succulent plants

Mealybugs on succulents

By Hugh Midity · Updated

White fluff · Most likely cause

Mealybugs

White, cottony fluff tucked between leaves or along stems is usually mealybugs, a small sap-sucking insect.

  1. 1. Move the plant away from your other plants.
  2. 2. Dab each bug with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol (70% or weaker).
  3. 3. Check every few days, and treat again each week until they're gone.

How to spot them

Look for small white, waxy bugs and cottony fluff in the leaf joints, the center of the rosette and on the roots. Sticky leaves are another sign: mealybugs leave a sugary residue called honeydew.

FAQ

Will alcohol damage my succulent?

It can burn some leaves. Test it on one leaf and wait a day or two before treating the whole plant. Take extra care with plants that have a powdery coating.

Plants this often happens to

Mexican snowball Echeveria elegans
Jade plant Crassula ovata

Sources

  1. Mealybugs, Pest Notes: UC Statewide IPM Program · accessed October 20, 2026
  2. Mealybug (glasshouse): RHS · accessed October 20, 2026
  3. How do you get rid of mealybugs on houseplants?: UNH Extension · accessed October 20, 2026

Other common problems

Mushy leaves Overwatering and rot Soft, mushy leaves. Stop watering and check the roots. Wrinkled leaves Thirst Unless the soil is wet, in which case check the roots. Stretching Not enough light Etiolation. Move it brighter, gradually. Leaves falling off Water stress, a move, or rot Soft leaves falling means too much water; shriveled means too little.