So I go out and find my rock in playing the blues and mysty with an infestation. I've cut most the bracks with the mealy bugs off. I am going to be quarantining them away from the garden. I also know these bugs like hibiscus too. Was very hard for me to get rid of that infestation. I would like to know what I can use to sterilize the plants. Something I could find at most hardware stores. Safe soap maybe? Been awhile since I've seen a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the store.

The soap sprays work well against soft bodied pests like mealy bug and aphids. Safer's Soap is one brand. Read and follow the label instructions for best results.

I like Safers soap, I've had success with it for many different pests.

So far I have not seen the population blow up. These are kind of small plants so I went under every leaf and squished the mealys I saw and all the sticky white stuff.

Do you think the pests arrive on the plants you bought? Or do you have a localized problem with mealybugs on your other plants too?

The only thing I did was repotted it with a bag of miracle gro potting mix, but I used it on other plants and no bugs in them. I had mealy bugs last time two years ago but those were on my hibiscus. So far the other salvia are okay. Do some mealYs target certain plants? I've looked around my porterweed, penta, and heartache and don't see any. Those were the ones closest.

It sounds like your plant came to you infested. That's a good thing because if you can eradicate the mealybugs on the one plant you'll probably be in the clear. You should keep a watchful eye for them over time.

Encourage predatory insects such as ladybugs to visit your garden by planting areas nearby your specimen plants with plants that bloom with small flowers. I do this using Alyssum and I rarely have had to spray for pests the past several years.

I used this product on mites and aphids infesting my plants I am overwintering indoors. You should read the label on what you are considering buying to see if mealybugs is a listed pest and if the plant is identified as being ok to use it on...soap sprays are toxic to some plants I think.

Good suggestion. I always read the fine print.

Today i looked and no mealy bugs. Dont these things usually spread like crazy?

I may have prevented them from spreading badly. No new mealy bugs today.

Good news!

After two days of not inspecting the plants one plant had two new white sticky spots and another one had six new spots. I squished with my finger all the white sticky spots. Would it be okay if I removed most the leaves off of the plants and washed the stems? These are not very large plants. I am hoping I can solve the problem without soap sprays first.

I would say to try and leave the leaves. I'm sorry, I forgot, why don't you want to use soap sprays?

I was hoping I could squish all the bugs instead of having to use a soap spray. Both plants were inspected today and did not find any new mealy bugs. I thought mealy bugs reproduced faster than the ones I am seeing on these plants.

I'm thinking you're thinking of aphids. Those little hellions are born pregnant, no kidding!

So now its been a few days and after inspection my salvias might be cleaned of the bugs. Of course now i found two agastaches with the same type of mealy bug. I didnt notice them because the plants still bloomed and looked healthy. I found about 30 on one plant which i killed. I have now quarantined the agastache. Do mealy bugs get on gaillardia, penta, or non flowering agastache? Thats what was around them. Also i thought specific mealy bugs targeted certain plants. Could these be the same type that were on the salvia?

I don't think mealy bugs are specific. And I don't think they are all that picky when it comes to what they eat. Sure, they have favorites, just like people have favorite things to eat, but when you're hungry, a hamburger fills you up as well as steak! My mealy bug problems so far have been limited to coleus, mandevilla and hibiscus, but I'm thinking they can go to any plant. In other threads I've seen pics of them on nearly all kinds of plants, including jade plants, which are usually free of pests.

So I now have seen one mealy bug on my gaillardia one on a Porter weed and one on another salvia. Do these things reproduce like crazy, or is finding just one probably ok?

I'm not sure about their reproduction rate, but I do know from my own personal experience that when you see one, there's usually more.