Mealybugs

[KnutEST]

Hi! I'm beginner from Estonia. I discovered mealybugs on my one of the cactuses today and after looking other cactuses I found that 4 other cactuses have also mealybugs. There are not many of them. I put "sick" cactuses away from others, but now what? Should I buy some kind of bugkiller for cactis? I may not able to buy it this week. I live in a little town and I think they are not selling that kind of thing here, but I'm going to Tallinn next week and I can buy it from there. But what I can do right now for the cactis? Kill all the bugs one by one? There are not many of them.

Thank you!

[adetheproducer]

Use a cocktail stick/tooth pick to kill them and pick them off its pretty effective.

[Aiko]

And next to that, make your own effective mix: 50% water, 50% alcohol (like spirit / spiritus; you should be able to buy that at any supermarket), and add some dishwasher to this mix (this makes sure the alcohol can actually penetrate to get beyond the exoskelets of the bugs).

Stir all of this together, and spray it on the plant where the bugs are with the use of a fine water sprayer.

Apply this a few times, you should repeat this every now and then for a few weeks as eggs might hatch after your first spray.