I think only because I've been growing for so long, I've learned not to freak out. Like if I stress, it's not really going to solve anything really, right?
first time I saw mealy bugs, I went crazyyyyy with putting neem oil on my plants and boy did that stuff work wonders! Highly recommended for gnats + mealy bugs etc
@@shonaaitken7635 If it comes in a pure neem form (a small bottle usually), definitely dilute it w water and castile soap. If it's already in a spray form, you can use it right away.
I've been battling mealys in my small collection with an alcohol-soaked q-tip; keeps them down, if not out. You didn't mention that the beasts can hide at the base near the roots, under any bark bits on the top of the soil, and they *love* hanging out on the pot; for yours I would have checked under the lip and on the bottom of the pot. Also check where the pot was sitting, and in and around any saucer.
Ive been fighting mealybugs for my plants in last few weeks using toothbrush to get rid of the bugs one by one and I was just thinking of you that how you can get rid of bugs and keep your plants so healthy and happy. It was perfect timing to find your video😊🍀 Thank you so much Summer Rayne !! From Japanese living in Perth, Australia.
Waiting till your pothos is completely dry will help the horticultural spray stick better. It’s most likely to slide right off the leaves when wet and dilute the mixture
I check my plants daily. I currently have 2 with mealy bugs but I caught it early enough that I can stay on top of it with alcohol and q tips. I have 130 plants so come spring, I'm bringing in some lacewings. Super excited about it, to be honest.
@@jessa.4529 Yep! Bugs don't bother me. I have spiders and a Venus flytrap too so any that don't fly out the windows or doors will be dinner. I have no desire to spray my plants with chemicals.
@@Jameson77777 I didn't end up doing it but I actually found a lace wing in my house last summer. Apparently, they're common here in Colorado. Not watering my plants for almost 2 weeks killed all the fungus gnats. I've only had scale issues with seriously neglected plants (had a baby recently and haven't been paying attention). I did put one of my scale infested plants outside for the summer and nature took care of it because I brought it in yesterday and see none. Pretty sure some spiders took them out.
Oh my gosh. Thanks so much. Your timing is amazing. I lost 3 jades to mealybugs, partially because I thought it was a fungus and kept treating it with a baking soda/dishsoap solution. When I noticed the same white fuzz on my 3 year-old citrus tree I was panicking (it finally has two little fruits growing!). I used your treatment and I have hope to save it. Thanks again!!
I remember seeing your apartment few years ago and fell in love,that was my goal for my apartment too... Now I have over 100 in a tiny apartment and I love it♥️ thank you for being an inspiration!
I just came in with a small plant haul. I also propagated a straggly elephant rainbow bush cutting. I am so inspired seeing the inside of your home. Your videos challenged me to return to the limited cultivation of my love of plants in the now cold, dry Reno! All my beloveds will be indoor plants. Thank you, Summer.
Thank you saw much for showing how these bugs look on plants and how you fight them. I love these close up videos that you have been making lately👍🏼 We get to see more of your amazing collection and learn how to care of our own plants. Thank you 🥰
I was trying to find out what was attacking a friend's grape leaves, mealy bugs (white patches) on the back, and corresponding bumps on the front of the leaves. I found your vlog, you're a lady after my own heart! I used to have many houseplants. I would also try Rosemary and/or Eucalyptus oils with dish soap with the Neem oil spray. That might lessen the strong aroma Neem oil has and your headaches? I commend you, great video, and keep on houseplanting :). Two issues I noticed: 1) You should NEVER compost diseased plant leaves, so as not to transfer the disease, bacterial or pest, back into the soil, then back to your plants! Burning the diseased plants is best. 2) Always wash your hands thoroughly after touching diseased leaves, again, so as not to transfer them to other plants. Just some of the things I've learned along the way :). Thanks Summer.
@@lorraineyanez4301 Not soapy enough. Don't spray. Get a very soapy sponge and put the plant in a sink/tub. Literally wash the plant with soap. Then wash the plant off. The mealy bug coating dissolves I think in soap. And then washing washes them down the drain as well.
I commend this video - it is a necessary topic to address for tropical/indoor/houseplants. However, I must advise as a past horticultural/greenhouse grower… it is the CRAWLERS or, rather, LARVAE state of mealybug that are most mobile and prone to spreading. When juvenile they are barely visible to the naked eye. So I strongly recommend that you wear gloves when handling mealybug infested plants and wash your hands afterwards. This is how they spread through pant collections, via our hands. Same advice goes for Scale. Side note: Mealybug have a slow lifespan, it takes months for a juvenile to reach maturity so it takes a while for you to notice an infestation. Only the males can fly when adult.
Thanks Danielle for sharing. And this is something I share about more extensively in the Houseplant Masterclass as well! www.houseplantmasterclass.com. The section on pests and IPM is extensive!
Watching you in the shower with the hose.. Oh Summer I have spent hours in that same position treating my plants. We do our best with what we have in apartments. ;) It actually is a bit of a work out! Sending healing vibes for your plants.
I had mealy bugs on my Pothos as well, they are so hard to eradicate because each leaf has small crevices in between where the leaf starts to grow and the vine. They also hide under the flaky wooden stem. Good Luck, I hope you can get ride of them.
Copenhagen, Denmark has a complete ban on all pesticide usage, so I have to laboriously sit with a magnifier and needle-tip dissection tweezers for hours on end nipping off pests. I just got a batch of Amorphophallus through today, and they had some mealy bugs. Went pretty well, I have to follow up on it every single day until they go dormant, though. Last year, I got orange greenhouse spider mites, and boy was that so much worse. Not to mention I had all my plants inside, so it really hit everything. The little egg deposits, the little red mites... just took foreeeeever, but being super thorough paid off. They didn’t settle on any other plants aside from my aroids, which went through seasonal dormancy and did not seem to get the spider mites when they shot a new leaf this year. Spider-mite free! Now hopefully I can get mealybug free ASAP! >
I completely support using beneficial insects and use them outside all the time. I have watched a lot of your videos in regards to pest control but any tips for pest PREVENTION? I debate getting beneficial insects but if there's nothing for them they can eat (that I can see) they probably won't last. Would love any tips on pest PREVENTION.
