Mealies will get into any mix that is relatively loose and they tend to attack plants that are stressed in some way so the repot is more likely to have caused the problem. Some people like to treat all, I consider them impossible to totally eradicate and I play it by ear because mealies are mainly a stress or ant problem.

I don't know for sure if the lapidaria will regrow it roots, it might, so long as you make the growing medium a little damp to encourage the roots to sprout

Ha! I appreciate you countering the grossness with those cute little seedlings. Bug pics are starting to gross me out but I still can't stop clicking on them. Hope your Lapidaria rebounds and no further plants are affected!

That's so frustrating! Did you figure out where the source of them was? I'd suspect at least one other plant that would be the culprit.

Ants

Forgot about ants since it's cold winter outside, haha.

@niksouthafrica Oh yeah, for sure, I totally believe it now. It's just totally unexpected! The mesemb growers that I originally learned from pounded into me that to avoid root mealies use an all inorganic mix. Pffft.

Will be fun to see if it re-roots! Always worth a shot. Figured I'd root it like a cono cutting. Damp pumice until roots appear. We'll see tho!

@clownmotel - Ha thank you, I'm the same way. You never know what you might learn!

@Ewwmayo - I know exactly where they came from. A lithops grower in California - and I won't name names. I ordered 50 from them and about a month later the pot of them had root mealies. Treated and everything was fine well, so I thought. They must have crawled through the drainage hole last summer to visit their neighbor, this lapi. Ha!

laticauda - I never once saw any ants feeding around the lithops (the source) last summer I just happened to pull some to sell and noticed them. Needless to say I had to cancel the order.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I guess this is another AWESOME reminder to quarantine and possibly get in the habit of pretreating!

What do you pretreat with?

I just saw a Youtube video where someone suggested using an annual like Coleuses (my fave) to attract the mealies. I have no idea how that would work, but as much as I like Coleuses, it would be an easy plant to use. You all probably know about that, or maybe it doesn't work, for all I know, but I thought I'd bring it up..

Great point. I've never had much problems with bugs and this stuff scares me.

I've had good luck with imidacloprid in the form of Bayer Tree & Shrub insecticide. I use it as a soil drench once/year. Used to have tons of mealy issues. Nothing now.

Andy is right. I too had to use that stuff to kill root mealy on my Hoya last year. They were killing half of them and now I treat the root system before I bring anything inside. It's digesting especially when you can't see the damage they are doing until it's too late and they have moved on to other plants...These I fear more than any other bug known. At least you can see the others..Don't forget to wash the pot and the surrounding community..

I used to be totally against Bayer Tree and Shrub (we have a bee colony so I take precautions by putting plants in the greenhouse if they're blooming) but that annual treatment sure gives peace of mind.