Add non degreaser dish soap. Like Ivory to water. around an ounce and a half to a gallon. You will need math for smaller amounts. Or buy safer soap. Most insecticides are contact killers. Meaning you need to get the bug wet. When it dries it does not help. safer soap also kills on contact without poison and cheaper too.

Do you mean to add the dish soap when I water the plant, or to clean the plant before repotting it?

Thanks!

Mealies have a life cycle (egg, larvae, adult) that need to be addressed, Treat it thoroughly every week for the next 3 weeks. With a single plant the alcohol should work.

I personally would separate the keiki from the mother plant to help isolate the bug problem. Discard the mother portion.

As far as succulents, I grow a couple and they have never had mealie issues?

Where did the mealies come from? Is it possible they came in on this plant originally? If not, you need to find and fix the source of the mealies or the cycle will keep repeating and stressing the plant(s).

Good luck,

Bob

It looks like they may have spread to one of my succulents- though it was 3 feet away from the orchid, on the same windowsill? I saw something white and fuzzy on it and just attacked it with the alcohol to be safe. I'm worried that the 3 plants in between those 2 may also have a problem but I don't see anything on them right now.

I don't think they came on the original orchid- I've had it since last summer and this is the first time I've seen them. I repotted the plant last fall in some new orchid bark I bought, but again this is the first time I've seen the bugs.

I have no idea where they came from. I bought 2 plants (a pothos and a cactus) last weekend, but both of them are in my kitchen and these plants are in my living room (separated by a small dining room with no plants in it).

I'll see if I can figure out how to separate the keiki. Hope it survives all of this!

I personally would separate the keiki from the mother plant to help isolate the bug problem. Discard the mother portion.

Bob-how would separating the keiki from the mother plant isolate the bug problem? Sorry-just curious.

Dont separate the keiki. It only has two roots. :-( Thats a bad idea

In my experience mealies can be pretty difficult to control once they get established, so any way you can gain control the better off you are. That said, I'd remove the mother plant so there are less places for the mealies (eggs, larvae and adults) to hide.

As far as keikis, I think 2 2"-3" long roots are enough to keep it going when separated, especially if the mother plant has issues.

Bob

NUKE IT FROM ORBIT! Mealies are THE WORST!

I separated the keiki and repotted it in new orchid bark. I didn't want to risk the mealybugs lurking in all the roots of the mother plant. I hated to do it, but I think it made the most sense. This plant has been a fighter, so hopefully it will stay alive!

Since it looks like it spread to at least one other plant I also bought Bayer rose and flower (they only had the 3 in 1 in a really big concentrated bottle which I didn't want to have to deal with) so I think I'll spray them with that today. I'd rather just hit them hard than risk them spreading to all the plants in our small condo. (and they're all indoor plants so I'm not worried about the bee issue.)

The can spread fast. They're like magic I think. Come seemingly out of nowhere!

Also make sure if there are ants in the plant, because ant can speed up their spread. Ants actually save mealybugs from other bug eaters etc to eat honeydew from them. (who would not like some glucose) Once I had mealybugs in my mango tree and clearly saw how ants act. However treated it with neem oil and managed it.

http://www.tropicalorganicgarden.com/success-with-neem-oil-mealybug-attack-to-mangoes/

No ants that I could see. The orchid seems to be doing alright for now. The leaves still look good and the aerial root appears to have grown a bit.

I don't see any mealybugs on it or any of the other plants, but I'll spray them again this weekend to be sure.

So far so good! Thanks for all the help!

I used the bayer product and it killed all roots of my orchids, good lot!

I highly doubt it was the Bayer product. If used as directed.

Be very careful with the Bayer granules as I lost 30+ orchids a couple of years ago by just putting this on top of my bark mixes as a sort of top dressing, specifically to fight mealies. I may have used a little more than recommended, but I didn't think it was to the point where I would lose over 30 orchids, mostly phals and paphs. They all got completely burnt roots and the ones that did make it had a very hard time re-establishing. I threw out the remainder of the product I was so disgusted...

Good luck,

Bob