I have a beautiful monstera and it's suffered an outbreak of mealybugs recently. I was devastated! I started spraying it with a mix of gentle hand soap and neem oil hoping it would help. It's so heartening to see your video and know that you're using similar techniques!
This is 2 years old, but composting plants with pests isn't a good idea if you use the compost for your plants. They can lay eggs, and they can transfer
I watched a video where a woman drowned them for 1/2 hr in water. It was a video showing them dead under water. Then one could rinse them off with a strong hose. A shower pick can turn pressure up or down on the nozzle. OMG you waited a couple of weeks. I would have worried about all those plants you have tons!!! I would have waited until the plant ;eaves were almost dry before using the spray.
Another awesome video! Been struggling with mealybugs as well on my BOP. I'm trying out horticultural soap and castile soap this next week. I also wanted to thank you for showing FAIRCHILD in your past videos, just went out to their orchid exhibition this weekend, and my jaw dropped. I especially loved seeing their aroids in their enclosed spaces.
Glad you enjoyed those past videos. Still got to get back there to shoot a more pro video with them! I had to do the shoot all myself and that's so tough when all I want to do is look and touch the plants!
Great. I am doing this on continued basis. Use Neem oil. After a week or two it keeps coming back in small numbers and I pick it up one by one. The fight against it is on. Thanks your episode.
Summer, whenever it's possible, your best bet is to cut the plant right back to a few inches, then you only have to treat and quarantine a much smaller thing. Like the pothos, it will grow back in no time. It is almost impossible to reach all the nooks and crannies with so much leafage area. Not sure if the oil-based sprays kill their eggs, but they might...... From your shower, being so close to the plants behind you, you really might splash eggs back onto them. Mealybugs are a complete nightmare, and it is not worth taking any prisoners!
Karsten T did you just mansplain treating mealybugs to a scientist with 800+ plants? 😅 she says in the video she’s bringing in predator bugs to finish the job. This is to slow their progress in the meantime.
@@PamsPrettyPlants I've been growing all sorts of plants for more than 40 years. I've had mealybug a coupla times, once on a Ficus benjamina. I tried to get rid of them for 9 months. This time I failed, and the fig just died 😥. Their eggs are microscopic and impenetrable to pesticides, and they can hatch out after quite a while, especially in low temps. I have no tolerance for them at all!
It might come to that, but in the springtime, I often bring in IPM and then that seems to get everything to a really manageable level. We'll see if it works this time!
@@summerrayneoakes Ok, I hope it works. I've done a bit more research, conversing with a great botanist friend I have. He said he used an oil-based spray (Bug Clear Fruit & Veg) and it killed mite eggs (in this case, Brevipalpus). So maybe oil-based sprays can actually suffocate mealybug eggs? (Also I just edited what I wrote! 👆)
We've had pest in our backyard greenhouse too. Mealy bugs at first but now thrips. Thrips LOVE Vandas in bloom. We've tried all the poisons and such. A person recommended this all natural stuff called Garlic barrier. Works well but holy Jesus, the smell of garlic and onion gets on you and burns your eyes like crazy. I bet you can still smell it on me.
All those stringy vines take away so much energy from the main plant. Most of those vines are missing leaves too. I myself would rather have a nice full healthy head on my plant with some shorter vines. It's so much easier to deal with if you do have a pest problem and the plant tends to looks much healthier. I'd cut some of those vines back propagate them and put them back into the plant after the pest problem is taken care of. Exactly it's just a tangled mess and really doesn't look that good. Just my opinion good luck hope you get rid of those nasty little bugs.
I’m fighting a mealy bug battle on my Meyer lemon. It’s inside for the winter under grow lights. I lost my key lime to these damn things. I’m obsessed with killing these things. Every morning I look and use rubbing alcohol on any of those little buggers. Pain in the butt for sure
Sometimes you bring the eggs straight from the nursery, I think. But yes, if you see a lot of ants, look for various pests, they're all good friends... :/
I am right there with you! I remove the soil that my plants come in imeedidiately upon arrival, bc I heard that pests can live/hide in the soil. My collection increased by 300 last year (I sell them at the farmers market), and although I thought I did a good job inspecting my plants &removing the soil, I must've missed some bc I have had a few mealy bug outbreaks this winter. Zero spring through fall, but during the height of winter &the dry conditions in my house &poof! They appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
@@punKRaWKgrL333 wow, that's so weird!! Mealy bugs thrive in humid and warm conditions, I should know, last summer was almost a tropical one here in Greece (way too humid than average) and the nurseries sold more pesticides than plants!! I also have more than 300 plants and I was so frustrated and struggling to deal with various pests all summer long and lost quite a few plants too... We've had a nasty winter though and I haven't seen any since November I think...
@@valiumk.9489 I'm sorry you lost some of your plants. 😧 I know how frustrating & even sad that can be! If I have duplicates or it's an annual it is not as bad, as if it is sentimental, hard to find/expensive, or you have just one in your collection. Those seem to be the ones I lose, especially if they require different care than the majority. I don't know if maybe different types of mealybugs have slightly different habits? I heard there are quite a few different species that all but scientists are able to distinguish apart... So maybe that? Maybe the common mealybugs in your country prefer humidity, while the ones near me prefer dry conditions? Just a guess ..bc I had been buying new plants every week or two from spring until mid-November, &I didn't see any pests, nor signs of them at all, until mid-January. We had quite a rainy &humid summer/fall, whereas my house has been increasingly, painfully, painfully dry (inside my home) as the winter has progressed bc the heater has been running near constantly. Sorry for the extremely long comment!!
Hey Summer, you said you will put the infected leaves in compost. I wanted to know is it safe to put such leaves in compost? Also, would love it, if you could do a video on your composting!
