mealybugs on Scindapsus Pictus
Quick answer
If your Scindapsus Pictus has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: Mealybugs are listed among the pests attracted to pothos in Jade Murray's Beginner's Houseplant Garden, a chapter that names Scindapsus pictus as the silver pothos, and these soft-bodied, cottony insects settle into the leaf axils and along the trailing stems where they pierce the tissue and drain sap.
Start here:
- 1. Wipe mealybugs off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol and then spray the silver pothos with the same homemade neem oil mix the pothos chapter recommends: 1 tsp (6ml) castile soap and 4 tsps (24ml) neem oil in a 1 L spray bottle of warm water, coating stems and the undersides of leaves.
- 2. Repeat the spray once a week until the infestation has gone, because mealybug eggs hatch in successive waves and a single treatment leaves hidden colonies in the leaf axils.
Why Scindapsus Pictus gets mealybugs
Scindapsus pictus
Mealybugs are listed among the pests attracted to pothos in Jade Murray's Beginner's Houseplant Garden, a chapter that names Scindapsus pictus as the silver pothos, and these soft-bodied, cottony insects settle into the leaf axils and along the trailing stems where they pierce the tissue and drain sap.
How to reverse mealybugs on Scindapsus Pictus
- 1
Wipe mealybugs off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol and then spray the silver pothos with the same homemade neem oil mix the pothos chapter recommends: 1 tsp (6ml) castile soap and 4 tsps (24ml) neem oil in a 1 L spray bottle of warm water, coating stems and the undersides of leaves.
- 2
Repeat the spray once a week until the infestation has gone, because mealybug eggs hatch in successive waves and a single treatment leaves hidden colonies in the leaf axils.
- 3
Quarantine the affected Scindapsus pictus away from nearby houseplants so the mealybugs do not migrate onto neighbouring foliage while treatment is underway.
Keep mealybugs off this Scindapsus Pictus
Inspect every new houseplant carefully before bringing it home, paying particular attention to the leaf axils and stem joints, and recheck the silver pothos at each weekly watering because early detection is the easiest control for mealybugs.