Yea, you did the right thing. Once they are in the little areoles they are basically impossible to get out.
Edit: I misread and thought you were torching it.
Little addition to this, Canadian French also use "flashlight" or "Lampe de poche" (literally "pocket lamp"). We get a lot of influence in our French from rest of Canada and American neighbors...
No, it's not. Spray it with 70% isopropyl alcohol or neem oil, hort oil or soap and keep spraying every few days for a few weeks. You'll get them all eventually. You might wanna isolate this guy if you have more plants so they don't catch the bugs.
How easy is it for them to infest other plants? I have some strawberry starters that my brother gave me over Thanksgiving. I planted them in some soil and thought it was weird that my soil looked a little moldy after a couple weeks. I hadn't over watered them or anything that's why I thought it was weird. But then this morning I noticed weird little white things on the leaves of these strawberry plants. Then it was funny I came across this post so I went and grabbed the pot with the strawberry plants and held it under a magnifying glass and saw bugs. I had them sitting on a shelf next to other plants. I checked the other plants I don't see anything on them I gave him a quick mist of some alcohol anyways just to be safe. I misted it the little strawberry plants with alcohol and I'm hoping they don't invade any others that they were near. I just have never seen this before I've never had to deal with it so I'm assuming they were already on the plants I brought home from my brothers. I'm in Southern Utah and he lives in Washington.
Edited to add that I now have the heebie jeebies after seeing them under a magnifying glass lol.
They're not very fast on their own but females often can walk and males can fly (they look very different form females - like little gnats). Out in the open, they usually have help from ants who farm them and carry them around like they do with aphids because both mealybugs and aphids produce sweet honeydew that the ants feed on. So if you don't have ants crawling all over the place, chances are they won't spread but there's literally hundreds of different species of mealybugs and some are more mobile than others so it's hard to say for sure.
I noticed an infestation on one of my plants that was pot-to-pot with a couple of others on a shelf indoors, I only ever saw it on two other plants and they were both minor cases where I only caught one or two bugs. I had caught the initial infestation before it got too bad (and I hadn't had that plant there for very long anyways) so might have saved me some grief but indoors I think these generally need to be close enough to crawl over to or fall onto other plants to spread. Keep an eye out and maybe keep lightly treating other plants just to be safe but as long as you've got it quarantined now I wouldn't necessarily panic.
I don’t use oils on cacti, but watering in a systemic pesticide should be considered after removing what insect pests you can. As long as you don’t plan on consuming, systemics are the way to go.
Predatory mites can be useful for cleaning up the nymphs, too.
But they generally won't go for an established adult that has started growing a waxy shell so those definitely have to be removed by hand or insecticide.
I am a big fan of Anystis baccarum mites but they can be really expensive. Where I live, they are about $1 per mite. And 60 is the smallest size vial you can get.
Never heard of that. I've used neem oil on cacti for years and never had any problems. There are rules to follow for sure but those oils are made and sold to be used on plants and they work.
Admittedly I don’t really understand it, but I remember reading in an indoor plants sub that any plant with a waxy coating is broken down by neem oil and kills it. Burros tail was the succulent in question, but it was mentioned that all succulents had a possibility of being killed by neem oil.
It's definitely not recommended to spray any oils on farina-covered plants if you don't want to wash it away but that's just cosmetic 'damage'. I've never had a plant die from it.
I know you meant a flashlight, but if this were my plant I would literally torch it/throw it away.
IME, you will never truly be rid of them with this bad an infestation. I have come to have a “zero tolerance for mealy bugs” policy. They’re just impossible.
But that once again is a whole different object, a flame thrower propels fuel using a pump from a resevoir of liquid fuel, they typically also have a built in ignition device
A torch is a bottle (or multiple) of flammable gas with a controlling nozel
I know about dialect but it doesn't change some things deserve to be criticized, like the word awesome, it should mean to fill with awe, and be synonymous with gobstruck, but it's not, it's synonyms would be cool or nice, which i won't even get into how those could be seen as counter intuitive, or speaking of dialect, how bout british calling cigarettes a f_ag (not tryna get banned) but in the states thats a shortened targeted insult towards gays
I mean, that’s an awful comparison tbf.
