mealybugs on Aluminum Plant
Quick answer
If your Aluminum Plant has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: Mealybugs are quite a common pest of pileas, including Pilea cadierei, and they congregate on the lower stems and along the undersides of leaves where the dense foliage hides them from view. As they feed, the colony multiplies under a woolly white coating and the infested plant eventually loses leaves and vigour.
Start here:
- 1. Immerse the whole plant in a bucket filled with malathion solution so the dense pilea foliage is fully wetted through; turn the pot to coat every stem and the leaf undersides.
- 2. If the infestation is very light, dab the visible white woolly masses off the lower stems and leaf undersides with a cloth moistened with the same malathion mix before spraying the rest of the plant.
Why Aluminum Plant gets mealybugs
Pilea cadierei
Mealybugs are quite a common pest of pileas, including Pilea cadierei, and they congregate on the lower stems and along the undersides of leaves where the dense foliage hides them from view. As they feed, the colony multiplies under a woolly white coating and the infested plant eventually loses leaves and vigour.
How to reverse mealybugs on Aluminum Plant
- 1
Immerse the whole plant in a bucket filled with malathion solution so the dense pilea foliage is fully wetted through; turn the pot to coat every stem and the leaf undersides.
- 2
If the infestation is very light, dab the visible white woolly masses off the lower stems and leaf undersides with a cloth moistened with the same malathion mix before spraying the rest of the plant.
Keep mealybugs off this Aluminum Plant
Inspect the lower stems and undersides of aluminum plant leaves regularly, because the dense pilea foliage hides young bugs in their woolly coating; treat at the first sign of any white mass so the colony cannot spread up the plant.