mealybugs on Lithops
Quick answer
If your Lithops has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: Lithops, like other cacti and succulents, are vulnerable to mealybugs — soft-bodied scale insects that hide in the narrow cleft between the two leaves, in any wrinkles of the old molting skin, and around the base where the plant meets the soil, drawing sap and leaving white woolly deposits on the body of the plant.
Start here:
- 1. Isolate the infested Lithops from other succulents and, wearing gloves, lift each white woolly deposit with a toothpick or a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, repeating every few days until the pests are gone.
- 2. Once physical removal is under way, lay the pot on its side and spray the entire plant body and the soil surface with a neem-based insecticide or insecticidal soap, covering both the cleft between the leaves and the base of the plant.
Why Lithops gets mealybugs
Lithops
Lithops, like other cacti and succulents, are vulnerable to mealybugs — soft-bodied scale insects that hide in the narrow cleft between the two leaves, in any wrinkles of the old molting skin, and around the base where the plant meets the soil, drawing sap and leaving white woolly deposits on the body of the plant.
How to reverse mealybugs on Lithops
- 1
Isolate the infested Lithops from other succulents and, wearing gloves, lift each white woolly deposit with a toothpick or a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, repeating every few days until the pests are gone.
- 2
Once physical removal is under way, lay the pot on its side and spray the entire plant body and the soil surface with a neem-based insecticide or insecticidal soap, covering both the cleft between the leaves and the base of the plant.
- 3
After treatment, repot into fresh, fast-draining mineral mix and withhold water during the summer rest so the plant recovers without further stress.
Keep mealybugs off this Lithops
Inspect the leaf cleft and the soil line of every Lithops at each seasonal transition, keep new acquisitions isolated for several weeks before joining them to the rest of the collection, and avoid overwatering during dormancy since mealybugs target plants already under moisture stress.