Hello Summer, apparently you can make a tincture from toothache plant which I know you have in your allotment, seen it in one of your videos...You spray it on the plant as a natural insecticide. I havnt tried it myself yet but will be trying it out this summer season ... I get a huge aphid problem in my herb garden. If you have tried it before please let me know if its any good? Best wishes from Northern Ireland x
I've had success with hydrogen peroxide on a q tip for really small outbreaks. Idk if that's really the right intervention but it works pretty well and is non-toxic!
ok Summer, big fan and love learning from you. I am having my very first pest of any kind and it is mealy bugs. I am struggling though. I do not have very many but they destroyed my string of bananas, turtles, and wandering jew. I saved the turtles and the jew is possibly ruined from treating it. They are so fragile and cant handle getting their leaves wet. My question is this, I have used neem oil as preventative but, I still ended up with them. I have been treating for over two weeks now and I still have to continue. How can I KNOW they are gone on y more full plants like my china doll tree? There are just sooo many leaves. Should I be concerned about rot mealy bugs? I keep finding one or two after each week, kill them and wait some more. HELP!
I just found mealybugs on my Strelitzia Reginae and I'm freaking out. It's in a heavy pot, so I can't move it to the shower. I moved my other plants away from the corner it's in and sprayed it with some eco-friendly spray. Hopefully they will be gone soon. 😢
can u pls pls do a video about some of the common diseases peperomia contracts and how to deal with them? my peperomia obtusifolia has brown spots on them and its spreading...
😱 I would go mad, with not having infested the rest of the plants. As I am now! But mine don't really touch eachother like yours. I bought 4 plants from someone & big huge mistake that was. They had bugs & infected the rest of my plants. I can't get rid of these damn things. 2 full plants died :( Corn dragon,) I used cotton ball with alcohol did work but then came back. I think they were in the crevices like u explain. Where do I buy that spray?
Sb plant invigorator breaks down the bugs waxy coating. The next day a good shower to knock them off. Bonus is that the Sb plant invigorator if a foliage feed (also suitable for orchids)
i got mealybugs from a plant i got from lowes. i dont have curtains so I use plants as a sorta curtain for my window in my bedroom garden. All the plants at the window are in close contact so I've noticed mealbugs on all my window plants and nowhere else in the room. Can you make a video, or just respond indepthly, about bringing in bugs. What are the bugs supposed to do? do they eat the mealy bugs? How do I get rid of the bugs after? I have so many questions. If you can remember all the questions you had when it was your first time dealing with this, if you could answer them i'd appreciate it. thank you
Hi Summer, I have a lavender plant that I keep indoors that has aphids, and spraying with isopropyl/neem oil hasn't helped a lot. There are springtails in the soil too! Should I just get rid of it?
Hi summer. Im trying to tackle a mealy bug infestation on my areca palm and a dracaena. It came from an aloevera i got from the suoermarket. . neem oil gives me a headache too. My mom suggested mustard oil. I dunno how effective it is. But if it works I'll def post about it.
Hello Summer, love the video! I believe the second plant you identified as neon Philodendron 9:30 is technically an Epipremnum (pothos). I have a Philodendron hederaceum (lemon-lime), as well as a neon pothos. Both very similar in outward appearance ;) Thank you tremendously for all the forms of edutainment your videos provide, never stop!
I will have to watch another video on how to deal with these freaky bugs these are my 1st ever pest that I was hoping would never happen but just out of the blue BAM 😱😱😱 they are all over my lemon-lime maranta 😭😭
Ugh I hate pests!!!!! Mealy bugs are so nasty, I had a huge outbreak of those the previous summer in my balcony plants and I've actually lost a few plants. >.
After watching this, i have this gut feeling that my plants might have it. And behold! There's no Mealybugs, but SPIDERMITES! All of my Alocasia have them and since it's already midnight here, i will be hosing them down first thing in the morning.
I have battled spider mites for years and done so much research and experimentation. Let me give you the ONLY thing that works: a mixture of baby oil (mineral oil, sold for babies), a drop of dish soap, and water. The ratio is 2% baby oil to 98% water. Shake shake shake, they spray in a fine mist onto dry, clean, dust free plants. Leave it on to dry. The spider mites will never come back. The only plant this has affected negatively is my pachira aquatica, it loses its leaves if I spray this on. It is the only plant of mine that has spider mites out of ~400 houseplants. I spray them with this about twice a year. I'm really passionate about spider mite treatment lol. I hope this helps.
hey Summer! i absolutely love watching your videos and have been doing so for the past year that i've known about your channel. considering the content of this video- i might just have to give up on my marble queen pothos :(. i bought it from a local plant store and after bringing it home, realized that it had a bad mealybug infestation... anyway, i love your yoga outfit in this video! if you ever see this, i'd like to know where you got your super cool top from!
Were you able to completely eradicate the mealy bugs from the pothos? In prior infestations, I did everything that you did but the mealy bugs would eventually come back because they just aren't in the plant, but they are also on the soil, and I suspect the soil itself. The only way I have been able to get rid of mealy bugs completely was through a systemic pesticide.
I just noticed some very tiny white fuzzy specs on two of my plants, and maybe my wooly thyme, but they don’t look like those bugs. I’m so confused. Please help!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🙏🙏 I noticed these on my Red Leaf Cordyline today, I’d be devastated if those rascally mealybugs made their way to my Tillandsia cyanea!
Summer you have got to be thee most to plant person I know( well see). Everything is so true. ! The way we see them and don't deal with them right away.. That's life😌 taking a shower with our plants Bc we want to rid of these little f----ers(oops ) can't say enough thanks. Letty....
Glad you came by! I do have to say a woman by the name of Abby b from VA won the Aglaonema and Houseplant Masterclass though :) -but I'll have more giveaways in the near future!
