I rescued a Baltic Blue from Lowes that was getting eaten by Mealy Bugs. I did spray it with part water and alcohol solution, let it sit then rinsed it off. I changed the soil, and then did the q-tip dipped in alcohol thing to get them off. I still find one every now and again but not like it was! I also treated the soil with systemic granules.
Mealy bugs are the worst! Ugh! I’m currently using BioAdvanced Organics Houseplant Insect Killer. I have three Hindu Rope Hoyas and one has mealy bugs, my favorite one cause it has three long “ropes”. To tell you the truth, I’m very lazy when it comes to dealing with mealy bugs so what I’m doing now (cause I’ve killed a few Hoyas due to my negligence) is placing or quarantining them on the counter right in front of my kitchen sink so they can remind me, “Aqui Chica, I’m itchy. Spray me!” I hope your string of pearls makes it, keep us updated. Adios! 😊😊
I've seen people use plastic wrap or plastic bags to increase humidity temporarily while string of pearls is rooting. I hope yours makes it!! I get mealies on my hoya and i have lost a few plants due to infestation. They're so yucky!! I saw WildFern get root mealies and it was the worst 😫 you've got this! Good luck!
I HATE, HATE, HATE mealie bugs! I'd never seen them before until I brought home a rescue from Lowe's (a beautiful specimen of Hoya Exotica). But when it came time for me to repot it in one of MY pots, then I began seeing those white furry horrid monsters. And I had been stupid and had NOT isolated that plant. So now, my hoya compacta, hoya cornosa, and hoya obovata all had those creepy crawlers. Of course, the Hoya Exotica has become a beautiful 2½ foot tall trellised plant. I take each plant at least once a week, and carefully untrellis them (except for the compacta) and I've use at least a box of 500+ Q-tips and alcohol. Then I take them outside and spray the and wipe all leaves that I can. Then saturate them with neem oil..............UNTIL the next week and do it all over again. I've only lost 5-6 leaves total, but what a pain in the ass. This is the first week in two months that I have not yet found one. But some of them are sooooooo teeny tiny. I've learned my lesson about isolating plants...and not letting them touch other plants. 🪴
I have been spraying all my plants with sulfur this winter into spring. In a month I’ll start using Captain Jacks on all my plants. I can’t handle the pests so preventative I go. Good luck on your string of pearls. I love mine. Mealy bugs are the only pest I haven’t dealt with and I never will lol
Mealy bugs are very difficult to completely get rid of, but it is doable. I inspect my plants closely very regularly and at the first sign of any pest I will spray it down thoroughly with insecticidal soap. I've had good luck with that. My beautiful big string of pearls (regular & variegated) both also became infested because the mealies were living under the pearls between the pearls & the pot. I didn't always check there because I didn't want the pearls to fall off. I bagged & trashed both plants since the infestation was out of hand and those plants are relatively cheap and easy to find. If I found mealies on an expensive or hard to find plant, then I would pull out all the stops. Spot treat with alcohol but only spray down the full plant with less drying insecticidal soap or neem oil and then don't put the plant in the sun until it's completely dry. Good luck! I know that getting mealies or any pests are such a pain.
I dealt with mealybugs a couple months ago and I still have that plant isolated. It's a HUGE Hoya Sunrise that I bought online. It came to me infested. I freaked out JUST like you did. I pretty much drowned it with pure alcohol. I didn't change the soil but I did treat the soil. I haven't noticed anymore bugs, but I did just treat it again today. It's currently drying sitting in my bathtub. I plan to remove every bit of the soil, because I noticed some yellowing and crispy leaves that looked bad. Idk if it was from the treatments or if I'm going to find mealybugs in the soil. I shall see. To make sure no bugs returned I mixed diatomaceous earth and water in a spray bottle to spray the entire plant down. Once the mix dried on the leaves you could see the white DE. I just removed that today by using a little bit of white vinegar in a spray bottle of water and sprayed it down. That DE stayed on the leaves even after having treated my plants regularly for the past 2 months. I'm so scared to move the plant near any of my other plants so idk what I'm going to do. It's such a bushy and long Hoya. It measured out to be 9 foot long when I got her. After having discovered those bugs I did chop her back a lot to make treatment easier. To avoid pests I do regular pest prevention treatments on my whole collection and haven't ever had pests besides gnats. Up until I started buying plants online like crazy.
I hope your hoya makes it! I'm still afraid to move mine back too. Thank you for sharing your journey with the mealie bugs! That's awful that the plants came to you infested!!
@@spacecaseandherplants thank you. I paid $100 for the Hoya Sunrise. I got mealies from 2 different sellers just a week apart. Needless to say I wasn't checking over the plants good enough and that Hoya was so huge anyways. A week after I bought and received the second package of mealies plants I noticed them immediately so that's when I checked my Hoya and found them. They had already spread to my existing collection. They are definitely a nightmare. I'm still paranoid about them.
I rescued a Baltic Blue from Lowes that was getting eaten by Mealy Bugs. I did spray it with part water and alcohol solution, let it sit then rinsed it off. I changed the soil, and then did the q-tip dipped in alcohol thing to get them off. I still find one every now and again but not like it was! I also treated the soil with systemic granules.
❤
My hoyas are mealy bug magnets. I live in Perth Australia, we have a lot of ants outside, and they seem to spread it.😐💔💀
My Hoyas are always struggling with mealy bugs as well I’m in Adelaide. I get rid of them,and they keep coming back,GRRRRR😢
Clean the pearl strands off of dead bits and pin them down. I’ve also had success propping in water.
