Hi
Ah ,mealy bugs lol The bane of tree ferns. Most any type of insecticide will work even mild dish soap. But they will return . Any way to increase the air circulation?? That will at least slow them down.
gary

I lost my big beautiful tree fern to scale, which has now infected nearly every plant I have. I washed each leaf,stem, etc. with dish soapy water several times, finally started using some spray that is supposed to kill them but is more environement safe and I don't know yet if it is working. Scale and mites are the messiest bugs! Bad enough they kill the plant but in the process they produce this disgusting sticky substance that literally drips off the leaves!

I remember finding a solution to your problem, take a cotton swab and dip into rubbing alcohol and touch each one. Unfortunately, you have a rather large infestation, so will take some effort to get that many. Do it at least once a week and they should start dying.
good luck, I hope you can save yours.

BTW do you have any starts of tree fern that I could trade you for? I would love to find one again. The nurseries here rarely have them.

I almost bought one of these ferns today because it was big and it was marked down to 34 dollars, as i carried to the register i noticed these white things, i asked and the lady told me to ask the expert there and she explained it was mealey bugs but that she had sprayed them and they are all dead..went back to the register, took one out of the leave onto my hand and it was moving...so decided no to buy it this time. Can't believe Dearborne was going to sell me an infested plant... l always buy there every year..probably last time i go there.