My string of pearls drank some alcohol

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cheerpeople northwest, IL(Zone 5a) Feb 19, 2010

I hope it doesn't have a drinking problem! lol!

I bought this plant complete with the tiniest form of mealy bugs. White and as small as a grain of sand.
I didn't discover them for about a year. That's when the sticky honey dew (poo) made me take a closer look.
I've since treated it 3 x with fertilome multipurpose insect spray with permethrin as an ingredient.
This pesticide one of the few that can be used in the house without stinking up the place.

Well... I still have bugs! So I thought about spraying it with rubbing alcohol but I decided a drench would be better as they might be in the soil too.
The drenching caused the plant to get a good drink of alcohol. Not sure if it can absorb it that way thru the roots.
What do you think. Can a plant uptake rubbing alcohol? If so it is harmful? Apparently it doesn't hurt plants when sprayed on the leaves ( which would be absorbed into the plant I would imagine)



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Pameladee Mar 08, 2010

Did the alcohol hurt your plant? Have you tried just regular soap mixed in water and spraying the plant? A few of my plants had a bad case of bugs in the soil once (not sure what kind) so I took the plants out of the pots, losened as much soil as possible and rinsed the rest away. I sprayed the whole plant with soap and water, rinse the whole plant and roots in the shower, and replanted it with fresh soil. It seemed to work. No more bugs! But it did take the plants a little while to recover from everything. But that was only after I tried everything else and was used as a last resort!

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cheerpeople northwest, IL(Zone 5a) Mar 09, 2010

I believe it killed it.
Thx anyway pameladee

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Laurie19 Caledonia, OH(Zone 5a) Mar 10, 2010

I think you have to make mistakes to learn so live and learn right?! lol

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Cerahipp Hobart, Australia Mar 25, 2010

Hey Cheerpeople.
Seems your plant died clean (soap and water spray) and happy (alcohol spray).
A light misting with alcohol is a good way to kill insects, but too much dissolves the skin (cuticle) of the leaves so the plant dehyhdrate quickly.

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