I just brought this beautiful Warscewiczii home a couple of days ago. I always bring new plants into my garage sink to inspect and clean up and treat with insecticidal soap. Upon inspection, I found two mealy bugs š” I decided to go ahead and repot (the nursery pot was tiny and horrible peat moss anyway) and I gave the plant a complete shower along with an isopropyl alcohol and castile soap bath. She's now isolated in my spare bathroom. How often should I treat for the mealies? Should I call the nursery and return her to avoid stress? š¤£š¬ I finally got my husband to go plant shopping with me and he picked her out! I definitely don't want to give up so easily. Plus, I'd rather not use systemics in this one as it is for our living room with our cats that do tend to chomp on leaves. Any advice is very much appreciated!
Also, the marks on the leaves in these photos are all actual damage. This was after a very thorough inspection and cleaning of the leaves. I know I need to really get into all the crevices to take care of these blasted pests. Grr! Any advice for beneficial bugs that are safe to have around dogs and cats?
by RefrigeratorNew3464
5 Comments
Iāve been dealing with spider mites for the past week with my collection š„² I now am going to just start treating once a week to with insecticidal soap or an alcohol solution because I am now paranoid that everything has pests. I would probably contact the nursery to save myself the headache š
Oh no! So gorgeous. I have soooo many plants but this is at the top of my want list. Sorry about the bugs! At least call and see what they say. Good for you for your quarantine process. I do that except Iām in an apartment so they go in my bathroom first.
Beautiful š
Of all the pests I think Iād rather deal with mealies than any other! Theyāre slow and super visible and getting them with an alcohol Qtip is sooo satisfying! For calatheas I prefer insecticidal soap like youāve already mentioned. Neem was too heavy and oily for mine and it got in the soil making it heavy. Isolation is key and checking for mealies at least once per week. In the beginning Iām a bit of a helicopter š mom checking almost daily. By week 2 or 3 once a week is good. You want to get all the different life cycles of the mealy bugs. Adults youāll get right away, eggs take 7-10 days to hatch. But thereās all the in between stages too. Also side note there is a long tail mealy bug and the female gives birth to live young. Hereās a good source of information from OSU https://extension.okstate.edu/programs/digital-diagnostics/insects-and-arthropods/mealybugs/#:~:text=After%20egg%20laying%2C%20females%20die,species%20and%20the%20environmental%20conditions.
So pretty. Mine grew so tall and now is now so droopy. I need to get some kind of support.