Mealybugs on Orchids: 6 Methods to Eliminate Them for Good
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- What’s the white stuff on my orchid leaves? Mealybugs look like white fuzz, elaborate cotton candy, or the result of a drunk spider trying to make its web.
Mealybugs are white insects 1/16 to 1/10 of an inch big (0.2 cm) that chew away at orchid tenders, concentrating on younger growths: any new roots, leaves, sheaths, and new buds. The younger the sprout on your orchid, the more hydrated the cells are, rich with minerals and nutrients. This is extremely attractive to mealybugs, and other insects and pests as well.
What is a mealybug? A mealybug is an orchid hazard. There's no other way to put it. Its body is actually pink, not white. The impression that it’s white is because it’s coated in white, fuzz-like cotton all over its body. Wherever it goes, it leaves a sappy wax, which attracts ants.
Of the six methods cited in the video, I can give to links to 4. You can check the price by clicking them. There are affiliate links, which I explain below.
-70% Isoprophyl Alcohol ( amzn.to/2RuVFJV )
-Neem Oil ( amzn.to/3w4DPfO )
-Diatomaceous Earth ( amzn.to/3geWBdZ )
-Lady Bugs ( amzn.to/3pu7EEc )
If you want the full explanation of this video in writing, go to orchideria.com...
On Orchideria.com, you can find more in-depth guides and all the access to our information, tutorials, guides, and much more... all for free!
Happy Cultivating!
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DISCLAIMER:
This TH-cam Channel is the by-product of extensive research on how to recreate that environment inside my home.
By no means do I consider myself an expert but I'm an avid learner and willing to share the little I know with others. There are thousands of different ways to care for orchids, and the more we share, the more we learn.
What started out as a hobby has now grown into a passion, producing an online resource of quality information on how to connect with nature.
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Orchideria.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies, with no extra cost to you. By clicking on the link provided in the description or comments, I earn an extra cup of coffee.
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Image Credit:
As for some of the images, I had to use some images in public domain, but I still want to credit the photographers who took them. They are in no special order, but the images credit of mealybugs go to: "Farming Mealybugs" by Furryscaly is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, "Black Garden Ant tending Citrus Mealybug" by treegrow is licensed under CC BY 2.0, "Mealybug 2" by CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, and "Mealybug 3" by CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. All the other photos are mine.
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Of the six methods cited in the video, I can give to links to 4 (that will take you to Amazon). You can check the price by clicking them.
-70% Isoprophyl Alcohol ( amzn.to/2RuVFJV )
-Neem Oil ( amzn.to/3w4DPfO )
-Diatomaceous Earth ( amzn.to/3geWBdZ )
-Lady Bugs ( amzn.to/3pu7EEc )
I successfully treated mealybugs in one of my orchids, without it spreading to the rest of the plants. I started by removing the visible mealybugs and their eggs, with an alcohol swab. I wiped the top of every leaf, but only did a "spot treatment" under the leaves. Then, I mixed 1 drop of high quality Tea Tree essential oil (I trust the Doterra ones) with 15ml of water and I poured that over the plant. I only had to remove one new mealybug after two days. It has been two weeks, and the plant is growing new buds and the flowers are blooming!
This video is helping me so much as someone who just got a Orchid
Thank you! I am a novice orchid grower and was so upset to find a mealybug on my beautiful plant this morning. This video is very helpful!
Hi Tina, I'm glad the video helped.
Thanks for the video it’s very informative. I found mealy bugs on my orchids today and went after them with rubbing alcohol.
✨👌Thank you for such a SUPER informative video! ✨👌I just found these little white jerks on my orchid, and after searching quite a bit here on TH-cam, I found your video to be the ABSOLUTE best! ✨✨Thanks again! ✨👌✨👌✨👌✨👌✨👌✨👌
Thank you Amanda for this video. I’ve red about mealybugs treatments on your website already before. But still, this video makes the information clearer.
For me, it’s very informative and I’ve already saved it to my playlist.
Hi Iveta, Thank you!!! 😊 It's always an encouragement to read your comments.
Thanks for the video! Two of my phals have mealybugs, trying the liquid detergent and water first, spot treating with alcohol. Just a note about diatomaceous earth: insects don't eat it, as I understand. It works when they crawl over it, which cuts through their exoskeleton and they dehydrate and die. I don't like using it, because the particles are so fine, even with a mask I worry about applying it. Plus it means having that fine white powder on your plants, or wherever you put it.