My 6 yo Jade had quite a bad infection of mealy bugs. I’ve used Neem, with success, systemic stuff, w success, and this last time alcohol, dawn and H2O. All the leaves have fallen off. And they are back AGAIN! Any suggestions?
I have a problem with gnats, I've tried everything (besides buying another bug to release to eat them). I've tried neem oil, dish soap, gnat traps, peroxide, chemical insect sprays, soaking my plants, and apple cider traps and I can get it somewhat under control but not gone. What else should I try? I'm trying not to water my plants to much, and tried putting a layer of sand on the top soil too.
I have the same issue. They're so annoying! I've tried using the sticky traps that stick in the pot, and that helps a little to catch the adults that fly around the pot. But the real battle is with the babies in the soil. I've read that 3% hydrogen peroxide works really well diluted with some water. Let it fiz out and it will kill any eggs or babies on contact and the plants love it!
@@blackdogultra Thank you, although i cannnot really bake my soil that is already planted up...:( ill try the peppermint oil and cinnamon and see if that helps. I have already ordered the diatomaceous soil so lets see. The mosquito dunks didnt do much for me :(
@@crystalsplantsandlife ya, the HP breaks down into just oxygen which the plants love. I even used it on my venus flytrap, which has very sensitive roots. The adults live for only about a week. So the first treatment will be good to prevent anymore from hatching and then another treatment about 6 days later to get anymore that the adults may have put down. Hope this helps! Good luck!
I am amazed and encouraged by the dedication here! For the average houseplant grower, if you can part ways with your precious infested plant, though, I recommend you do! Mealys are so virulent, and persistent, and once they appear are practically impossible to completely eliminate. They can hide anywhere - stems, leaves, roots, even the soil or under rocks. They’ll always be waiting.. dormant, and invisible. They can even survive the harshest insecticides. Prevent, prevent, prevent. And if you see them ... Run while you can!
I’ve got those! I couldn’t figure out what they were! I bought multiple cast iron plants that turned out to be infested... I couldn’t wipe them off fast enough. I basically scrubbed & drowned the bugs in my tub but now they’re coming back. this video came just in the nick of time! I have pets, is horticultural oil a leave on treatment & will it harm cats? Is neem oil a leave on treatment? I’ve heard neem oil is toxic to cats (and my cats love to sit under the cast irons)
Hort oil and Neem are kill-on-contact. But be mindful that they do drip. Neem oil gives me a headache so, as I shared, I don't use it. I would take your Aspidistras and spray them in the shower and leave them there until the hort or neem actually dries off.
How are you soo calm with so many amazing plants at risk?!?!? 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I would be going crazy.
I think only because I've been growing for so long, I've learned not to freak out. Like if I stress, it's not really going to solve anything really, right?
It prob because off the yoga! :P
You don’t want the plants feeling those stressed out vibes 😋
@@summerrayneoakes I love your attitude!
first time I saw mealy bugs, I went crazyyyyy with putting neem oil on my plants and boy did that stuff work wonders! Highly recommended for gnats + mealy bugs etc
I apply neem oil every month to my plants. Bonus.. it smells pretty good 😁
@@HookedOnTXMusic Do you just spray it directly on them at 100% or do you dilute it? I found mealey bugs today and freaked out immediately.
@@shonaaitken7635 If it comes in a pure neem form (a small bottle usually), definitely dilute it w water and castile soap. If it's already in a spray form, you can use it right away.
@@vanessanguyen95 Thank you. I did it incorrectly and wiped it on full strength 😬 I'll know for next time though.
Yeah, but it smells terrible.
I command you for touching them with your hands. A hazmat suit will do for me
I've been battling mealys in my small collection with an alcohol-soaked q-tip; keeps them down, if not out. You didn't mention that the beasts can hide at the base near the roots, under any bark bits on the top of the soil, and they *love* hanging out on the pot; for yours I would have checked under the lip and on the bottom of the pot. Also check where the pot was sitting, and in and around any saucer.
Ive been fighting mealybugs for my plants in last few weeks using toothbrush to get rid of the bugs one by one and I was just thinking of you that how you can get rid of bugs and keep your plants so healthy and happy. It was perfect timing to find your video😊🍀 Thank you so much Summer Rayne !! From Japanese living in Perth, Australia.
Glad it may help some!
Them mealybugs messed with the wrong woman! 👊👩
Your camera game and editing is top notch amazing!!!!! What a pleasure to watch!!!!
This is one of my favorite videos of yours to watch even though it's about mealy bugs the video is calming for me
I’m new to house plants. I got a pothos yesterday and if I EVER find those buggers, I’m coming straight to this video. Thank you!!
That is my worst nightmare 😩😩😩😩,I get anxiety jus thinking about those evil pest !!
Waiting till your pothos is completely dry will help the horticultural spray stick better. It’s most likely to slide right off the leaves when wet and dilute the mixture
Thanks for the tips!
Yet another inspiring video 😍✌👌 thank you Summer 😀
I check my plants daily. I currently have 2 with mealy bugs but I caught it early enough that I can stay on top of it with alcohol and q tips. I have 130 plants so come spring, I'm bringing in some lacewings. Super excited about it, to be honest.
Glad you're getting onto the lacewing kick!
Wait into your house?
@@jessa.4529 Yep! Bugs don't bother me. I have spiders and a Venus flytrap too so any that don't fly out the windows or doors will be dinner. I have no desire to spray my plants with chemicals.
How that work out? I was considering lace wings until I read they can & do bite humans. 😬
@@Jameson77777 I didn't end up doing it but I actually found a lace wing in my house last summer. Apparently, they're common here in Colorado. Not watering my plants for almost 2 weeks killed all the fungus gnats. I've only had scale issues with seriously neglected plants (had a baby recently and haven't been paying attention). I did put one of my scale infested plants outside for the summer and nature took care of it because I brought it in yesterday and see none. Pretty sure some spiders took them out.
