Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Trouble shoot problems you are having with your cactus.
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WayneByerly
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Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by WayneByerly »

I've wondered about this since I first heard that isopropyl alcohol was good for the destruction of mealybugs. That the alcohol practically 'dissolved' them when it was applied. Isopropyl alcohol is a mixture of alcohol and water. So I wondered if perhaps denatured alcohol, which is 100% alcohol, would not be better or more efficacious for the treatment of our cacti if we suspected or were SURE of the presence of mealybugs.

My fondest wish would be to acquire some commentary from the experts regarding the treatment of mealybugs using alcohol, but I welcome the commentary of anyone at all who reads this. We are all after knowledge of how to better grow our cacti, are we not? Any input at all would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not posting any pictures with this topic, as they are just not pertinent. So I'd like to take this opportunity to provide you with a pair of links to some of the most incredible videos I have ever seen on YouTube. Time-lapse videos: of cacti flowers opening. You all may be completely aware of these videos, but in the off chance that you are not, I provide them here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I8W4LyIXINE

And

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ecM0CFHwEzM

These truly are some of the most incredibly beautiful videos that I have ever seen. So astoundingly amazing as to make the hair stand up on the back of my arms.
Last edited by WayneByerly on Sun Dec 10, 2017 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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stefan m.
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by stefan m. »

100% alchohol could probably poison or damage the plant chemically. While 70% rubbing alcohol is used for disinfection-thats it. In addition, you probably know that isopropyl is chemically different than the more commonly used ethanol and methanol additive used in denatured spirits.
Not an expert, but using 100% highly flammable alcohol with additives to make it poisonous is not helpful to plants.
As for the video-the plants are echinopsis(trihocereus, lobivia) hybrids we talked about on a different topic
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by ElieEstephane »

Use a soap soak or warm water bath
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
brixtertabun
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

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stefan m.
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by stefan m. »

But it was probably rubbing alchohol. Not the 100% stuff. Also, it does nothing against pests.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by ElieEstephane »

Stefan i used 95% alcohol with no damage whatsoever
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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stefan m.
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by stefan m. »

Did any of it got to the soil? I would avoid it because the stuff is dangerous.
brixtertabun
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

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stefan m.
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by stefan m. »

Im not so sure... but i do recall there was some test with ethanol and it managed to get mimosa "drunk"....
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WayneByerly
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by WayneByerly »

stefan m. wrote:... it does nothing against pests.
Stephan... do I understand you correctly? Do you think alcohol does nothing to kill mealybugs? If you go to YouTube, and search for "mealybugs", you will find a great number of people that are convinced that isopropyl alcohol is phenomenally efficacious in controlling/killing mealybugs.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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stefan m.
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by stefan m. »

Isopropyl.not ethanol. Not denatured alcohol. You asked if 100 percent ethanol works against meallybugs. 70 percent does not, I can tell you this for certain because I've already tested that. HOWEVER ethanol is extremely useful in post meallybugs cleanup in disinfecting afflicted areas preventing any further infection. Just clear things up
Ethanol is rubbing and drinking alcohol.the most common type sold.
Methanol is a type of alcohol that's poisonous to people and is used as fuel.
Isopropyl or iso propranol Is the stuff that kills meallybugs.
Denatured alcohol is a high purity ethanol filled with other substances to make it non drinkable.
So if you refer to alcohol you are likely saying ethanol.
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WayneByerly
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by WayneByerly »

stefan m. wrote:You asked if 100 percent ethanol works against meallybugs.
Well, no, actually i asked regarding denatured alcohol. Which was what I, at the time, understood to be alcohol with the water removed. So when I read your reply I was confused.

So I went to the internet and did a little research about the different kinds of alcohols. What I discovered, and I guess I should have done this before making my post to keep from wasting everyone's time, was that there are basically five kinds of alcohols.
  • 1) Ethanol ... which is what people drink.
    2) n-propyl ... propan-1-ol, or 1-propanol; a primary alcohol
    3) Isopropyl ... (indeed just as you described) propanol (or, more properly, as my curiosity discovered, propan-2-ol, or 2-propanol); a secondary alcohol
    4) cyclohexanol; a secondary alcohol
    5) tert-amyl alcohol ... 2-methylbutan-2-ol, or 2-methyl-2-butanol; a tertiary alcohol. {{I don't know enough about chemistry to be able to say whether or not this is methanol}}
Denatured alcohol (normally used as a fuel) is indeed 100% alcohol, but what I did not understand at the time was that denatured alcohol is 90% ethanol (and not isopropyl) and 10% methanol, an additive to make the highly concentrated ethanol poisonous to humans.

So I guess, in the end, that the true answer to my question is "NO ... because denatured alcohol is ethanol+ methanol and what people use against mealybugs is a different kind of alcohol ... isopropyl".

So ...
My apologies for confusing ethanol and isopropyl as the components of denatured alcohol. I guess if I knew that denatured was not made of isopropyl :shock: :oops: I would never have made my original post. But at least I've learned something now. Which is one of the true purposes of, and one of the greatest pleasures of, life. How boring it would be to never learn anything new. Anyway, thanks a bunch for helping me clear that up. :D
Last edited by WayneByerly on Wed Dec 13, 2017 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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stefan m.
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Re: Isopropyl alcohol for mealybugs

Post by stefan m. »

No problem man. Tried to help you out, but managed to confused myself in the process as well.
Edit fun fact, i learned a bit of latin thanks to plants.
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