mealybugs on English Ivy
Quick answer
If your English Ivy has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: English ivy is singled out in The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual as a houseplant that becomes infested in indoor dish gardens more readily than neighbouring plants, and mealybugs are listed among the eight insects that readily colonize stationary indoor plants. White cottony masses along the stems and leaf axils are the tell-tale sign.
Start here:
- 1. Dab individual mealybugs with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, repeating the treatment weekly until no new cottony masses appear.
- 2. After spot treatment, spray the entire plant including leaf undersides and stem joints with insecticidal soap, and isolate the ivy from any neighbouring houseplants for the duration of the treatment cycle.
Why English Ivy gets mealybugs
Hedera helix
English ivy is singled out in The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual as a houseplant that becomes infested in indoor dish gardens more readily than neighbouring plants, and mealybugs are listed among the eight insects that readily colonize stationary indoor plants. White cottony masses along the stems and leaf axils are the tell-tale sign.
How to reverse mealybugs on English Ivy
- 1
Dab individual mealybugs with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, repeating the treatment weekly until no new cottony masses appear.
- 2
After spot treatment, spray the entire plant including leaf undersides and stem joints with insecticidal soap, and isolate the ivy from any neighbouring houseplants for the duration of the treatment cycle.
Keep mealybugs off this English Ivy
Inspect ivy stems and leaf axils weekly for the white cottony masses mealybugs leave behind, and avoid mixing ivy with other pest-prone species in the same dish garden where outbreaks spread quickly from plant to plant.