Thank you for this useful information. Great tips! If you make another video, can you include a demonstration of how to soak the orchid with soap and water. Do I plunge the whole thing into a bucket of water. Also, a demo with using the alcohol rubs would be great. Visuals, along with explanations help me to understand better.
My mom left the country, and now im taking care of her garden. I found these bugs yesterday while watering. Ill be trying the live lady bugs maybe some of her other plants will benefit as well.
Hello😊. Thank you so much for the different options. I have a persistent mealy bug problem in the yard. They attack my hibiscus plants. I didn't even know they liked orchids. I use Neem oil with soap but the smell is so unpleasant.. It's good to have different opinions available as I have pets. Thanks again. Warm greetings from the southern Caribbean 😎🌴☀
Hi Nicole, Ah, the southern Carribean! 😊 Lovely and definetly warm. I'm glad the video helped and thank you for commenting!
The soap method said to use 3 cups soap to 1 cup water. Is that correct or should it be the other way? 1 cup soap to 3 cup water?
I have this same question!
I have this same question!
I read other comments and she addresses the error- 3 cups water to 1 cup dish soap!
I always love the way you explain things with that underlying humour. This has been so much useful information, thanks for sharing. Cheers from Australia, the land of the mealy bugs, ha ha!
Hi Renate, Hahaha.... You had me laughing at the land of mealy bugs!
Thank you for all these solutions! I mixed the soap/water/70% isop alcohol. It didn't spray very well so I used a basting brush! I'm concerned about it resting in the leaves where they meet at the crown. Please advise. Do I need to repeat this any time soon? Do I rinse it off after a day or two? Thank you so much.
Excellent review of all methods
Hi Ananda,
Thank you for watching and commenting. I appreciate it a lot.
Great information! Soap and water sure cures a lot of things, but adding a drop of geranium & peppermint essential oils is even better when it comes to insects. My roses get aphids and some tiny white bug in the spring. This helps. I sure hope my orchids don't get them. The occasional gnats are annoying enough.
Lady Bugs are cute, but they will bite. I know that sounds odd, but maybe I am, & my dad was, tasty to them? Lol.
I'm glad I found your channel. I've lost a few orchids and have a few thriving. I finally have one that's reblooming.
Hi Pascals Pixels, I haven't tried that. Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it 😊
FYI it’s the Asian lady beetles (the ladybug’s cousin) that bites. They look very similar to ladybugs but are a little bit more orange and have a black M on their head
@@ChessieChess It's been a while since my encounters, so I don't recall the exact shade of the beetle. Thank you for the delineation info. I don't often teach about insects in my work as a volunteer Naturalist, but I always like learning about anything in nature!
I certainly don't like being bitten though. I seem to have multiple target zones on me for insects & spiders. It's annoying. 🤨
Great information! Thanks
Soapy water kills wasps on contact, faster than wasp spray. I got hit 17 times last spring by Ground Hornets. Never had a reaction to bee bites before, but the load 17 wasps gave me almost made this old man pass out. But the need to get even kept me on my feet.
Bought 4 cans of Wasp, and Flying Insect spray (cost over $20.00. Used it all up and only made them mad, all we were doing was swapping blows.
Then a friend told me to wait until after dark and pour a bottle of Dawn in the hole and wash it down with the water hose.
I put a screen over the hole, with a cement block over that to prevent escape. Ran the hose for about 10 minutes to make sure the soap found them all. Next day, there was 1 lone Hornet trying to get out from under the screen, but they don't hold up well under the weight of a shoe and he was toast.
I also use shampoo on my dog to get rid of fleas. Soak her, lather her up, and wait 5 minutes before I wash it off. It suffocates the little buggers.
So Soap & Water cures a lot of problems. 😊👍
Hi Tally 😊😊 Thanks for watching
Hi Tally, The part about "the need yo get even" was hilarious. I know the feeling. I've spent more than I'd like to admit on those wasp repellent/killers but they just don't seem to work. I'll try the soap next time. I hadn't thought of that and it makes perfect sense. If it works on mealybugs, then why not other critters?
