Hi Jess I love watching your videos. I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to give you a tip on the alcohol and mealys. I put the alcohol in a spray bottle and spray the succulent and that way I can turn the plant upside down and spray the whole plant and the alcohol actually kills the mealys. Then you can pick them off with a q tip and the tweezers won’t scratch the leafs and you don’t have to touch the plant or the mealys. Hope this helps. ❤️ you and your videos.
Thank you for making such a detailed video! I have literally been trying forever to find a video that shows a close up shot of mealybugs in action so that I would know what to look for when inspecting my succulents and cacti! Most images/videos would just show a zoomed in image that made it difficult to judge their sizes in relation to the plant. 👏 Great job and thanks for the other tips and suggestions with propagation as well. Subscribed!
Hi there! I’ve been really enjoying your page lately and I’ve learned soooo many helpful things to keep my babies thriving! Recently scrolling through FB marketplace, I got super lucky and came across a collection of succulents and other plants that were being given away for free!! Literally close to 100 plants ranging from succulents to crotons, pathos to bromeliads, trays of leafs and arrangements + sooo much more. They didn’t suffer any transportation damage because they were delivered in open cardboard boxes from a girl nearby that was moving. The plants lived on a south facing balcony and belonged to her roommate that moved out a few weeks before her, so she didn’t have much knowledge on how they were being taken care of. When they got dropped off to me, they were all still in nursery pots and some were quite wet, while others were bone dry. I could only assume that the wet ones were not getting enough sun while the dry ones got to much. So the first thing I did was separate them into two piles -wet/ dry- then I inspected the plants for health and pests. I loosened the dry, root-bound ones and gave them a good soak. I gently removed the wet ones from their plastic pots and laid them into a container to dry out some. I figured removing wet soil could cause more damage to the roots and have a greater chance of root rot, as opposed to waiting until it was dry. Once the soil was more damp to dry, I shook off the access soil and popped them back into their pots. It’s been about a week since watering (now dry) and they’ve all been acclimated properly to my back porch garden. I am getting ready to repot but I have two questions: 1. Will the alcohol kill more pests than just mealy bugs? 2. Is it better to treat while the soil is wet or dry. Xoxo
Wow what a steal!! How fun. 1. The alcohol should kill more if there are other things but can’t guarantee and 2. I like dry since you can’t really put them back in direct light until their white coating grows back. I try to avoid having too much alcohol get in the soil though.
I recently had excellent luck for the first time and propped 65 succulents here. I have around 130 adults. I recently found mealies on a pink jellybean plant and so now i am freaked out. My PVN babies have the scarring on the leaves, but im but i am not finding bugs ... Ugh!! I have gone thru them all and sprayed even the healthy ones. I have been usuing a fan and watching for them aggressively, didnt know this was a sign, scarring.. Thanks for that info. Nobody has ever said that before, i am so happy to find yohr channel. Now i am gonna drive myself crazy trying to find them now.
Great video! You can also submerge the whole cutting in the 70% isopropanol for about 30 mins and then let dry. That will get all the mealies and you can reuse it.
I had an Echeveria that started growing really wonky. There was no scaring but it was stunted and the leaves grew downward. Sure enough, it had mealy bugs. Thank you for this super helpful video. Hopefully I can save my little Echeveria now that I know what to do. Love your channel.
you saved the new succulent i got!!!! i noticed the hard droplets but didn't think much of them until you mentioned them. when i looked hard enough, i found 3 extremely tiny mealy bugs! thank you!!
WOW! Up close and personal with the wee beasts...wiggly legs and all! Thank you. I am truly enjoying your videos. Great tip on removing the mom plant for propagation.
Thank you! I swear other succulent channels don't want to admit they even get pests so no one ever does a video for removing! I LOVED all the information you gave and I didn't know the webbing or the droplets were a sign so I'll have some checking to do on my plants. I have read somewhere(I forgot where) that the rubbing alcohol only gets the adults so you'd have to apply again after 4 or so days so the eggs and juveniles get taken care of too. I could be mistaken though so please correct me if I'm wrong! Love your videos!