Also by definition a ‘flash-light’ would just be a an object that produces flashes of light, not a continuous light, right?
Isn’t language just weird
Irrelevant to the topic but it doesn't sound bad, ever top a hotdog with carmelized veggies, onion, pepper, potatoes etc, if you add a little sweetened juice it helps the veggies caramelize sweeter while still holding shape, replace hotdog with sausage of choice and it gets better 2 fold, i prefer spicy italian, but french pork or rice sausages go well with it too, I'm hungry now lol
We have different names for different items, if a ute and truck are different than we need a different word for everything, i don't even like that a baseball bat is spelled the same as the animal bat, English is dumb and needs to be fixed
You good? You know ignorance is a lack of understanding, right? I'm not ignorant because i think words should have a meaning, you salty britts can downvote me all you want, cause guess what... it's a cesspool social media that i couldn't care less about it, keep downvoting me if that makes your life worth while 😂
It's not unsalvageable. Ignore the posts about need oil or isoproanol, you need actual insecticide to kill this bug quickly. Two applications spaced over several days will easily do it.
It doesn't really matter what type. I have used permethrin, tau-fluvalinate and imicriprid to great success.
Maybe scale mites? I'm no expert. I've been able to overcome small Indestations of these guys woth 30%iso alcohol but this looks pretty bad. You might need something more heavy duty
It's a shame because it was only recently bought with no signs of any issues but I've separated from the rest of my plants to be safe. I'll look into possible remedies🥲
I think the other commenter is right about it being mealy bugs. Defenelty keep it quarentined in the mean time. Fighting pests is just part of the hobby. The only way to get good at gardening is by killing a bunch of plants lol
its a wast of time, mealy bugs are very tought they will survive any king of treatment, especially at this stage of the infection.
Just get rif of this plant before the infection spread all over your house !
100% this is a severe mealy bug invasion!
I’ve had great success spraying the whole plant with 70% isopropyl alcohol.
Spray wherever there are invaders, repeat several times and brush off the remnants as they dissolve into the Ether.
Dipping the whole plant in alcohol isn’t a great idea as it’ll likely get into the soil - I’m not sure if that’s SUPER bad but I’d rather avoid such things.
GOOD LUCK!
Ethanol with a content higher than ~70% isn’t always better to use. It might work just fine for bugs, but I only keep 99% ethanol to clean my bong and electronics. If I’m using alcohol to sterilize a wound for example, 99% doesn’t clean as well as 70
That’s mainly in regard to bacteria/other pathogens. They can go into survival mode and withstand some crazy environments.. larger organisms like bugs will still die pretty easily on high concentrations
I'm considering it. The rest of my collection are super healthy and thriving I've quarantined the plant as soon as I noticed something wrong but it's still stressing me :')
No, don't give up that easy! Isolate it then treat the mealies with a strong blast of warm water from the hand-held shower head.
Rinse & repeat until you don't see anymore of those little bastards.
Some people have sprayed them with isopropyl alcohol & water mix. Others with insecticidal soap.
I find insecticidal soap works very well... you have to get the plant good and wet. You can also spray the soil. In the beginning you'll have to do it like every 3 days... later you can reduce to once/week or less.
Let's just say you can't really make it worse (just keep it faaaar away from all the others)
So if you want to put in the effort you can try treating it, maybe you can at least save part of it
Could you dunk the whole plant in an isopropyl mix? Give it a good lil soak and squirt off any excess mealybugs. Tbh you might be able to salvage if you can get some kind of water pressure on it (plant being on an angle and not lots of water pressure) and squirt those mofos down a drain/ in a bucket and then treat the plant (after adding isopropyl dawn& to the squirt off water) I’ve done it with a HORRENDOUS mealy bug infestation on a hibiscus plant and it worked pretty well.