I have taken on the Summer Rayne Zen approach to bugs. I found spider mite webs on a recent plant buy and did not cry OR drink. 🙏🏻
Oh my gosh. Thanks so much. Your timing is amazing. I lost 3 jades to mealybugs, partially because I thought it was a fungus and kept treating it with a baking soda/dishsoap solution. When I noticed the same white fuzz on my 3 year-old citrus tree I was panicking (it finally has two little fruits growing!). I used your treatment and I have hope to save it. Thanks again!!
good luck with it Melissa! It's a battle!
I remember seeing your apartment few years ago and fell in love,that was my goal for my apartment too...
Now I have over 100 in a tiny apartment and I love it♥️ thank you for being an inspiration!
Glad to help fuel the inspo!
I just came in with a small plant haul. I also propagated a straggly elephant rainbow bush cutting. I am so inspired seeing the inside of your home. Your videos challenged me to return to the limited cultivation of my love of plants in the now cold, dry Reno! All my beloveds will be indoor plants. Thank you, Summer.
Nice strategies. I use a spray of isopropyl alcohol, and quarantine.
Same. I have mostly succulents, so am afraid of the effects of hort/neem oil on thier beautiful leaves.
Thank you saw much for showing how these bugs look on plants and how you fight them. I love these close up videos that you have been making lately👍🏼 We get to see more of your amazing collection and learn how to care of our own plants. Thank you 🥰
You're mighty welcome. Glad you're enjoying.
I was trying to find out what was attacking a friend's grape leaves, mealy bugs (white patches) on the back, and corresponding bumps on the front of the leaves. I found your vlog, you're a lady after my own heart! I used to have many houseplants. I would also try Rosemary and/or Eucalyptus oils with dish soap with the Neem oil spray. That might lessen the strong aroma Neem oil has and your headaches? I commend you, great video, and keep on houseplanting :). Two issues I noticed: 1) You should NEVER compost diseased plant leaves, so as not to transfer the disease, bacterial or pest, back into the soil, then back to your plants! Burning the diseased plants is best. 2) Always wash your hands thoroughly after touching diseased leaves, again, so as not to transfer them to other plants. Just some of the things I've learned along the way :). Thanks Summer.
I use Dawn soap solution in spray bottle, prior to wash down, my shower has a hose attachment that works fine, keep up the good work, lol.
i ve been doing the soapy water spraying but they keep coming back
@@lorraineyanez4301 Not soapy enough. Don't spray. Get a very soapy sponge and put the plant in a sink/tub. Literally wash the plant with soap. Then wash the plant off. The mealy bug coating dissolves I think in soap. And then washing washes them down the drain as well.
for schefflera and dieffenbachia a good solution is defoliating to actually clean them all out, followed by horticultural oil and pesticide
I love your new vlogs!! Thank you for showing the reality of how your day really goes to make the beauty "happen" .
Glad you're enjoying.
I commend this video - it is a necessary topic to address for tropical/indoor/houseplants.
However, I must advise as a past horticultural/greenhouse grower… it is the CRAWLERS or, rather, LARVAE state of mealybug that are most mobile and prone to spreading. When juvenile they are barely visible to the naked eye. So I strongly recommend that you wear gloves when handling mealybug infested plants and wash your hands afterwards. This is how they spread through pant collections, via our hands.
Same advice goes for Scale.
Side note: Mealybug have a slow lifespan, it takes months for a juvenile to reach maturity so it takes a while for you to notice an infestation. Only the males can fly when adult.
Thanks Danielle for sharing. And this is something I share about more extensively in the Houseplant Masterclass as well! www.houseplantmasterclass.com. The section on pests and IPM is extensive!
O wow.. just wow.. thank you for showing this.
Watching you in the shower with the hose.. Oh Summer I have spent hours in that same position treating my plants. We do our best with what we have in apartments. ;) It actually is a bit of a work out! Sending healing vibes for your plants.
Thanks my dear! Glad you can relate.
I had mealy bugs on my Pothos as well, they are so hard to eradicate because each leaf has small crevices in between where the leaf starts to grow and the vine. They also hide under the flaky wooden stem. Good Luck, I hope you can get ride of them.
Thanks! I have been monitoring this one. And have moved on to caring for my next one too!
Copenhagen, Denmark has a complete ban on all pesticide usage, so I have to laboriously sit with a magnifier and needle-tip dissection tweezers for hours on end nipping off pests.
I just got a batch of Amorphophallus through today, and they had some mealy bugs. Went pretty well, I have to follow up on it every single day until they go dormant, though.
Last year, I got orange greenhouse spider mites, and boy was that so much worse. Not to mention I had all my plants inside, so it really hit everything. The little egg deposits, the little red mites... just took foreeeeever, but being super thorough paid off.
They didn’t settle on any other plants aside from my aroids, which went through seasonal dormancy and did not seem to get the spider mites when they shot a new leaf this year.
Spider-mite free! Now hopefully I can get mealybug free ASAP! >
great shots of those pesky mealy bugs
Neem oil gives me a headache too. So, I am glad that there are other natural treatments!
I completely support using beneficial insects and use them outside all the time. I have watched a lot of your videos in regards to pest control but any tips for pest PREVENTION? I debate getting beneficial insects but if there's nothing for them they can eat (that I can see) they probably won't last. Would love any tips on pest PREVENTION.
I have a beautiful monstera and it's suffered an outbreak of mealybugs recently. I was devastated! I started spraying it with a mix of gentle hand soap and neem oil hoping it would help. It's so heartening to see your video and know that you're using similar techniques!
Hope yours comes out OK!
This is 2 years old, but composting plants with pests isn't a good idea if you use the compost for your plants. They can lay eggs, and they can transfer
I hate those hungry wooly balls :/ Love the title❤️👍🙌🏻
Thanks for showing us how you deal with the issue in a real situation. If it can happen to you ....
Hi . I'm Saad from Saudi Arabia. I wish you success and success in your whole life, Lord
I watched a video where a woman drowned them for 1/2 hr in water. It was a video showing them dead under water. Then one could rinse them off with a strong hose. A shower pick can turn pressure up or down on the nozzle. OMG you waited a couple of weeks. I would have worried about all those plants you have tons!!! I would have waited until the plant ;eaves were almost dry before using the spray.