Hi Jess, Great video. I believe that the "tiny little" droplets you have found on your leaves could be honeydew which is what they call the excrement from the mealy bugs. Another sign of mealy bug infestation is ants on your plant. The ants eat the honeydew. The white mealy is the female and the male is a small (1 to 2mm) flying gnat type insect. The females are prolific in their breading and lay hundreds of eggs in the white sacks. I find controlling these guys requires absolute constant checking and treatment.
Look at that snow! Not only is it summer here, we don’t actually get snow. But we whinge and whine about being “freezing” when it’s above freezing temp of water! Gotta love Australia 🇦🇺
Rubbing alcohol is quite strong and expensive. So you don't need much. I mix it with 3/4 water and about 1/4 rubbing alcobol and put it in a spray bottle. Some plant leaves cannot handle the strong alcohol, so test it out on 1 leaf.
Hi, thank you for the tutorial on the mealy bugs. Now that i know what to look for, i'm dreading to look at my succulents bc I just know i'm going to find a ton of them, but will have to face it sooner than later. Now, about those dropletts you're seeing. You're right! It is sugar. That's the honey dew left behind by the mealys. It's what they leave behind & ants love it. Sp that's another sign of pests... ants. Thanks for the tip about the Ladybugs. I'm going to do that. Robyn is right about spraying the alcohol. If you spray the alcohol, the powdery substance that protect the leaf form heat and sun, will not wash off. When the Alcohol dries, the powder will still be there. I learn so much from you, thanks!!
How do you know if you have the little infestations? You can make a video of this question or if you already do leave a link to it because I don’t know.
The clear dots on the leaf is a honeydew like substance that they excrete. There are ants that harvest it because it’s sugary and sticky when it is first excreted, but later becomes hard. Also hey jess, love your videos!
after treating succulent with alcohol, you suggest keeping the plant out of the sun for 1-2 weeks - do you continue to water the plant normally at this time?
I have a String of Pearls that I got from a higher-end gardening shop. They won't take the plant back but it definitely has mealybugs because it is sticky. Can you put rubbing alcohol on this kind of a plant or will it kill it? I know it's kind of a succulent but it's not a regular recognizable one so people don't seem to know the answer
I have treated my string of bananas for mealybugs with rubbing alcohol with no problems. I once lost a string of pearls plant to mealybugs because I was trying to just remove the individual bugs as I saw them. It was my first experience with these pests and they won the war! There are just too many nooks and crannies for them to hide. If I had a string of pearls with mealybugs, I would definitely go ahead and spray/saturate it with rubbing alcohol.
I see tiny white bug crawling around in the garden soil (made a mistake by using this) that has green algae on the perlite on my new succulent seedlings. I’m too scared to touch the babies seedlings since they are so fragile but I don’t want to kill or not treat these possible baby mealy bugs. What can I do safely without killing my succulent seedlings (bunny ears)?
Trinny T ok don’t use rubbing alcohol cause they aren’t big enough yet to handle it. I am trying to think what you could do, but did you heat treat your soil before planting the seeds? By putting it in the oven it should help kill any bugs or fungus for the most part and then after planting, I leave the seedlings covered for a long time until they are fairly established. You can take a toothpick or spoon and be really careful and remove the algae perlite around the babies. I’m not sure what you could use on the bugs. I know a little hydrogen peroxide in water helped me get rid of flies in the houseplants but I don’t know if it would also kill the babies. It seems like a less harsh alternative to rubbing alcohol though.
Sara Cast if you put too much in the soil it could rot or like I said, expose it to light right after before the white film grows back you could burn it but otherwise it is fine
The main reason mealys come back is because people treat their plants once, see the adults killed off, and think they are done. You need to treat weekly for a month to break the life cycle. The soil also has them, so it must be treated as well.
I actually don't fertilize my plants. I have been interested in trying out a few to see what happens but they seem to grow just fine with just my lights and water.
@@AngelsGrove It sure means that they are happy with their substrate. Well, if you are thinking on doing some long-term experiment on fertilizers, I'm all for it!
