugs
03:21 Root mealybugs
04:22 Foliage mealybug treatment
08:13 Root mealybugs treatment
#mealybug #mealybugs #plantdisease #plantpests #succulentpests #rootmealybugs #mealybugcontrol

[@deca717]

About a month ago I had a mealybug infestation not on my succulents, but on my Cosmos which hadn’t bloomed yet. I spotted a ladybug in the midst of the worst infestation and decided not to treat it since I heard that ladybugs like to eat mealybugs. A few more ladybugs made a home in my flower bed, and by the time the Cosmos bloomed last week, there were no longer any signs of mealybugs. I’m not sure this would work on my succulents, though, because I never see ladybugs visiting them.

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

I love that! Thanks so much for sharing 💚 Ladybugs and their larvae are superb mealybug and aphid predators. I bought some larvae in for a greenhouse along with a bug called Cryptolameus montrouzieri and they're doing a superb job of hoovering pests. I'm a massive fan of natural pest control 🐞💚

[@littlebeebs1]

I’ve noticed the good bugs flock to where they need to . And birds. If I see bird peck holes in my leaves , I know there are bugs there . I’ll check with my microscope to confirm. I see lots of green lacewing eggs on certain plants too. Sometimes I just want to spray for everything and be done with it. But then when I see the evidence of nature, taking care of things, I leave it alone. My chickens eat a lot of the bugs in the yard as well. But I have a huge yard and it’s hard to keep up. All the mosquitoes drive us nuts and, I am wanting this spray to get rid of them. But I don’t want to kill the good guys. So I don’t. I usually soak down the plants and alcohol and give them a good spray if they have regular mealybugs, with water. But the root ones require an alcohol soak and the. I spray the crap out of the roots , trim , dry and repot . Or just cut them and toss the soil . I boil the pumice and reuse it tho. 😊

[@CleoGravel]

Congratulations on reaching 4K subscribers 😊thanks for in information 😊

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

Thank you! ❤❤❤

[@karelbanks7094]

Kit, you so generously share a wealth of information. Thank you

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

My pleasure 🙂 I truly hope my videos will help people grow amazing succulents 🌵

[@patsyholloway5051]

I have used the alcohol, but found it does burn some plants. A great tip I saw on another channel is to take 1cup of methylated spirits and half cup water. Mix in a spray bottle and spray. It works fantastically. It also does not burn the plants and can be used in sun or shade.

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

Thank you for sharing 🙂💚

[@ForeverASucculentAddict]

I use the same and it works wonderfully for me as well. Alcohol didn’t really work for me. Growing succulents with Liz shared the methylated spirits recipe. She has helped me so much with growing succulents. I had to find something similar living in the USA because methylated spirits isn’t available here under that name. That’s an “Australia Thing” 😜

[@Yesi.Planting]

@@ForeverASucculentAddictI also live in the US, do you mind sharing where you found it please 😊

[@ForeverASucculentAddict]

@@Yesi.Planting Sorry just seeing this now. Yes. I purchased off of Amazon and the brand is Belle Chemical. In the search put: Medical Grade Ethanol - 95% Ethyl Alcohol - for Hand Sanitizer Production - No Fermentation Smell - Does Not Contain Methanol You should be able to find it there. I mix 1 cup of the Ethanol with 1/2cup of water. Just like Liz says to do. Hope that helps.

[@swatigokhale9495]

Very useful information. When the number of succulents keep increasing it becomes tough to keep a hawk eye. Severe mealy bug infestation i have seen mostlybin dehydrated plants. Esp in summers. I spray with imida at night when i see many pots having mealy bugs. In morning i hose them down early to try and prevent bees getting to the pots. Also severely infected ones that need spraying i isoloate in to a rarely used bathroom n spray there so as to contain the area of spray. Alcohol spot treatment works but i always follow up with plain water spray later to prevent burns. Roots and soil infected i again chop off the succu, bag the soil n spray it so that they do not contaminate other areas where they r dumped, but these are persistent, perseverant and annoying as they do make a come back sooner or later.

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

All great points! thank you so much for taking the time to comment💚 Yeah, these guys are pretty inevitable when you grow a few succulents. I see huge nurseries struggle with them all the time despite the systems they have in place to spray different chemicals.. Isolation is something i forgot to mention in the video, silly me! 🤦‍♀Ever since i started to really clean absolutely everything every 2-3 months and spray the tables, even under, with alcohol and keeping everything as neat as possible i've seen a drastic drop in mealies. Any sign and i just bin the whole plant, which, i know is a bit over the top and not a good solution for everyone. I guess people, over time, develop their own way of dealing with mealies..

[@swatigokhale9495]

@@SucculentGrowingTips.. i will follow ur practice of wiping down and cleaning all surfaces. Thanku so much for making these vdos for us. I dnt get succulents easily where i stay so i am reluctant to bin them. Going to follow all these.

[@daphnegottliebtaras7470]

I use Q-tips and rubbing alcohol. Incredibly effective.

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

Yes- it is indeed a great method 🙂💚

[@littlebeebs1]

I hate these guys ! They’re horrible! Thank you for talking about these ! I love your videos! ❤

[@ForeverASucculentAddict]

I’ve been looking forward to this video. Thanks for doing this one!

[@rishabhanand9751]

Use neem cake in potting mix

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

Thanks for the tip!👍 🙂

[@maznahashim7276]

Thank you very much.

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

You're most welcome 💚

[@karelbanks7094]

I used cinnamon powder on Echeveria Black Knight and Black Prince (a little on the leaves and soil) a few months. They are still in isolation😊 but so far they look clear.

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

That’s fantastic! You’re the second person who’s mentioned cinnamon for mealies. I’ll have to give it a whirl 😀

[@ChrisstinaMorgan]

Those 2 plants seams to be the most susceptible for all types of mealy bugs!

[@harrietb2141]

Thank you👍🌺

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

Most welcome 💚

[@FloridaGardeningdiva]

How do you treat an inground garden. They ruined all my plants. Devils

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

You can get tablets that dissolve into soil with watering. The plants then absorb them through the roots and have the active ingredients inside. When the mealybugs feed off the roots, they'll ingest the poison and, hopefully die.. Like any mealybug treatment, it is not 100% effective but should help enough. There's also granules etc, you can sprinkle on top of the soil but they will kill a lot of good bugs in the soil as well. Hope this helps 🙂

[@daym8]

Diatomaceous Earth is harmless for the succulent and kills mealey bugs in the soil and on the leaves,just dust em all over not to worry it's safe for pets and humans Our pesty frinds 🐛 will flee for sure This can be used especially for those drama queens and rubins🤭

[@SucculentGrowingTips]

Thank for the tip 💚 I'm in a process of doing an experiment with this one 🙂🤓

[@daym8]

Thank you Kat for the reply . I hope you are having a great day and Happy gardening🙏🏵️

[@Yesi.Planting]

Do you dust it liberally over entire plant AND soil? 😊

[@daym8]

A teaspoon is more than enough,to apply it you need to dust your plant with a makup brush with soft bristles be extra careful for the Succulents with Farina be a bit cautious not to rub off the layer during application of the d. earth alternatively you can dust it on the soil coz that's the battlefield where these little mites,bugs thrive.

[@MammilariaElongata]

Cochonilhas é um caso serio 😢

[@Darknamja]

😉😉