This video was just on time, thank you for the tips!
you're welcome!
Another awesome video! Been struggling with mealybugs as well on my BOP. I'm trying out horticultural soap and castile soap this next week. I also wanted to thank you for showing FAIRCHILD in your past videos, just went out to their orchid exhibition this weekend, and my jaw dropped. I especially loved seeing their aroids in their enclosed spaces.
Glad you enjoyed those past videos. Still got to get back there to shoot a more pro video with them! I had to do the shoot all myself and that's so tough when all I want to do is look and touch the plants!
Very good video
Great. I am doing this on continued basis. Use Neem oil. After a week or two it keeps coming back in small numbers and I pick it up one by one. The fight against it is on. Thanks your episode.
Summer, whenever it's possible, your best bet is to cut the plant right back to a few inches, then you only have to treat and quarantine a much smaller thing. Like the pothos, it will grow back in no time. It is almost impossible to reach all the nooks and crannies with so much leafage area. Not sure if the oil-based sprays kill their eggs, but they might......
From your shower, being so close to the plants behind you, you really might splash eggs back onto them.
Mealybugs are a complete nightmare, and it is not worth taking any prisoners!
Karsten T did you just mansplain treating mealybugs to a scientist with 800+ plants? 😅 she says in the video she’s bringing in predator bugs to finish the job. This is to slow their progress in the meantime.
@@PamsPrettyPlants I've been growing all sorts of plants for more than 40 years. I've had mealybug a coupla times, once on a Ficus benjamina. I tried to get rid of them for 9 months. This time I failed, and the fig just died 😥. Their eggs are microscopic and impenetrable to pesticides, and they can hatch out after quite a while, especially in low temps.
I have no tolerance for them at all!
@@PamsPrettyPlants I agree with you but I wouldn't call it "mansplaining". That's just going to cause unwanted conflict.
It might come to that, but in the springtime, I often bring in IPM and then that seems to get everything to a really manageable level. We'll see if it works this time!
@@summerrayneoakes Ok, I hope it works. I've done a bit more research, conversing with a great botanist friend I have. He said he used an oil-based spray (Bug Clear Fruit & Veg) and it killed mite eggs (in this case, Brevipalpus). So maybe oil-based sprays can actually suffocate mealybug eggs? (Also I just edited what I wrote! 👆)
We've had pest in our backyard greenhouse too. Mealy bugs at first but now thrips. Thrips LOVE Vandas in bloom. We've tried all the poisons and such. A person recommended this all natural stuff called Garlic barrier. Works well but holy Jesus, the smell of garlic and onion gets on you and burns your eyes like crazy. I bet you can still smell it on me.
All those stringy vines take away so much energy from the main plant. Most of those vines are missing leaves too. I myself would rather have a nice full healthy head on my plant with some shorter vines. It's so much easier to deal with if you do have a pest problem and the plant tends to looks much healthier. I'd cut some of those vines back propagate them and put them back into the plant after the pest problem is taken care of. Exactly it's just a tangled mess and really doesn't look that good. Just my opinion good luck hope you get rid of those nasty little bugs.
I had to toss two of my favorite pothos because of mealy bugs. They’re such a pain to get rid of!
I’m fighting a mealy bug battle on my Meyer lemon. It’s inside for the winter under grow lights. I lost my key lime to these damn things. I’m obsessed with killing these things. Every morning I look and use rubbing alcohol on any of those little buggers. Pain in the butt for sure
I HATE mealy bugs and scale. One thing I've never understood is how the heck those pests even get into my house.
Sometimes you bring the eggs straight from the nursery, I think. But yes, if you see a lot of ants, look for various pests, they're all good friends... :/
I am right there with you! I remove the soil that my plants come in imeedidiately upon arrival, bc I heard that pests can live/hide in the soil. My collection increased by 300 last year (I sell them at the farmers market), and although I thought I did a good job inspecting my plants &removing the soil, I must've missed some bc I have had a few mealy bug outbreaks this winter. Zero spring through fall, but during the height of winter &the dry conditions in my house &poof! They appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
@@blackdogultra haha, yeah if you have ANY space left to isolate them, it's great... oh my, I need a bigger home... :p
@@punKRaWKgrL333 wow, that's so weird!! Mealy bugs thrive in humid and warm conditions, I should know, last summer was almost a tropical one here in Greece (way too humid than average) and the nurseries sold more pesticides than plants!! I also have more than 300 plants and I was so frustrated and struggling to deal with various pests all summer long and lost quite a few plants too... We've had a nasty winter though and I haven't seen any since November I think...
@@valiumk.9489 I'm sorry you lost some of your plants. 😧 I know how frustrating & even sad that can be! If I have duplicates or it's an annual it is not as bad, as if it is sentimental, hard to find/expensive, or you have just one in your collection. Those seem to be the ones I lose, especially if they require different care than the majority.
I don't know if maybe different types of mealybugs have slightly different habits? I heard there are quite a few different species that all but scientists are able to distinguish apart... So maybe that? Maybe the common mealybugs in your country prefer humidity, while the ones near me prefer dry conditions? Just a guess ..bc I had been buying new plants every week or two from spring until mid-November, &I didn't see any pests, nor signs of them at all, until mid-January. We had quite a rainy &humid summer/fall, whereas my house has been increasingly, painfully, painfully dry (inside my home) as the winter has progressed bc the heater has been running near constantly.
Sorry for the extremely long comment!!
Hey Summer, you said you will put the infected leaves in compost. I wanted to know is it safe to put such leaves in compost? Also, would love it, if you could do a video on your composting!