I’m just curious why you didn’t just remove the plant to check the roots and treat the roots so none of the bugs do come back in that, I’m asking because I have a huge new arrangement that I know has them and I’m wondering if there is a way to get rid of them without deconstructing the whole arrangement 😭😭😭
Angel's Grove yes I just found that out but with everything going on in the world I can’t find any alcohol I could probably find a bar of gold easier than I can find alcohol 😭
Angel's Grove I think it’s in the roots too, besides that I think this arrangement has outgrown its pot, I bought it this way at Lowe’s but couldn’t pass it up because it’s huge and has so many different varieties.
@@Crystal-be9ze if you have nail supplies at home, try your nail polish remover or gel cleanser. And if you can get your hands on some neem oil, it works wonders against these buggers too
Hi! Do you know if I can do this to a stromanthe triostar? I've found only one mealy bug, squished it and that's it. Didn't find anymore but I'm scared I missed some.. Or they're hiding somewhere.
Dalena Tran ya know.. good question. I love that plant but don’t have one so idk if rubbing alcohol would work. But for now keep a really close eye on it and move it away from other plants.
They sell a spray that's better for plants and succulents for bugs like mealybugs and other bugs and fungus bugs and other things like that verses using alcohol that burns the plant when you put it under the light and it takes away the color of the plant sometimes and it damages the plant might be working for you but there is a spray that you can buy at Home Depot and it's like four bucks and you just sprayed on the leaves and stem and the bottom of the plant are the dirt area and it takes away and it lasts for like six eight months and you do that every 6 to 8 months on all the plans no matter if you see a sign of them or not this way you know for sure that they won't be coming through the alcohol really does damages the plants and the color and the texture of the plant especially if you have it under a grow light it could sometimes burn it.Garden Safe Brand Insecticidal Soap 24-fl oz Insect Killer
Yikes! I've found alcohol to be pretty harsh on succulents (and other plant). I spray my plants with Neem Oil to kill those horrible pests. I had horrible infestations of mealy bugs until I discovered Neem oil.
So long as it is the 70% rubbing alcohol and not 90% it doesn't hurt the plants. You can also water down the alcohol a little bit, too. I haven't had any problems but I have heard neem oil works, too. Whatever it takes to kill those little buggers! Ugh!!! Happy gardening!🙂
Hi Jess I love watching your videos. I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to give you a tip on the alcohol and mealys. I put the alcohol in a spray bottle and spray the succulent and that way I can turn the plant upside down and spray the whole plant and the alcohol actually kills the mealys. Then you can pick them off with a q tip and the tweezers won’t scratch the leafs and you don’t have to touch the plant or the mealys. Hope this helps. ❤️ you and your videos.
Thank you for making such a detailed video! I have literally been trying forever to find a video that shows a close up shot of mealybugs in action so that I would know what to look for when inspecting my succulents and cacti! Most images/videos would just show a zoomed in image that made it difficult to judge their sizes in relation to the plant. 👏 Great job and thanks for the other tips and suggestions with propagation as well. Subscribed!
Excellent video ! The reason they come back if because of their stages .The larva is in the dirt as well .
Best video on mealy bugs I've seen very informative..thankyou
Hi there! I’ve been really enjoying your page lately and I’ve learned soooo many helpful things to keep my babies thriving! Recently scrolling through FB marketplace, I got super lucky and came across a collection of succulents and other plants that were being given away for free!! Literally close to 100 plants ranging from succulents to crotons, pathos to bromeliads, trays of leafs and arrangements + sooo much more. They didn’t suffer any transportation damage because they were delivered in open cardboard boxes from a girl nearby that was moving. The plants lived on a south facing balcony and belonged to her roommate that moved out a few weeks before her, so she didn’t have much knowledge on how they were being taken care of.
When they got dropped off to me, they were all still in nursery pots and some were quite wet, while others were bone dry. I could only assume that the wet ones were not getting enough sun while the dry ones got to much. So the first thing I did was separate them into two piles -wet/ dry- then I inspected the plants for health and pests. I loosened the dry, root-bound ones and gave them a good soak. I gently removed the wet ones from their plastic pots and laid them into a container to dry out some. I figured removing wet soil could cause more damage to the roots and have a greater chance of root rot, as opposed to waiting until it was dry. Once the soil was more damp to dry, I shook off the access soil and popped them back into their pots.
