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Dilute a tablespoon of liquid Marseille soap and a tablespoon of black liquid soap in half a litre of non-calcareous rainwater. After the soap has completely dissolved, add 2 tablespoons of 70° alcohol to your solution. Using a brush, apply this mixture to the scale insects’ shells so as not to attack your plant, especially if it is an orchid. Indeed, this insecticide could stain the flowers and burn some roots. After a few days, you will notice that the scale insects have dried and crumble into powder when you touch them. You will therefore get rid of these pests without harming your plant. Note that you can very well replace the two soaps with dishwashing liquid. The main thing is to have soapy water.
Another trick is to dissolve 50 g of Marseille soap flakes in 350 ml of hot water. Mix until the soap is completely dissolved. Then, put on gloves, soak a sponge in this soapy water and pass it over the infected leaves of your plant. This will remove the scale insects, but also the honeydew they deposit on the leaves.
To make a natural cochineal spray
Mix a teaspoon of 90° alcohol, a teaspoon of liquid black soap and a teaspoon of vegetable oil, such as olive oil, in 1 liter of water. Spray this solution on the parts of your plant infested by scale insects, once for 3 to 4 days. Black soap is also a natural repellent against red spiders, scale insects and aphids.
Which plants are most affected by mealybugs?
Most indoor green plants are affected, such as succulents, orchids, lilacs, hibiscus, indoor roses, etc.
As for fruit trees, citrus trees are the most sensitive and vulnerable to scale insects.
Preventing a mealybug attack
These scale insects that attack your indoor plants also have their predators. To avoid a scale attack, take your plant out in May and place it in a lighted spot in partial shade. If scale insects come to parasitize your plant, they will quickly be eaten by ladybirds, hoverflies and wasps.
These solutions will enable you to fight scale insects very effectively, to protect your indoor and outdoor plants, but also your vegetable garden or ornamental garden, from an invasion of these pest insects.
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