December 16 2019 - Mealybugged plants

Noticed some unwanted visitors in my two plants. A bunch of mealybugs were out to get my Himalayan rope plant and Creeping fig. I read that it's really hard to get rid of mealybugs so I decided to fight them with all means right away.

Took the bug infected plants to the bathroom and took them away from their pots. Threw away the old soil and washed the plants. Didn't wash all the dirt away from the Himalayan rope plant as I was planning to plant it back to soil again. Did however wash the Creeping figs roots well because first of all I think it was the source of the mealybugs and because it has been suffering from drought as the air in my apartment is fairly dry during wintertime, so decided to try water culturing it.

The cuttings that I've taken out of it seemed to grow new leaves before they grew roots even though they were sometimes completely under water, so decided that perhaps my Creeping fig will do just fine partly under water. Just like an aquatic plant.

But before I planted my infected plants to new pots, I left them in a bucket fill with water for few hours and went out to get some insecticide.

I treated all my other plants that were near the infected ones with the insecticide, caught few mealybugs swimming and floating on the water surface of the bucket and finally at the end of the day washed the plants yet again and planted them. Also gave nutrients and insecticide.

I didn't even try to photograph the mealybugs because although they are clearly visible, they are too small so that I could get a sharp photo of them with my smartphone.

So here's the end result photos.

I hope the plants survive the treatment but the mealybugs didn't.

Daily Activity