Hello Summer, apparently you can make a tincture from toothache plant which I know you have in your allotment, seen it in one of your videos...You spray it on the plant as a natural insecticide. I havnt tried it myself yet but will be trying it out this summer season ... I get a huge aphid problem in my herb garden. If you have tried it before please let me know if its any good? Best wishes from Northern Ireland x
Have you ever though of soaking the plants in a large pail, and let them drown? What are the risk of doing this method?
I've had success with hydrogen peroxide on a q tip for really small outbreaks. Idk if that's really the right intervention but it works pretty well and is non-toxic!
Works for sure if you have a small plant!
ok Summer, big fan and love learning from you. I am having my very first pest of any kind and it is mealy bugs. I am struggling though. I do not have very many but they destroyed my string of bananas, turtles, and wandering jew. I saved the turtles and the jew is possibly ruined from treating it. They are so fragile and cant handle getting their leaves wet. My question is this, I have used neem oil as preventative but, I still ended up with them. I have been treating for over two weeks now and I still have to continue. How can I KNOW they are gone on y more full plants like my china doll tree? There are just sooo many leaves. Should I be concerned about rot mealy bugs? I keep finding one or two after each week, kill them and wait some more. HELP!
I have a constant mealybug crisis here and I do the same. And also neem oil gives me a headache. It's a ongoing war!
NEVER SEEN THEM THAT CLOSE UP....YIKES 😱LOL SMH! Thanks for the tips SUMMER👍🏼
I'm wondering how did you attach the plant to the wall? Do you have a video about this topic as well? :)
I once found a mealy big on a hedera helix of mine. I searched and searched and only found the one. So I plucked it off and I’ve never seen one since.
you did some good searching!
Hi there! I’m curious how your pothos did long term after this. Hoping it’s still thriving.
Omg I would go so crazy. I found mealy bugs on a pothos too
🎶There's a hose in this house
Wet ass pothos
Make that mealybugs weak!
I just found mealybugs on my Strelitzia Reginae and I'm freaking out. It's in a heavy pot, so I can't move it to the shower. I moved my other plants away from the corner it's in and sprayed it with some eco-friendly spray. Hopefully they will be gone soon. 😢
I have been battling mealy bugs on Jade for about 6 months. Got tired of it and got some diatomacous earth. I have not seen them since!
David Lakers how did you use diatomaceous earth ? Did you just top the soil with it ?
can u pls pls do a video about some of the common diseases peperomia contracts and how to deal with them?
my peperomia obtusifolia has brown spots on them and its spreading...
Thanks for the great info Summer.
i`ve lost a few plants to these nasty mealybugs!!! thanks for the tip!
You're mighty welcome!
😱 I would go mad, with not having infested the rest of the plants. As I am now! But mine don't really touch eachother like yours. I bought 4 plants from someone & big huge mistake that was. They had bugs & infected the rest of my plants. I can't get rid of these damn things. 2 full plants died :( Corn dragon,) I used cotton ball with alcohol did work but then came back. I think they were in the crevices like u explain. Where do I buy that spray?
How do the bugs get inside, I’m not familiar with indoor gardening, I do outdoor crops
Sb plant invigorator breaks down the bugs waxy coating. The next day a good shower to knock them off. Bonus is that the Sb plant invigorator if a foliage feed (also suitable for orchids)
Good tip!
Can this be purchased in the US? I couldn't find it when I googled it except in the UK. Thank you!
i got mealybugs from a plant i got from lowes. i dont have curtains so I use plants as a sorta curtain for my window in my bedroom garden. All the plants at the window are in close contact so I've noticed mealbugs on all my window plants and nowhere else in the room. Can you make a video, or just respond indepthly, about bringing in bugs. What are the bugs supposed to do? do they eat the mealy bugs? How do I get rid of the bugs after? I have so many questions. If you can remember all the questions you had when it was your first time dealing with this, if you could answer them i'd appreciate it. thank you
Hi Summer,
I have a lavender plant that I keep indoors that has aphids, and spraying with isopropyl/neem oil hasn't helped a lot. There are springtails in the soil too! Should I just get rid of it?
Hi summer. Im trying to tackle a mealy bug infestation on my areca palm and a dracaena. It came from an aloevera i got from the suoermarket. . neem oil gives me a headache too. My mom suggested mustard oil. I dunno how effective it is. But if it works I'll def post about it.
Hello Summer, love the video!
I believe the second plant you identified as neon Philodendron 9:30 is technically an Epipremnum (pothos).
I have a Philodendron hederaceum (lemon-lime), as well as a neon pothos. Both very similar in outward appearance ;)
Thank you tremendously for all the forms of edutainment your videos provide, never stop!
MakerMike: I second this notion
You're totally right! I have both Philo and Epi Neon and I always flub them. Thanks for correcting!
@@summerrayneoakes There was never a doubt it was anything more than an oversight ;)
I will have to watch another video on how to deal with these freaky bugs these are my 1st ever pest that I was hoping would never happen but just out of the blue BAM 😱😱😱 they are all over my lemon-lime maranta 😭😭
Ugh I hate pests!!!!! Mealy bugs are so nasty, I had a huge outbreak of those the previous summer in my balcony plants and I've actually lost a few plants. >.
After watching this, i have this gut feeling that my plants might have it. And behold! There's no Mealybugs, but SPIDERMITES! All of my Alocasia have them and since it's already midnight here, i will be hosing them down first thing in the morning.
I find Alocasia SUPER PRONE to spider mites. Good luck!
I have battled spider mites for years and done so much research and experimentation. Let me give you the ONLY thing that works: a mixture of baby oil (mineral oil, sold for babies), a drop of dish soap, and water. The ratio is 2% baby oil to 98% water. Shake shake shake, they spray in a fine mist onto dry, clean, dust free plants. Leave it on to dry. The spider mites will never come back. The only plant this has affected negatively is my pachira aquatica, it loses its leaves if I spray this on. It is the only plant of mine that has spider mites out of ~400 houseplants. I spray them with this about twice a year.
I'm really passionate about spider mite treatment lol. I hope this helps.