Yes prop in water
Mealy bugs are the worst! Ugh! I’m currently using BioAdvanced Organics Houseplant Insect Killer. I have three Hindu Rope Hoyas and one has mealy bugs, my favorite one cause it has three long “ropes”. To tell you the truth, I’m very lazy when it comes to dealing with mealy bugs so what I’m doing now (cause I’ve killed a few Hoyas due to my negligence) is placing or quarantining them on the counter right in front of my kitchen sink so they can remind me, “Aqui Chica, I’m itchy. Spray me!” I hope your string of pearls makes it, keep us updated.
Adios! 😊😊
I finally gave up on my Compacta. I treated it at least a dozen times, but those folded leaves just are too easy to hide in!
My compacta just died from mealybugs 😢😢 hate them
Oh noooo
I've seen people use plastic wrap or plastic bags to increase humidity temporarily while string of pearls is rooting. I hope yours makes it!! I get mealies on my hoya and i have lost a few plants due to infestation. They're so yucky!! I saw WildFern get root mealies and it was the worst 😫 you've got this! Good luck!
I might try that tip with the plastic wrap!
I’m impressed if you cured the Compacta! Mine currently has mealies as well. 😭 I’m using alcohol and Bonide systemic and they keep coming back.
I wish you luck!! I'm still afraid to move it back and I still check on it like crazy
Sorry, Desiree! I also had my first experience with mealy bugs this winter. Such a bummer. At least they didn't get your SoH SILVER GLORY!!!
Oh my goodness I would be beside myself if they were in the silver glory! I'm going to check it right now actually!!!
I HATE, HATE, HATE mealie bugs! I'd never seen them before until I brought home a rescue from Lowe's (a beautiful specimen of Hoya Exotica). But when it came time for me to repot it in one of MY pots, then I began seeing those white furry horrid monsters. And I had been stupid and had NOT isolated that plant. So now, my hoya compacta, hoya cornosa, and hoya obovata all had those creepy crawlers. Of course, the Hoya Exotica has become a beautiful 2½ foot tall trellised plant. I take each plant at least once a week, and carefully untrellis them (except for the compacta) and I've use at least a box of 500+ Q-tips and alcohol. Then I take them outside and spray the and wipe all leaves that I can. Then saturate them with neem oil..............UNTIL the next week and do it all over again. I've only lost 5-6 leaves total, but what a pain in the ass. This is the first week in two months that I have not yet found one. But some of them are sooooooo teeny tiny. I've learned my lesson about isolating plants...and not letting them touch other plants. 🪴
I have been spraying all my plants with sulfur this winter into spring. In a month I’ll start using Captain Jacks on all my plants. I can’t handle the pests so preventative I go. Good luck on your string of pearls. I love mine. Mealy bugs are the only pest I haven’t dealt with and I never will lol
Mealy bugs are terrible. 😔 You should try systematic granduals. It's good stuff and I lost my exact same hoya to them
A lot of comments were suggesting the same thing. I'm going to have to check them out. Any recommendations?
Wait till you don't see any mealies for at least 2 weeks. I'm sorry this happened.
Will do!
Spray neem oil all over on them every week for a month. Better than alcohol
Mealy bugs are very difficult to completely get rid of, but it is doable. I inspect my plants closely very regularly and at the first sign of any pest I will spray it down thoroughly with insecticidal soap. I've had good luck with that. My beautiful big string of pearls (regular & variegated) both also became infested because the mealies were living under the pearls between the pearls & the pot. I didn't always check there because I didn't want the pearls to fall off. I bagged & trashed both plants since the infestation was out of hand and those plants are relatively cheap and easy to find. If I found mealies on an expensive or hard to find plant, then I would pull out all the stops. Spot treat with alcohol but only spray down the full plant with less drying insecticidal soap or neem oil and then don't put the plant in the sun until it's completely dry. Good luck! I know that getting mealies or any pests are such a pain.
I dealt with mealybugs a couple months ago and I still have that plant isolated. It's a HUGE Hoya Sunrise that I bought online. It came to me infested. I freaked out JUST like you did. I pretty much drowned it with pure alcohol. I didn't change the soil but I did treat the soil. I haven't noticed anymore bugs, but I did just treat it again today. It's currently drying sitting in my bathtub. I plan to remove every bit of the soil, because I noticed some yellowing and crispy leaves that looked bad. Idk if it was from the treatments or if I'm going to find mealybugs in the soil. I shall see. To make sure no bugs returned I mixed diatomaceous earth and water in a spray bottle to spray the entire plant down. Once the mix dried on the leaves you could see the white DE. I just removed that today by using a little bit of white vinegar in a spray bottle of water and sprayed it down. That DE stayed on the leaves even after having treated my plants regularly for the past 2 months. I'm so scared to move the plant near any of my other plants so idk what I'm going to do. It's such a bushy and long Hoya. It measured out to be 9 foot long when I got her. After having discovered those bugs I did chop her back a lot to make treatment easier. To avoid pests I do regular pest prevention treatments on my whole collection and haven't ever had pests besides gnats. Up until I started buying plants online like crazy.
I hope your hoya makes it! I'm still afraid to move mine back too. Thank you for sharing your journey with the mealie bugs! That's awful that the plants came to you infested!!
@@spacecaseandherplants thank you. I paid $100 for the Hoya Sunrise. I got mealies from 2 different sellers just a week apart. Needless to say I wasn't checking over the plants good enough and that Hoya was so huge anyways. A week after I bought and received the second package of mealies plants I noticed them immediately so that's when I checked my Hoya and found them. They had already spread to my existing collection. They are definitely a nightmare. I'm still paranoid about them.
Mealy bugs are such a nightmare. They are like the bug that looks so easy to treat but man they are persistent
That's so true! They do look like they would be easy to treat