How to Get Rid of Mealy Bugs in House Plants
- 1). Pour 70 percent rubbing alcohol out into a small bowl. Dip a cotton swab into the rubbing alcohol. Press the swab against the side of the bowl to remove the excess alcohol and prevent it from dripping onto uninfected areas of your house plant.
- 2). Dab each individual cotton spot on the leaves and stem of the house plant. This douses each individual mealy bug on the plant with rubbing alcohol.
- 3). Wipe the leaves of the house plant gently with a soft cloth to remove the cotton spots from the leaves.
- 4). Make a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water if the mealy bug infestation is too severe to attack each mealy bug separately. Use 1 or 2 cups of alcohol to a quart of water, and check the mixture on a few small leaves before using on the rest of the plant to make sure the alcohol mixture is not too strong for the plants. Golden Harvest Organics recommends waiting for 24 hours before checking the plants for any spots created on the plant by the mixture. If spots appear on the leaves, use less alcohol in the solution and test the mixture again before use.
- 5). Spray the plant that has a mealy bug infestation every week with the alcohol-water mixture until the mealy bugs disappear. Make sure you get the bottom of the leaves, where mealy bugs may be hiding, along with the rest of the plant.
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