Mealy bugs 😭
I brought this monstera adansonii a couple of weeks ago from a local nursery. It looked fine this entire time.
I’ve been watching a leaf unfurl the past few days. Yesterday, it open a lot more and to my horror I saw mealy bugs inside. 😭 Upon closer inspection, mealy bug were in several places along the stem. I immediately moved the plant outdoors and sprayed them with 70% alcohol and showered down the leaves and stem with a decent amount of pressure. Just when I thought I was done , the plant slipped out my hand and some of the soil fell out. I noticed a lot of the roots were black so I decided to unravel the roots and see how bad it was. More mealy bugs in the roots 😩🤦🏽♀️ I tossed the soil. Diluted the alcohol a bit and sprayed the roots and the entire plant again with alcohol. I used a qtip to get in the crevices and showered it down some more. Some roots were bad and barely hanging on so I had to chop that one down and stick it in water. The other two were just ok. I did cut some from the bottom of each and any black roots I saw. I washed the pot with bleach and then soaked its with pure alcohol and let it air dry. I got fresh soil and repotted the other pieces. This poor plant took a beating! I just learned about mealy bugs after recently joining a this page, last week! I got so freaked out seeing them! I’m scared for my other plants. I don’t see anything on them but I sprayed them with alcohol too. (Overkill?) Idk if she’s going to survive but I ordered some insecticide soap and moved her into another room. Should I spray her again with alcohol tonight or wait for the soap? The soap will be here tomorrow but I’m worried because I will be away for Memorial weekend so I won’t get to spray the soap daily while I’m gone.