It’s been about a week since watering (now dry) and they’ve all been acclimated properly to my back porch garden. I am getting ready to repot but I have two questions:
1. Will the alcohol kill more pests than just mealy bugs?
2. Is it better to treat while the soil is wet or dry.
Xoxo
Wow what a steal!! How fun. 1. The alcohol should kill more if there are other things but can’t guarantee and 2. I like dry since you can’t really put them back in direct light until their white coating grows back. I try to avoid having too much alcohol get in the soil though.
I recently had excellent luck for the first time and propped 65 succulents here. I have around 130 adults. I recently found mealies on a pink jellybean plant and so now i am freaked out. My PVN babies have the scarring on the leaves, but im but i am not finding bugs
... Ugh!! I have gone thru them all and sprayed even the healthy ones. I have been usuing a fan and watching for them aggressively, didnt know this was a sign, scarring.. Thanks for that info. Nobody has ever said that before, i am so happy to find yohr channel. Now i am gonna drive myself crazy trying to find them now.
Great video! You can also submerge the whole cutting in the 70% isopropanol for about 30 mins and then let dry. That will get all the mealies and you can reuse it.
Thank you! Great video on mealy bugs. I never thought to look for scarring.
I've never had mealybugs but this was very educational. Thank you! 👌🏻
I had an Echeveria that started growing really wonky. There was no scaring but it was stunted and the leaves grew downward. Sure enough, it had mealy bugs. Thank you for this super helpful video. Hopefully I can save my little Echeveria now that I know what to do. Love your channel.
Wow! Fantastic information with a show and tell! This is honestly the best info I have ever received. Thank you so much!
The scaring on the leaves is the best tip ever!
you saved the new succulent i got!!!! i noticed the hard droplets but didn't think much of them until you mentioned them. when i looked hard enough, i found 3 extremely tiny mealy bugs! thank you!!
littlecutekitty love it!!!! Thanks for sharing! I love knowing this knowledge actually helps people!!
WOW! Up close and personal with the wee beasts...wiggly legs and all! Thank you. I am truly enjoying your videos. Great tip on removing the mom plant for propagation.
Haha, too bad they had mealy bugs and I accidentally ripped them off. I was so excited to remove the mom for them. Next time though.
@@AngelsGrove how did you get the mom & the ones you cut off short at the stem to grow new roots? Did you wait to put them in soil?
D Love of hounds I wait 3 days to a week to let the stem callous and then plant in soil and water like usual. It will grow roots on its own
@@AngelsGrove thank you so much for your response.
Thank you 😊
Thank you! I swear other succulent channels don't want to admit they even get pests so no one ever does a video for removing! I LOVED all the information you gave and I didn't know the webbing or the droplets were a sign so I'll have some checking to do on my plants.
I have read somewhere(I forgot where) that the rubbing alcohol only gets the adults so you'd have to apply again after 4 or so days so the eggs and juveniles get taken care of too. I could be mistaken though so please correct me if I'm wrong!
Love your videos!
oh I haven't heard that but it probably isn't a bad idea! Thank you for sharing!
Yes I have read this as well
That was the best video I have seen on mealy bugs. Your information was very thorough and we see what you were talking about. thanks so much!
Hi Jess, Great video. I believe that the "tiny little" droplets you have found on your leaves could be honeydew which is what they call the excrement from the mealy bugs. Another sign of mealy bug infestation is ants on your plant. The ants eat the honeydew. The white mealy is the female and the male is a small (1 to 2mm) flying gnat type insect. The females are prolific in their breading and lay hundreds of eggs in the white sacks. I find controlling these guys requires absolute constant checking and treatment.
The ants actually "farm" mealy's aphids and scale for their honeydew.
Terrific video ... and well... the close up work is phenomenal... very impressed ... what set up did you use to make the video...
Wayne Hiebert my cell phone in my hand was my set up haha! Thank you for the compliment
Your video is really a learning process for me . Now i know how to do if ever my succulents has mennie bugs
Look at that snow! Not only is it summer here, we don’t actually get snow. But we whinge and whine about being “freezing” when it’s above freezing temp of water! Gotta love Australia 🇦🇺
Your awesome!!! I'm addicted! Thanks for all the amazing info💙
Rubbing alcohol is quite strong and expensive. So you don't need much. I mix it with 3/4 water and about 1/4 rubbing alcobol and put it in a spray bottle. Some plant leaves cannot handle the strong alcohol, so test it out on 1 leaf.
