You might be wondering how to get rid of mealybugs on plants, how to prevent mealybug outbreaks, how to get rid of mealybugs on succulents, or how to get rid of mealybugs naturally. A mealybug outbreak on your houseplants can wreak havoc on your entire collection, getting rid of mealybugs on plants should be your priority if they ever show up uninvited. So here is how to identify mealybugs on houseplants and how to kill mealubugs naturally.

Host of the Growing Joy with Plants Podcast, Maria Failla, recently interviewed renowned horticulturist Leslie Halleck about how to identify and kill mealybugs on her podcast titled “How to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats, Scale, Whiteflies, Mealybugs and More”. Here are the details from this interview.

Prepare yourself for any type of pest outbreak and listen to the full interview here:

How to identify mealybugs

Mealybugs are soft-bodied pests that look like little cotton swabs crawling on stems and leaves. Maria called them ‘roly polys’. They produce a fuzzy white wax coating for protection. They thrive in greenhouse conditions.

Signs to look for with a mealybug infestation: White cottony tufts in leaf axils, yellowing/curling leaves, white little cotton like specs on your leaves

How to control mealybugs:

• Remove bugs with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol
• Apply horticultural oils or insecticidal soaps
• Remove heavily infested leaves and dispose of properly

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Buy the products we talked about!

Here are links to the houseplant first aid kit items Maria and Leslie discussed in this episode:

Horticulture Spray
Neem Oil: https://amzn.to/3OPlRtG

Houseplant Systemic Insecticide:https://amzn.to/3OO32a6

Latex Gloves: https://amzn.to/47rED1G