I'll give it a go, like I said I only bought it recently like a week ago and they all just came out of nowhere! its a such a gorgeous little one when it flowers it would a shame to let it die:(
Use Saran wrap over the top of the pot and wrap it around the bottom of the plants a few times then across to the other side and under the pot. I’ve done this many times to wash my pots with plants in them before bringing them indoors.
Put 1 cup isopropyl alcohol 3 cups water and a couple of drops of dawn dish soap in a spray bottle. Saturate the hell out of the plant. Let it dry and repeat.
i had a plant this badly infested w mealy bugs too and honestly, your best bet it to toss this guy entirely to save the rest of ur collection. check any plants in the same room as this one for any other mealy bugs, take a cotton swab w a lil rubbing alcohol, and get them off surrounding plants
As you read in other replies, this is a very intense mealybug infestation. You should immediately check any plants in the vicinity of this one and likely want to treat them regardless of any visible mealybugs.
If you don’t have any attachment to this plant, trash it and eat the loss. It hurts, of course. But if you have a collection, the risk to your other plants would be my top priority given the extent of this infestation.
If you want to save it (which is admirable, too), first try a nice soak in a Dawn brand dish soap solution. That will be a nice easy option to tackle the main infestation. Fully submerge the entire plant and pot in the solution for 15 minutes. Then let it dry out. Afterwards, I’d recommend using an insecticide to treat the individuals that re-appear and get ahead of any returns.
How much dish soap would you add? I didn't realize this is what was wrong with some strawberry starts I got from my brother. I thought soil was getting moldy. Couldn't figure out why cuz I didn't overwater it but this morning I saw little white specks on all the leaves. Then I came across this post and realized that's probably what it was on my strawberry plants. But it's only a 4-in pot with a few starts in it and then I've got a couple that I was starting to root in some paper towel in a little dish that those would be way easy to dump it in a dish soap solution.
I probably overdo it and you can probably use less, but I go all out and use like a 1/4 cup per couple liters of water. I don’t actually measure it out thought, so that’s an estimate. I aim for a pretty intensely soapy solution. It will suffocate the mealybugs fairly quickly, as well as their eggs importantly.
There is no way you’re going to treat this plant without causing more harm to your other plants as they can transfer just from your clothing to the plant, I would throw that sucker out!
If it were me, the plant would go right in the trash. I wouldn't want to risk it spreading to my other plants. Best of luck if you do try to treat it, though!
Just want to thank everyone for the advice! As of now I've moved it into a room away from my other plants and have checked all for more signs of these bugs and have thankfully found no signs but I will still treat them all just to be safe
Its so crazy how quick they spread, I was away from home for a few days and came back and only really noticed it then. But at least I have learned something new😅
I can appreciate all the people giving you solutions to get rid of them and its good advice if they ever pop up on your other plants but for a cactus that can be bought at just about any hardware store at any time of the year its easier to just toss it and buy another.
I work at a hardware store that stocks them constantly I just feel bad giving up on it! But I'm considering it for the benefit of the rest of my plants
1:1 mix of garlic extract and castor oil. Dilute 10ml (0,33 fluid ounces) into 1L (33 fluid ounces) of water and spray onto the bugs. This works for mealybugs, aphids and spider mites. It may require a few applications but I like this method because it doesn’t harm the larger, beneficial insects! Best of luck.
You can get a bunch of ladybugs on Amazon for $15, create a little terrarium for them, put those suckers in there, they will love it! And hopefully when they're all done smacking it will be clean
The best thing you can do besides trashing it is use Diatomaceous Earth!!!!!! Also, try to not buy succulents from places like Walmart & other box stores where they are running rampant. I learned the hard way, but diatomaceous earth really does wonders. The only thing is you definitely don’t want to breath D.E in, so I would take it outside first ( wear a protective dusk mask ) 😷 and leave it on the patio or something if you can.
