I would call them cottony scale; they are insects. A systemic with imidacloprid is the most effective treatment; the product formerly from Bayer, now just called BioAdvanced Tree and Shrub works well. A soil drench at the rate of 1 oz./gal. when the plant is dry, and then again in about a month should be effective.

I will concede there is a mealy bug, but there are other suckers as well.

Especially on a giant bird of paradise the bugs will be down in the grooves of the leaves and no topical treatment will touch them. Use a systemic and save yourself a lot of work and frustration.

i don't see the insects... What do they look like?

Like little mounds of fluff. The don't really move so not really noticeable as bugs.

I dont think they are bugs. The white stuff is powdery and wipes off easily. In fact if you wipe it off dry it get airborne. But whatever it is, its killing my plants and spreading to other plants. So unless the mealy bugs are microscopic and blow away in the wind, its something else. I took all my plants outside today and sprayed them off with a strong spray of the hose. It’s hard tho because thecshite stuff is thickest in the nooks and crannys of the ”branches” of the plants and I cant spray that. I will try the soak you suggested, just hope it doesn’t kill the plants. But I think that soak kills fungus and bugs. But bugs? I didnt see them - or feel them as I sprayed and wiped the leaves off. I know these mealy bugs like tropicals. But besides me, not a lot of tropicals in Syracuse NY so I doubt this pest is even around here And I’ve had that Bird of Paradise for 15 years with no issues.

Feel free to think whatever you like but I can assure you those are indeed bugs, not any kind of fungal organism. Mealy bugs are an extremely common pest on houseplants regardless of where you live - you are just as likely to have them appear in NY as you are in CA!!

Read up on them. There are many helpful publications that detail these pests and lots of online images to compare to confirm identification. Many species are quite tiny, can be easily wiped off and can be almost dust-like when airborne.

The systemic will not kill your plants. It is a product that is intended for precisely this purpose and is used by many indoor gardeners to kill off all manner of sucking insect pests. The hydrogen peroxide will have a similar if somewhat less effective method of approach.

i would get rid of that plant before i could ever type BUG again... why are you infecting your other plants with this monstrosity... be done with it.. focus...

ken

My plants are outside now and isolated from oneanother. So i will try the soak. If it doesn’t work, I will get rid if the infected plant(s) before bringing them back inside. I did read about mealy bugs. It says they are 1/5”. If that’s true, these aren’t bugs. I will take your word for it though. But this stuff is like chalk dust. I think it could be ”powdery mildew.” Here’s a picture of that:

Either way, I’ll try the systematic soak. I‘m pretty sure it kills fungus too.

@Ben Cook

I had semesters of both entomology and plant pathology, and 55 + years in the horticulture industry. It’s insects. Use the systemic. The systemic wouldn’t affect a fungus if there was one.

I added the systemic today and lightly watered it. I also sprayed the leaves and stems with neem oil. So we shall see… What’s odd is, the infested plant spread the condition to another ”white bird of paradise” - but that plant doesn’t seem to be suffering. It then spread from there to my Sabel Palm. That one did suffer. But the infested plant was also touching my bottle palm but there’s no evidence of white patches on that one…. (thankfully)

i did find that they have spread to two other palms beyond the bottle palm somehow so i treated them all.

Two questions:

1) 1f mealy bugs dont move, how did they get on my plant to begin with?

2) If the white powdery stuff isnt the bugs, but just the honeydew it leaves behind and if the bugs are so small I cant see them, hiw will i know if the systemic kills tills them?

Ben, yes, they can move. The white powdery stuff is not honeydew; rather it is a somewhat waxy coating. I encourage you to read up on scale and mealybugs.