How to Get Rid of Mealybugs on Your Cannabis!
These white and hairy bugs enjoy warm temperatures and don’t tolerate the cold.They have even been known togrow and spread even on a dryingplant after harvest, so watch out! They also leave patches of what appears to be white mold (sometimes confused with WPM), powder or webbing.
Like aphids and scales, mealybugs produce a sweet liquid known as honeydew which can cause sooty mold to grow on the leaves as well as attract ants.
Mealybugs leave white patches almost like mold, powder or webbing
Immature mealy bug
Video of mealy bugs on cannabis
Mealybugs produce a sweet sap-likesubstance called honeydew
If you see bugs that looks similarexcept they’redark and unmoving, you actually have scales (a related insect but it doesn’t crawl around like mealybugs do)
Solution to Mealybugs
You might need to use soaps or oil again if mealybugs come back. Trying different methods can help. Keep treating your plants until they are gone.
Don’t use everything at once. Use them one at a time. Start with insecticidal soap, then alcohol, and finally neem oil.
1.) Remove as many as you can with with a water spray or otherwise manually remove them to get numbers down before you start with other methods
Using a strong water spray can help a lot. It can blast off many bugs before you use other treatments.
Regularly spraying your plants can help. But, using it with other methods is best to catch all bugs.
2.)Insecticidal soaps
Insecticidal soaps are good against mealybugs. They weaken the bugs’ outer shell but are safe for plants.
Make sure to cover all parts well. Soaps don’t stay on long, so you might need to use them again. Be careful not to get it on your buds!
3.) Neem Oil
Neem Oil can make buds taste bad. It’s also not good for humans. But, it’s natural and works well against bugs and mold.
You’ll need a mister to spray leaves evenly. Neem oil and water can separate easily.
4.) Alcohol
Alcohol tried out the waxy outer coating that protectsmealybugs, so there’s a few differenct ways to use alcohol to kill them.
If it’s a small plant, you might be able to put rubbing alcohol on a cotten swab and use it to kill each bug one at a time, to immediately get rid of most of the adults. This might be an option if you’ve only got a few, or in addition to another method.
You can also make an alcohol-water spray, and use a mister (also called a ‘Å“One-Hand Pressure Sprayer’)to spray all the bugs on the plant.
Make a solution of 9 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol and spray plant once a week until mealybugs are gone. With an alcohol-water mixture,the goal is to spray the mealybugs directly to kill them. Since all the alcohol will evaporate into the air within minutes, it won’tgive your plant a protective ‘Å“coating’ like soaps or oils.
5.) Beneficial Insects
Beneficial insects, such as lady beetles, lady bugs, and lacewings may eat large numbers of mealybugs and are welcome guests in the garden.Although you can order ladybugs to release around your plants , they tend to fly away in just a day or two. Additionally,the reproductive capability of mealybugs is so great that the impact of the natural enemies may not be enough keep mealybugs at or below acceptable levels afteran infestation has already gotten started. But they definitely don’t hurt!
6 .) Diatomaceous Earth
Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth over exposed parts of soil.This will help kill the mealybugs and will also help prevent infestations in the future. While not completely necessary, adding diatomaceous earthis a great step to take to help get rid of the mealybugsand their young as fast as possible
Diatomaceous earth is an organic insect killer made offossilized shells. It is sharp on the microscopic level and worksby puncturing the exoskeleton of insects (draining them of their body fluids), but posesno harm to humans orpets and can evenbe eaten.