Vaseline
Hi Summer, I’m a new visitor to your site. I have a question, why are the tips of some of my plants turnIng brown?
hey Summer! i absolutely love watching your videos and have been doing so for the past year that i've known about your channel. considering the content of this video- i might just have to give up on my marble queen pothos :(. i bought it from a local plant store and after bringing it home, realized that it had a bad mealybug infestation... anyway, i love your yoga outfit in this video! if you ever see this, i'd like to know where you got your super cool top from!
Were you able to completely eradicate the mealy bugs from the pothos? In prior infestations, I did everything that you did but the mealy bugs would eventually come back because they just aren't in the plant, but they are also on the soil, and I suspect the soil itself. The only way I have been able to get rid of mealy bugs completely was through a systemic pesticide.
Robert Hemedes what brand pesticide did you use ?
Thanks, very informative video ❤️
can you drown them by submersing the entire plant in soapy water?
I go into hysterics if I see even a single mealy bug.
I guarantee that pothos was never completely free of mealybugs again. Those things are absolutely unstoppable once they get that far along.
Ohhh those mealy bugs! I used rubbing alcohol for my succulents. Ill try hosing them too next time.. thanks for the tip!
I really only used the hose because my plant was so big! You might find it easier to pluck em off your succulent!
@@summerrayneoakes fan girling now. Cant believe you take time to reply..... love all that you do Summer!
I just noticed some very tiny white fuzzy specs on two of my plants, and maybe my wooly thyme, but they don’t look like those bugs. I’m so confused. Please help!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🙏🙏 I noticed these on my Red Leaf Cordyline today, I’d be devastated if those rascally mealybugs made their way to my Tillandsia cyanea!
Summer you have got to be thee most to plant person I know( well see). Everything is so true. ! The way we see them and don't deal with them right away.. That's life😌 taking a shower with our plants Bc we want to rid of these little f----ers(oops ) can't say enough thanks. Letty....
The croton living in my son's room is infested by these white walkers. I thought I've eradicated them using isopropyl alcohol but some survived...
Hard to eliminate
Can you dunk the vines in a bucket of water?
Hello! You were the very first plant addict that started my own addiction! I’m hoping to win the giveaway of the aglaonema! Much love! ❤️❤️❤️
Glad you came by! I do have to say a woman by the name of Abby b from VA won the Aglaonema and Houseplant Masterclass though :) -but I'll have more giveaways in the near future!
i got my first mealy outbreak today on a few big plants and sprayed water on them then soap water, then 50 percent rubbing alcohol. will this work?
Have you thought about just trimming the pothos short?. I'm always worried there's still one hiding somewhere 🤣
Sure! But I'd rather not trim so far down. I trimmed it by half recently because Kippee was eating it, so if possible, I'd like to keep it long.
My 6 yo Jade had quite a bad infection of mealy bugs. I’ve used Neem, with success, systemic stuff, w success, and this last time alcohol, dawn and H2O. All the leaves have fallen off. And they are back AGAIN!
Any suggestions?
love your energy love your plants but a 150 ft water hose in your house forget about mealy bugs and keep an eye out for termites
What about jade? I can’t spray my leaves or they will all fall off.
I have a problem with gnats, I've tried everything (besides buying another bug to release to eat them). I've tried neem oil, dish soap, gnat traps, peroxide, chemical insect sprays, soaking my plants, and apple cider traps and I can get it somewhat under control but not gone. What else should I try? I'm trying not to water my plants to much, and tried putting a layer of sand on the top soil too.
Episode 15. th-cam.com/video/SnZiLZrK-lk/w-d-xo.html
Can you spray those sprays on cooking herbs?
I dont have a problem with mealy bugs, for me the fungus gnats are a pain! Can you share how to deal with them!?
I have the same issue. They're so annoying! I've tried using the sticky traps that stick in the pot, and that helps a little to catch the adults that fly around the pot. But the real battle is with the babies in the soil. I've read that 3% hydrogen peroxide works really well diluted with some water. Let it fiz out and it will kill any eggs or babies on contact and the plants love it!
@@nirvana4life66 oh thankyou so much, so the roots are safe from the HP? That helps so much!
@@blackdogultra Thank you, although i cannnot really bake my soil that is already planted up...:( ill try the peppermint oil and cinnamon and see if that helps. I have already ordered the diatomaceous soil so lets see. The mosquito dunks didnt do much for me :(
@@crystalsplantsandlife ya, the HP breaks down into just oxygen which the plants love. I even used it on my venus flytrap, which has very sensitive roots.
The adults live for only about a week. So the first treatment will be good to prevent anymore from hatching and then another treatment about 6 days later to get anymore that the adults may have put down.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
@@nirvana4life66 Oh great! I am so doing this. Thank you!
wish I also had a waterhose in my house.
You can get attachments to hook it up to the kitchen sink, that's what I did lol
I am amazed and encouraged by the dedication here! For the average houseplant grower, if you can part ways with your precious infested plant, though, I recommend you do! Mealys are so virulent, and persistent, and once they appear are practically impossible to completely eliminate. They can hide anywhere - stems, leaves, roots, even the soil or under rocks. They’ll always be waiting.. dormant, and invisible. They can even survive the harshest insecticides. Prevent, prevent, prevent. And if you see them ... Run while you can!
dealing with this now....they are winning
I’ve got those! I couldn’t figure out what they were! I bought multiple cast iron plants that turned out to be infested... I couldn’t wipe them off fast enough. I basically scrubbed & drowned the bugs in my tub but now they’re coming back. this video came just in the nick of time!
I have pets, is horticultural oil a leave on treatment & will it harm cats?
Is neem oil a leave on treatment? I’ve heard neem oil is toxic to cats (and my cats love to sit under the cast irons)
Hort oil and Neem are kill-on-contact. But be mindful that they do drip. Neem oil gives me a headache so, as I shared, I don't use it. I would take your Aspidistras and spray them in the shower and leave them there until the hort or neem actually dries off.