mealybugs on Beaucarnea Recurvata
Quick answer
If your Beaucarnea Recurvata has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: Beaucarnea recurvata is classed as a succulent because of its bulbous, water-storing trunk, and like other succulents it becomes a host for mealybugs when air circulation is poor; mealybugs resemble bits of cotton, hide in leaf axils where the long strappy leaves join the caudex, and suck juices from stems and leaves, eventually stunting the plant.
Start here:
- 1. Improve air circulation around the plant so the leaf axils where the trunk meets the foliage stay dry and less hospitable to mealybugs.
- 2. Spray the plant with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol diluted half-and-half with distilled water, reaching into the leaf axils where the cottony pests hide.
Why Beaucarnea Recurvata gets mealybugs
beaucarnea recurvata
Beaucarnea recurvata is classed as a succulent because of its bulbous, water-storing trunk, and like other succulents it becomes a host for mealybugs when air circulation is poor; mealybugs resemble bits of cotton, hide in leaf axils where the long strappy leaves join the caudex, and suck juices from stems and leaves, eventually stunting the plant.
How to reverse mealybugs on Beaucarnea Recurvata
- 1
Improve air circulation around the plant so the leaf axils where the trunk meets the foliage stay dry and less hospitable to mealybugs.
- 2
Spray the plant with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol diluted half-and-half with distilled water, reaching into the leaf axils where the cottony pests hide.
- 3
Isolate any heavily infested plant from healthy neighbors and, for stubborn colonies, daub individual mealybugs with a cotton swab saturated in alcohol.
Keep mealybugs off this Beaucarnea Recurvata
Quarantine newly purchased plants, give the bottle palm the brightest light and best airflow the room allows, and inspect the caudex and leaf axils at every watering for fresh cottony deposits.