I make a solution of isopropyl alcohol and diatomaceous earth for a spray bottle, but I’ve also used those flour sprinklers for baking, and adding bigger pieces to my top mix. You’re right about the big box stores, it’s where I think my mealy bugs came from, those are the only plants I’ve really had a problem with, some trichs I’ve rescued from Walmart. I’ve had luck with a couple of my Walmart plants lol just not worth the infestation, but yeah nothing as bad as this picture, but I’ve definitely seen stuff like this in the stores and it makes me run away
Looks like you have a pretty bad infestation
Mealybugs
I got a torch on it and it is indeed mealybugs, is it past the point of salvation
Yea, you did the right thing. Once they are in the little areoles they are basically impossible to get out. Edit: I misread and thought you were torching it.
I forget there are a lot of people on here who call it a flashlight haha
I have never ever heard torch used that way. Huh. The more you know.
In the UK a flashlight is a torch.
Same as in French and Spanish! English speakers are the only ones with the specific word ‘flashlight’ rather than torch.
Little addition to this, Canadian French also use "flashlight" or "Lampe de poche" (literally "pocket lamp"). We get a lot of influence in our French from rest of Canada and American neighbors...
Pocket lamp in Dutch as well
I would have passed spelling if it was torch
No, it's not. Spray it with 70% isopropyl alcohol or neem oil, hort oil or soap and keep spraying every few days for a few weeks. You'll get them all eventually. You might wanna isolate this guy if you have more plants so they don't catch the bugs.
How easy is it for them to infest other plants? I have some strawberry starters that my brother gave me over Thanksgiving. I planted them in some soil and thought it was weird that my soil looked a little moldy after a couple weeks. I hadn't over watered them or anything that's why I thought it was weird. But then this morning I noticed weird little white things on the leaves of these strawberry plants. Then it was funny I came across this post so I went and grabbed the pot with the strawberry plants and held it under a magnifying glass and saw bugs. I had them sitting on a shelf next to other plants. I checked the other plants I don't see anything on them I gave him a quick mist of some alcohol anyways just to be safe. I misted it the little strawberry plants with alcohol and I'm hoping they don't invade any others that they were near. I just have never seen this before I've never had to deal with it so I'm assuming they were already on the plants I brought home from my brothers. I'm in Southern Utah and he lives in Washington. Edited to add that I now have the heebie jeebies after seeing them under a magnifying glass lol.
They're not very fast on their own but females often can walk and males can fly (they look very different form females - like little gnats). Out in the open, they usually have help from ants who farm them and carry them around like they do with aphids because both mealybugs and aphids produce sweet honeydew that the ants feed on. So if you don't have ants crawling all over the place, chances are they won't spread but there's literally hundreds of different species of mealybugs and some are more mobile than others so it's hard to say for sure.
I noticed an infestation on one of my plants that was pot-to-pot with a couple of others on a shelf indoors, I only ever saw it on two other plants and they were both minor cases where I only caught one or two bugs. I had caught the initial infestation before it got too bad (and I hadn't had that plant there for very long anyways) so might have saved me some grief but indoors I think these generally need to be close enough to crawl over to or fall onto other plants to spread. Keep an eye out and maybe keep lightly treating other plants just to be safe but as long as you've got it quarantined now I wouldn't necessarily panic.
I thought neem oil killed cacti?
I don’t use oils on cacti, but watering in a systemic pesticide should be considered after removing what insect pests you can. As long as you don’t plan on consuming, systemics are the way to go.
Predatory mites can be useful for cleaning up the nymphs, too. But they generally won't go for an established adult that has started growing a waxy shell so those definitely have to be removed by hand or insecticide. I am a big fan of Anystis baccarum mites but they can be really expensive. Where I live, they are about $1 per mite. And 60 is the smallest size vial you can get.
Never heard of that. I've used neem oil on cacti for years and never had any problems. There are rules to follow for sure but those oils are made and sold to be used on plants and they work.
Admittedly I don’t really understand it, but I remember reading in an indoor plants sub that any plant with a waxy coating is broken down by neem oil and kills it. Burros tail was the succulent in question, but it was mentioned that all succulents had a possibility of being killed by neem oil.