Hi, thank you for the tutorial on the mealy bugs. Now that i know what to look for, i'm dreading to look at my succulents bc I just know i'm going to find a ton of them, but will have to face it sooner than later. Now, about those dropletts you're seeing. You're right! It is sugar. That's the honey dew left behind by the mealys. It's what they leave behind & ants love it. Sp that's another sign of pests... ants. Thanks for the tip about the Ladybugs. I'm going to do that. Robyn is right about spraying the alcohol. If you spray the alcohol, the powdery substance that protect the leaf form heat and sun, will not wash off. When the Alcohol dries, the powder will still be there. I learn so much from you, thanks!!
Hi - great video. I’ve also read that a neem oil solution may also work. Wondering which one works better. Neem or alcohol? Or both?
I agree we all have bug problems at times. Alcohol is our friend. Lol lol.thanks for the video
You’re learning me good thank you 🙏🏼
Do you have an update/video on how these succulents are doing now? 🤗
Devin Nicole Luu I can make one for sure
Thanks for excellent info 🍁🍂👍🏽
fantastic info thanks 😊
How do you know if you have the little infestations? You can make a video of this question or if you already do leave a link to it because I don’t know.
Boy that was a GOOD idea. You would have never known they were under the mom.
Thank you! I’ve just found some yesterday 😩😫 Great video.
Minnesota huh? Were pretty close then, I'm by Eau Claire, WI yeah! Winter has been really harsh lately hasn't it yuck!
I keep rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle for another purpose but it might work well for you too.
Thank you for all the great information, but doesn't alcohol hurt the root and the plant?
glowgirl 79 try to avoid as much on the roots as possible but for the leaves they will be more sensitive to light
@@AngelsGrove Thank you very much :)
@@AngelsGrove Thank you very much
The clear dots on the leaf is a honeydew like substance that they excrete. There are ants that harvest it because it’s sugary and sticky when it is first excreted, but later becomes hard.
Also hey jess, love your videos!
Marissa Gonzo thanks for sharing this information!
after treating succulent with alcohol, you suggest keeping the plant out of the sun for 1-2 weeks - do you continue to water the plant normally at this time?
jen888 I try to let the soil dry out before watering but yes, usually that is the same schedule
Hai mam my succulent have tooo small bugs with out binocular I can't see. Ok bye thank you
Remove what you can, otherwise the rubbing alcohol should work.
@@AngelsGrove no mam rubbing alcohol not available so I clean with chemical fertilizer
I have a String of Pearls that I got from a higher-end gardening shop. They won't take the plant back but it definitely has mealybugs because it is sticky. Can you put rubbing alcohol on this kind of a plant or will it kill it? I know it's kind of a succulent but it's not a regular recognizable one so people don't seem to know the answer
I have treated my string of bananas for mealybugs with rubbing alcohol with no problems. I once lost a string of pearls plant to mealybugs because I was trying to just remove the individual bugs as I saw them. It was my first experience with these pests and they won the war! There are just too many nooks and crannies for them to hide. If I had a string of pearls with mealybugs, I would definitely go ahead and spray/saturate it with rubbing alcohol.
I literally said "ewww" right as your editors note popped up. 😂😂😂
I see tiny white bug crawling around in the garden soil (made a mistake by using this) that has green algae on the perlite on my new succulent seedlings. I’m too scared to touch the babies seedlings since they are so fragile but I don’t want to kill or not treat these possible baby mealy bugs. What can I do safely without killing my succulent seedlings (bunny ears)?
Trinny T ok don’t use rubbing alcohol cause they aren’t big enough yet to handle it. I am trying to think what you could do, but did you heat treat your soil before planting the seeds? By putting it in the oven it should help kill any bugs or fungus for the most part and then after planting, I leave the seedlings covered for a long time until they are fairly established. You can take a toothpick or spoon and be really careful and remove the algae perlite around the babies. I’m not sure what you could use on the bugs. I know a little hydrogen peroxide in water helped me get rid of flies in the houseplants but I don’t know if it would also kill the babies. It seems like a less harsh alternative to rubbing alcohol though.