I've seen the "mealybug destroyer", Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (that's fun to type!) on my orchids and I was glad I left it alone after I looked it up. Between that and pseudoscorpions my orchids stay almost pest-free, needing just a good dousing a few times a year with insecticidal soap for two or three plants that still have mealies out of 20 or 25 plants. Basically having the natural predators helps stop them from spreading and where a colony forms they slow down the growth of the colony, making the spot treatments more effective. Just don't use the systemics (ortho, nicotinoids, "poisons") if you want to keep the good guys around, there may still be some hiding spot that gives you trouble that systemics would eliminate but if you destroy all predators with systemics you will be fine until you stop using them because your problem is cured and you don't want to keep poisoning yourself unnecessarily, then at some point you'll bring a new orchid with mealybugs you don't see and if you haven't been using the systemics in a while and you have no predators they will catch you by surprise, being almost overwhelming by the time you realize they're there.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Good review. Method #5 is my favorite😆, but I need to buy neem oil. Not for my orchids, but for other plants.
Hi Liliya, Thank you for watching and for commenting. I appreciate it.
I got my book!
Also just realized you have an Instagram so I followed you!
Hi Sam! Oh wow! thank you so much! I appreciate it. I hope the book helps. :) Thank you.
Funny enough, for the climate I live in, I do not have insect infestations. I did find mealybugs trying to encroach on my portulacas, and another colourful leaf plant - I used the 3% hydrogen peroxide on them, which worked. A couple branches had a huge infestation, so I cut off the branches.
Yes, some of my orchids were close by - but by monitoring every few hours in the day or so, they were not infested *phew!! Needless to say - I solved the mealybug problem just by cutting out the infested branches of the plants, and spraying the rest of the plants with the 3% H.P.
However, my phals are very far (away from direct sunlight) from where the mealybugs decided to have their party!! Thank goodness. I do have a spray bottle with the 3% H.P. in case of any events. Thanks a lot for your video.
Hi Lyn!
Thank goodness you saw them in time! Outside they are harder to keep under control since they have more resources to survive than just the orchid pot.
I need to add Hydrogen Peroxide to this list, too. I had forgotten about it. In this case, yes it does wonders!
Thank you for all your comments and your support. I appreciate it! :)
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What is the proportion of water, soap, and alcoho? Can I add neem oil to the water or just spray the plant with this concoction? Need to know how often do I treat it. Thnx
Should you cut off damaged leafs if so can you show how.
Where on earth dose a mealy bug even come from like how dose it show up on your orchid inside ? Its the weirdest thing. I have bin so put off orchids with all these pests its not fun anymore.
If I find any little spiders, I release them onto my houseplants. They like eating other little bugs and are harmless otherwise.
Hello, thanks for all the useful information. I only have one orchid and the mealy bugs are in the flowers, would the soap and water solution work? What ratio of water and soap should I use? I leave in Europe and I don’t have access to isoprophyl alcohol, only ethyl alcohol. Many thanks for your reply!
Hi Maria, The soap and water doesn't have to be a strong solution. It's mainly to make the mealybugs let go of the orchid. So it can be strong or not. I've read that many people who don't use the alcohol version have used mouthwash, like very strong Listerine. I haven't tried it yet, but it might be a worth a shot. They mainly use it to kill bacteria on roots. If you try this, use it in a very small spot first, because as I said, I haven't tried it myself. It might not work at all.
You said to mix the baby shampoo. Mix to what? Also, if I want to use baby shampoo & alcohol, what’s the ratio?
Do you dilute the need oil or add dish washing solution?
For food plants we use neem oil or soapy water .
You mention soaking the entire plant in a water/soap dip, will this be safe for all orchids? I’m mostly interested in soaking the pots as I spray the tops with neem or alcohol. Which pests will this soak help against? Can I add alcohol to the dip or will that harm roots?
Hi Blais, Sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant soaking just the pot and orchid media. I wouldn't add alcohol just because I don't have any proof if that would be harmful (or not).
Will the soap and water dilution have an impact on the plants?
Hi Angelo,
The soap and water will not interact with the roots or the orchid tissue on the leaves or stem. That's the beauty of using these methods. There are other pesticides that are not appropriate for the orchid tissue and can cause harm. Thank you for watching the video and for leaving a comment. I appreciate it!
Just tried soaking one of my phals with mealybugs in a diluted solution of dishwashing detergent for about half an hour. The idea being the detergent would penetrate their waxy protection and drown them. Then flushed it with tap water and allowed it to drain. Hopefully this killed any adults, infants, and eggs on the roots or in the bark medium. I'd like to do this on the other one, but want to first wait a week and see how it does. If it looks good, I'll do the same with the others and update.
I have no idea how the mealybugs got onto my phals. I hadn't gotten any new plants, so that wasn't it. Not transferred by ants or other insects either. Wind-born??
