Mealybugs
Little tufts of white cotton tucked into the leaf joints are mealybugs, the most common pest on Peperomia Hope.
Diagnosis
Mealybugs
What's happening
Mealybugs are soft, sap-sucking insects that hide in the tight crevices where leaves meet the stems and along the dense trailing growth. They drain the plant's sap, leaving sticky honeydew behind and causing new leaves to come in stunted, yellowed, or distorted. On a bushy plant like this they're easy to miss until the colony has spread.
How to fix it
Isolate the plant from your others right away. Dab each visible mealybug with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol to kill it on contact, then treat the whole plant — getting into every leaf joint — with insecticidal soap. Repeat every 5–7 days for several weeks to catch newly hatched bugs, since they breed quickly. Check nearby plants too, as mealybugs travel.
What fixes it
- Insecticidal soap — Insecticidal soap smothers mealybugs across the whole plant where spot-dabbing alone can't reach into the dense foliage.
If that doesn't fix it
This is general guidance based on common symptoms; individual plants vary.
Read the full Peperomia Hope care guide →
Reviewed June 2026 · how we check this