I wanted to buy perfect leafy plant with pink veins but it has those bugs ;-; and I couldn't cuz I didn't knew how to handle it ;-;
the spots are honeydew, the excrement from the mealybug after hes sucked on the juice of the leaf.
Can the rubbing alcohol hurt the succulent?
Sara Cast if you put too much in the soil it could rot or like I said, expose it to light right after before the white film grows back you could burn it but otherwise it is fine
The main reason mealys come back is because people treat their plants once, see the adults killed off, and think they are done. You need to treat weekly for a month to break the life cycle. The soil also has them, so it must be treated as well.
bkrbkrl great point.
🙏🏽
I did that rubbing alcohol tip to my paddle plant n it died in the shade a week later
Oh no. I wonder if waiting 3- 12 hrs or so then washing the alcohol off not to damage the plant.
Great video! Can you do a video explaining what you do for fertilizing your succulents? Keep up the good work!
I actually don't fertilize my plants. I have been interested in trying out a few to see what happens but they seem to grow just fine with just my lights and water.
@@AngelsGrove It sure means that they are happy with their substrate. Well, if you are thinking on doing some long-term experiment on fertilizers, I'm all for it!
I’m just curious why you didn’t just remove the plant to check the roots and treat the roots so none of the bugs do come back in that, I’m asking because I have a huge new arrangement that I know has them and I’m wondering if there is a way to get rid of them without deconstructing the whole arrangement 😭😭😭
Crystal if you don’t want to take the arrangement apart, I would try using some rubbing alcohol on it. Keep it out direct sun for a little bit
Angel's Grove yes I just found that out but with everything going on in the world I can’t find any alcohol I could probably find a bar of gold easier than I can find alcohol 😭
Crystal oh no! Shoot. I didn’t even think of that. Hmmm. If they aren’t bad you could probably pick them off
Angel's Grove I think it’s in the roots too, besides that I think this arrangement has outgrown its pot, I bought it this way at Lowe’s but couldn’t pass it up because it’s huge and has so many different varieties.
@@Crystal-be9ze if you have nail supplies at home, try your nail polish remover or gel cleanser. And if you can get your hands on some neem oil, it works wonders against these buggers too
I just got 2 new plants today and both had mealys, I returned them so I didn’t have to deal with them or risk the rest getting infested 🤮
✨ 👼✨
🌅 Thanks For Helping...... 💚✨🌵
Does the alcohol harm the roots of the leftover stump?
Vin Soriano I don’t think it will harm it unless you add too much cause then it could lead to rot
Hi! Do you know if I can do this to a stromanthe triostar? I've found only one mealy bug, squished it and that's it. Didn't find anymore but I'm scared I missed some.. Or they're hiding somewhere.
Dalena Tran ya know.. good question. I love that plant but don’t have one so idk if rubbing alcohol would work. But for now keep a really close eye on it and move it away from other plants.
They sell a spray that's better for plants and succulents for bugs like mealybugs and other bugs and fungus bugs and other things like that verses using alcohol that burns the plant when you put it under the light and it takes away the color of the plant sometimes and it damages the plant might be working for you but there is a spray that you can buy at Home Depot and it's like four bucks and you just sprayed on the leaves and stem and the bottom of the plant are the dirt area and it takes away and it lasts for like six eight months and you do that every 6 to 8 months on all the plans no matter if you see a sign of them or not this way you know for sure that they won't be coming through the alcohol really does damages the plants and the color and the texture of the plant especially if you have it under a grow light it could sometimes burn it.Garden Safe Brand Insecticidal Soap 24-fl oz Insect Killer
Evelyn Lebron great suggestion, I’ll have to look into it
Yikes! I've found alcohol to be pretty harsh on succulents (and other plant). I spray my plants with Neem Oil to kill those horrible pests. I had horrible infestations of mealy bugs until I discovered Neem oil.
So long as it is the 70% rubbing alcohol and not 90% it doesn't hurt the plants. You can also water down the alcohol a little bit, too. I haven't had any problems but I have heard neem oil works, too. Whatever it takes to kill those little buggers! Ugh!!!
Happy gardening!🙂
Definitely not for the squeamish!!! 😬 Ew ew ew! 😅