How did it turn out?
@@nicolaslol1955 Unfortunately I'm still battling them. Not as bad, but they're not gone :(
I sprayed the alcohol directly to my phal. Will this harm my beauty?
I keep spraying with Rose clear, and whipe leaves with 10% vinegar but still not removed them. I hate them.
Found my first mealy bug on Monday…I went right to the “big guns” with my insecticidal soap. I’ve seen some orchid growers use a very dilute bleach dip on their bare rooted orchids, I wonder if this would eradicate mealy bugs too. I suppose that would be in extreme cases?
Hi Michelle, Bleach also works, but I am always worried about the orchid when I use it. The other methods don't harm the orchid tissue as much as bleach would. You're spot on with the insecticidal soap. Eliminate them at the beginning of the infestation when you first see them is the secret to getting rid of them...and reapplying it every week.
what about the flower of the plant?
How to apply DE on orchids to rid mealy bugs?
My orchids are in bark and sphagnum moss medium and they are in bloom. I plan on using neem oil to rid them of mealy bugs but would it be ok to completely change out the medium while they are in bloom?
I wouldn't recommend it, even though I have done it before and nothing bad happened. It's usually too much stress for the orchid.
@@Orchideria Would you suggest to treat them with neem oil and just wait after the blooming period to change out the medium?
Depending on how bad the infestation is, treat it right away and change the medium too. If it's something that you can solve topically for a few months without harming the orchid, then it's best to wait until the orchid has finished blooming.
@@Orchideria Ok, thank you so much ❤
So I have some on my houseplants and I have always been told to treat with alcohol and water, let it stand five minutes, and rinse off. am I fooling myself?
Hi Megan, I really can't answer for houseplants. For some reason that's unknown to me, I can only grow orchids. My houseplants tend to die on me. Maybe someone else in the comment section will chime in and help us.
I have had very good experience with nicotine on other plants. Currently trying it on an orchid. Buy a bag of cheap and strong tobacco and put it into hot water for an hour or cold water for 12 hours. Filter the liquid and you can use it 30:1 for spraying and 10:1 for watering the plants. It works systemic and is not harmful to plants. It also will disolve quickly so its fine to use on food plants too if you are not about to harvest them. It is organic but extremely potent! PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH! Nicotine is highly harmful to any living animal including humans so be aware and use proper safety gear!
Thanks , but you did not give any instruction?
I found one inside of a new bud, that was confusing lol
Thank you and please pass this 😘 for for Midnight
Hi Sajeevi, I certainly will! 🐈⬛ 😊
Is it 3 water : 1 soap? Or 3 parts dish soap to 1 part water?.....
3 water to 1 soap
Oh no... I mess up a lot due to video nervousness. Thanks for calling this one out! I wish I could go back and change it, but once the video is up and live, there isn't much I can do.
I love the smell of neem oil. It only stinks to some people. And FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth is completely safe for humans and pets. You can eat it.
Hi could you tell me what you would use for false spidermites?
Hi Carmen,
For the false spider mites, you can use any product that is for "mite" control, since they will kill both the spider mites and the fake spider mites. The trick to eliminating the fake ones is to use one that has more of an oil-based product to it, such as neem oil or horticultural oil (like Mavrik, SUnspray, Ultrafine, or M-Pede). I'm not sure where you live or what is available in your country, but you can try those. The false mites like to stay under the leaves as well, so concentrate the spray there.
Thank you very much.
If it’s only one plant, consider tossing it and prevent further spread of mealies because they travel from plant to plant in a collection, or isolate it and treat it separately. Many of us only have a few plants in our collections, and a lot of this seems extreme and will probably result in loss of the plant anyway. You lost me when you started talking about putting on a mask. One suggestion I would like to make is that when purchasing orchids from grocery stores or big box retailers, inspect your plants very carefully because that is where a lot of these infestations begin with plants being group too close together, overwatering and bad air circulation. Then, people unknowingly bring sick plants home, and the cycle continues.
Why on earth would you be bothered by putting on a mask? Everyone should wear one whenever handling potting mix.
There’s a very nasty disease called Legionnaires Disease - a form of pneumonia - you can develop from breathing in the fine dust and spores from these mixes.
I treated with surgical spirits
Lady bugs are beetles FYI 😆
True 😊
Super
Hi Geet Kumar, Thank you! 😊
Your video is so detail, I hope to kill them so they don't kill my fruit bearing plants and flowers 😀