In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulents?

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In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulents?

Aphids
16
2%
Fungus/Rot/Damping off
136
14%
Mealy bugs
241
26%
Mice
13
1%
Red spider mite
187
20%
Root mealy bugs
171
18%
Scale insects
41
4%
Sciarid fly
52
6%
Snails
50
5%
Western flower thrip
35
4%
 
Total votes: 942
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Ali Baba
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Ali Baba »

That would be very unusual Ian, can we have a picture (of the caterpillar :grin: )
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iann
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by iann »

My bad. I fully intended to add a picture :oops:
caterpillar-120211.jpg
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Acid John
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Acid John »

If it has some size to it, it may be one of the under wing moths. Some times they are called cutworms.
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iann
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by iann »

It was a couple of inches long when it unwound as I was about to throw it in the garden, and pretty fat as you can see. It had a funny shaped head a little like an Elephant Hawk Moth, but nowhere near the size of a mature one. I suspect Lithops aren't its preferred diet but that's all that was available to it :roll:
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Ali Baba
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Ali Baba »

I would go for Angle Shades Phlogophora meticulosa, very cosmopolitan in its diet :lol: , and active larvae are about almost all year round. It has diagonal stripes very reminiscent of a hawkmoth caterpillar.
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Jim_Mercer
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Jim_Mercer »

Today the worst pest is vine weevil, just found an adromischus falling apart and when I looked at the stems there where the grubs....

Image
weevil_0391 by aCactus2008, on Flickr

Image
weevil_0397 by aCactus2008, on Flickr
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Pete A »

Nasty!

I have vine weevil in the garden but they have never attacked a potted plant (yet).
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Jim_Mercer »

All plants closest to this now dosed with Provado but no others seemed to be infected including a neighbouring adromischus :???:
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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Herts Mike »

1. RSM.
2. RSM.
3. RSM

I managed to eliminate mealy bugs and root mealy bugs about 8 years ago and as I have a large Stapeliad collection it's quite a relief.

For the little black flies I have a large Drosera (sundew) which deals with them very well.

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Re: In your opinion, which are the 3 worst pests in succulen

Post by Menschenjaeger »

To me, mealies and root mealies deserve a special place in Hell. They don't often pop up, but the insidiousness of their attack is what makes me hate them with an intensity that burns with the fire of a thousand suns. One tiny juvenile mealy is all it takes to make that next leaf come out all withered and twisted. Root mealies are bad because...well, you just forget about them. It's been years since I've seen any, but someday they'll be back, and I'll miss them for months. "Hm...those plants over there haven't budged in a while...time to repot. I'll get to it when I get to it." By the time I DO get to it, the roots have the wooly dots, and its a royal pain. :D
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