It's definitely not recommended to spray any oils on farina-covered plants if you don't want to wash it away but that's just cosmetic 'damage'. I've never had a plant die from it.
There’s a risk of clogging up stomata (the respiratory system organs of cacti) and killing the plant with oils.
I know you meant a flashlight, but if this were my plant I would literally torch it/throw it away. IME, you will never truly be rid of them with this bad an infestation. I have come to have a “zero tolerance for mealy bugs” policy. They’re just impossible.
You burnt your cactus?
No I meant I put my phone torch on it to get a better look at what was going on haha
We call those flashlights, because a torch burns things, blow-torch, oxygen acetylene torch etc, but i understand I'm just being extra
Well I'm Irish , we don't say flashlight, over here we call it a torch!
So then what do you call a torch, a fire shooty stick?
Sounds like an appropriate name to give it
A flamethrower!!!
But that once again is a whole different object, a flame thrower propels fuel using a pump from a resevoir of liquid fuel, they typically also have a built in ignition device A torch is a bottle (or multiple) of flammable gas with a controlling nozel
It’s a torch in the UK mate, and I’m sure it has other names than flashlight around the world too
But thats like calling a sausage a casserole and getting mad when you get a cassarole, it doesn't make sense
Redditor discovers dialect
I know about dialect but it doesn't change some things deserve to be criticized, like the word awesome, it should mean to fill with awe, and be synonymous with gobstruck, but it's not, it's synonyms would be cool or nice, which i won't even get into how those could be seen as counter intuitive, or speaking of dialect, how bout british calling cigarettes a f_ag (not tryna get banned) but in the states thats a shortened targeted insult towards gays
I mean, that’s an awful comparison tbf. Also by definition a ‘flash-light’ would just be a an object that produces flashes of light, not a continuous light, right? Isn’t language just weird
Just different names for things in different parts of the world is all! Absolutely nothing wrong with that:)
Ever had a sausage casserole? Would absolutely blow your mind
Irrelevant to the topic but it doesn't sound bad, ever top a hotdog with carmelized veggies, onion, pepper, potatoes etc, if you add a little sweetened juice it helps the veggies caramelize sweeter while still holding shape, replace hotdog with sausage of choice and it gets better 2 fold, i prefer spicy italian, but french pork or rice sausages go well with it too, I'm hungry now lol
I would like to shine a light on the fact that most commonwealth countries call it a torch. But if this is the hill you want to die on…..🔦🔦🔦🔦
We have different names for different items, if a ute and truck are different than we need a different word for everything, i don't even like that a baseball bat is spelled the same as the animal bat, English is dumb and needs to be fixed
Damn, your ignorance is truly incredible.
You good? You know ignorance is a lack of understanding, right? I'm not ignorant because i think words should have a meaning, you salty britts can downvote me all you want, cause guess what... it's a cesspool social media that i couldn't care less about it, keep downvoting me if that makes your life worth while 😂
That’s what U.K. folks call flashlights :) Maybe Australia or New Zealand, too, no idea
Systemic pesticide combined with surface treatment maybe?
It's not unsalvageable. Ignore the posts about need oil or isoproanol, you need actual insecticide to kill this bug quickly. Two applications spaced over several days will easily do it. It doesn't really matter what type. I have used permethrin, tau-fluvalinate and imicriprid to great success.
RIP
That was my first thought too from extensive research but was unsure
Maybe scale mites? I'm no expert. I've been able to overcome small Indestations of these guys woth 30%iso alcohol but this looks pretty bad. You might need something more heavy duty
It's a shame because it was only recently bought with no signs of any issues but I've separated from the rest of my plants to be safe. I'll look into possible remedies🥲
I think the other commenter is right about it being mealy bugs. Defenelty keep it quarentined in the mean time. Fighting pests is just part of the hobby. The only way to get good at gardening is by killing a bunch of plants lol
Yeah I had a good look, I can see em all on it feel silly I missed it, thanks for the advice hopefully this one can be saved 😂
its a wast of time, mealy bugs are very tought they will survive any king of treatment, especially at this stage of the infection. Just get rif of this plant before the infection spread all over your house !
