So I just purchased a new orchid and I purchased it knowing it had a mealybug infestation :) good idea or not, we get to make an educational video and that's enough reason for me :P

If you ever see mealybugs on orchids in the store, you might want to avoid them, especially if you don;t have enough experience with them just yet. But if you get the orchid and spot the bugs after, here is what you should do:

Don't place the orchid anywhere near other plants or in your garden! these bugs move around fast and have no trouble exploring new territories.

Manually remove every bug or cottony thing you see as soon as possible. use a q tip soaked in alcohol or water, the wet cotton will make the bugs stick to it. Nothing worse than picking a bug and losing it in the pot, in the garden.. at your neighbor's house! 0.0 I was actually at my brother's when I did this and acted like a nut case lol (Don't touch it don't speak to me I need to work!)

All the bugs you pick up need to be killed. Again if you let them live they will crawl away.. don;t infest your growing space, garden or your dear siblings place! close your eyes and kill them..

After cleaning everything keep this orchid separated for a month or two and inspect it every day. If there were just a few bugs coming from another plant you're set. If you have an infestation more and more will appear.

In case of an infestation remove the plant from the pot and clean the root ball. Mealybugs like making nests in the media inside the root ball. Prepare a home made soapy solution that you can find in the annotation in the video, or use insecticides if you are ok with them.

Keep the orchid bare root for a while until you make sure there are no more bugs in the area. In about 2 months of not seeing any mealybug, you're pretty much done :)

Picture source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...

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