Treating Mealybugs on Succulents

there's not much worse than doing everything right to keep your succulents healthy only to find out you have a bug infestation mealy bugs mealy bugs are one of the most common infestations that succulents get in this video I'm going to teach you how to get rid of them with a really simple easy to use method mealy bugs tend to show up when your succulents are weak usually this is from over watering or over fertilizing but it can also just be that they came in with your newest plant purchase any time you get new succulents make sure you keep them away from your old succulents for a little while to make sure that there aren't any mealy bugs mealy bugs are kind of fuzzy and white and they almost look like little cobwebs within the leaves of your succulents if you notice mealy bugs on any of your succulents you want to isolate them from all of your other succulents and plants right away mealy bugs are like a plague and they spread so quickly the first signs you might notice a mealy bugs aside from seeing the bugs themselves is misshapen growth in the new growth of your succulent so as you look at the top of your succulent particularly on a neck of area or something with a really rosette shape you'll notice that the leaves start to get misshapen they don't grow as quickly and a lot of times that is from mealy bug damage while many pesticides will kill mealy bugs one of the best and cheapest solutions that I've found is 70% isopropyl alcohol the great thing about isopropyl alcohol is it's really easy to find your local pharmacy or even grocery store should carry it the other thing that I like about isopropyl alcohol is I know exactly what's in it with a lot of other pesticides they have a variety of chemicals in them and I don't really know what they'll do if they get on my skin however with isopropyl alcohol I know that it's not gonna irritate my skin it's not gonna leave a residue or any sort of fumes after a few minutes that would irritate my skin my eyes or be a problematic for my children obviously it's still poisonous if you ingest it so you do still need to be careful there are a lot of suggestions for how to apply the alcohol to kill the mealybugs but the best solution that I've found is to put it in a spray bottle then you simply spray the alcohol on top of your succulents also be sure to spray in between the leaves to catch any mealy bugs that are hiding in between the leaves and if you have a really bad infestation you may want to also pour alcohol over the soil to kill any eggs that the mealy bugs have left springier succulents with alcohol is a really safe and effective way to treat for mealy bugs the alcohol penetrates that sticky barrier that the mealy bugs have and kills them almost instantly but the great thing is that alcohol evaporates quickly leaving just water on your succulents you'll want to let them dry out for a few days after you've applied that alcohol treatment so that they don't get too much water it's also a good idea to keep your seconds out of direct sunlight after you've treated with the alcohol because it can cause some burning if your succulents are outside and in the ground or just can't be moved you may want to leave shade cloth on them for a day or two to keep them extra safe and prevent that potential burn as I mentioned in the beginning there are other pesticides and ways to treat for mealy bugs however the isopropyl alcohol method is one that has worked extremely well for me and it's also cheap and easy to find I would love to know what's worked for you in treating your succulents with mealybugs leave a comment below and let me know what you've done if you like this video be sure to give it a thumbs up hit subscribe and share it with all your succulent loving friends thanks so much I'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: Succulents and Sunshine

Views: 83,497

Rating: 4.970542 out of 5

Keywords: succulents, succulent garden, succulent tips, gardening tips, gardening, garden, mealybugs on succulents, mealy bugs, mealybugs, getting rid of mealybugs, succulent bugs, bugs on succulents, succulent pests, indoor succulents, indoor succulent garden

Id: cCx9YHSj6ik

Length: 3min 54sec (234 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 21 2018