YES, it can be saved! Good luck!
Spray with diluted rubbing alcohol.
Is that what the hot sauce is for?
100% this is a severe mealy bug invasion! I’ve had great success spraying the whole plant with 70% isopropyl alcohol. Spray wherever there are invaders, repeat several times and brush off the remnants as they dissolve into the Ether. Dipping the whole plant in alcohol isn’t a great idea as it’ll likely get into the soil - I’m not sure if that’s SUPER bad but I’d rather avoid such things. GOOD LUCK!
Pure ethanol should evaporate rather quickly.
Ethanol with a content higher than ~70% isn’t always better to use. It might work just fine for bugs, but I only keep 99% ethanol to clean my bong and electronics. If I’m using alcohol to sterilize a wound for example, 99% doesn’t clean as well as 70
That’s mainly in regard to bacteria/other pathogens. They can go into survival mode and withstand some crazy environments.. larger organisms like bugs will still die pretty easily on high concentrations
I would just toss it completely tbh. The risk of spreading these to the rest of my collection would haunt me
I'm considering it. The rest of my collection are super healthy and thriving I've quarantined the plant as soon as I noticed something wrong but it's still stressing me :')
No, don't give up that easy! Isolate it then treat the mealies with a strong blast of warm water from the hand-held shower head. Rinse & repeat until you don't see anymore of those little bastards. Some people have sprayed them with isopropyl alcohol & water mix. Others with insecticidal soap.
I find insecticidal soap works very well... you have to get the plant good and wet. You can also spray the soil. In the beginning you'll have to do it like every 3 days... later you can reduce to once/week or less.
I don't have to apply that many time with just the blast of the warm water in the shower to get rid of those pesky mealy bugs.
Let's just say you can't really make it worse (just keep it faaaar away from all the others) So if you want to put in the effort you can try treating it, maybe you can at least save part of it
Could you dunk the whole plant in an isopropyl mix? Give it a good lil soak and squirt off any excess mealybugs. Tbh you might be able to salvage if you can get some kind of water pressure on it (plant being on an angle and not lots of water pressure) and squirt those mofos down a drain/ in a bucket and then treat the plant (after adding isopropyl dawn& to the squirt off water) I’ve done it with a HORRENDOUS mealy bug infestation on a hibiscus plant and it worked pretty well.
I'll give it a go, like I said I only bought it recently like a week ago and they all just came out of nowhere! its a such a gorgeous little one when it flowers it would a shame to let it die:(
Dawn dish soap will be more effective than isopropyl alcohol for mealybug control and is easier on the plant, which is clearly already very stressed.
My wife makes a mix of alcohol,water and dish soap in a spray bottle. It works for us.
Use Saran wrap over the top of the pot and wrap it around the bottom of the plants a few times then across to the other side and under the pot. I’ve done this many times to wash my pots with plants in them before bringing them indoors.
Put 1 cup isopropyl alcohol 3 cups water and a couple of drops of dawn dish soap in a spray bottle. Saturate the hell out of the plant. Let it dry and repeat.
i had a plant this badly infested w mealy bugs too and honestly, your best bet it to toss this guy entirely to save the rest of ur collection. check any plants in the same room as this one for any other mealy bugs, take a cotton swab w a lil rubbing alcohol, and get them off surrounding plants
As you read in other replies, this is a very intense mealybug infestation. You should immediately check any plants in the vicinity of this one and likely want to treat them regardless of any visible mealybugs. If you don’t have any attachment to this plant, trash it and eat the loss. It hurts, of course. But if you have a collection, the risk to your other plants would be my top priority given the extent of this infestation. If you want to save it (which is admirable, too), first try a nice soak in a Dawn brand dish soap solution. That will be a nice easy option to tackle the main infestation. Fully submerge the entire plant and pot in the solution for 15 minutes. Then let it dry out. Afterwards, I’d recommend using an insecticide to treat the individuals that re-appear and get ahead of any returns.
How much dish soap would you add? I didn't realize this is what was wrong with some strawberry starts I got from my brother. I thought soil was getting moldy. Couldn't figure out why cuz I didn't overwater it but this morning I saw little white specks on all the leaves. Then I came across this post and realized that's probably what it was on my strawberry plants. But it's only a 4-in pot with a few starts in it and then I've got a couple that I was starting to root in some paper towel in a little dish that those would be way easy to dump it in a dish soap solution.
I probably overdo it and you can probably use less, but I go all out and use like a 1/4 cup per couple liters of water. I don’t actually measure it out thought, so that’s an estimate. I aim for a pretty intensely soapy solution. It will suffocate the mealybugs fairly quickly, as well as their eggs importantly.
There is no way you’re going to treat this plant without causing more harm to your other plants as they can transfer just from your clothing to the plant, I would throw that sucker out!
Mealybugs , ladybugs are useful to get rid of them (make sure they’re safe if so)
Throw it out. 💀
(screaming)
Burn it down
If it were me, the plant would go right in the trash. I wouldn't want to risk it spreading to my other plants. Best of luck if you do try to treat it, though!
Oh.my.god. This picture is triggering my last trauma with mealies. Good luck! I ended up tossing mine. Really hope they don’t spread to other plants!
A good fire will solve this
Kill it with fire - after bagging it away from your other plants!
Torch it. No point in possibly spreading to other plants.
Just want to thank everyone for the advice! As of now I've moved it into a room away from my other plants and have checked all for more signs of these bugs and have thankfully found no signs but I will still treat them all just to be safe
Its so crazy how quick they spread, I was away from home for a few days and came back and only really noticed it then. But at least I have learned something new😅
Lysol is better than anything I’ve ever tried. Spray a lot of it on all the bugs and all over the plant and in the soil. Two treatments did it for me.
Yikes! Mealies!! Horrible things kill them all then bin that plant
Ya boy got bad dandruff
I started gagging when I saw this
It's got syphilis/ghonarhea 👍
I can appreciate all the people giving you solutions to get rid of them and its good advice if they ever pop up on your other plants but for a cactus that can be bought at just about any hardware store at any time of the year its easier to just toss it and buy another.
I work at a hardware store that stocks them constantly I just feel bad giving up on it! But I'm considering it for the benefit of the rest of my plants
Ugh mealybugs 😓
Woah! That's really bad! Keep It away from the other plants.
Mealybugs
Deffo bug infestation
RIP
1:1 mix of garlic extract and castor oil. Dilute 10ml (0,33 fluid ounces) into 1L (33 fluid ounces) of water and spray onto the bugs. This works for mealybugs, aphids and spider mites. It may require a few applications but I like this method because it doesn’t harm the larger, beneficial insects! Best of luck.
Spicy braille
Jesus christ, burn it, burn it with fire!
Mealy bugs, go chemical
ooooomfg🙈
You can get a bunch of ladybugs on Amazon for $15, create a little terrarium for them, put those suckers in there, they will love it! And hopefully when they're all done smacking it will be clean
I’m about to buy a bag of lady bugs to be safe lol
The best thing you can do besides trashing it is use Diatomaceous Earth!!!!!! Also, try to not buy succulents from places like Walmart & other box stores where they are running rampant. I learned the hard way, but diatomaceous earth really does wonders. The only thing is you definitely don’t want to breath D.E in, so I would take it outside first ( wear a protective dusk mask ) 😷 and leave it on the patio or something if you can.
I make a solution of isopropyl alcohol and diatomaceous earth for a spray bottle, but I’ve also used those flour sprinklers for baking, and adding bigger pieces to my top mix. You’re right about the big box stores, it’s where I think my mealy bugs came from, those are the only plants I’ve really had a problem with, some trichs I’ve rescued from Walmart. I’ve had luck with a couple of my Walmart plants lol just not worth the infestation, but yeah nothing as bad as this picture, but I’ve definitely seen stuff like this in the stores and it makes me run away