Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

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dalesmatt
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by dalesmatt »

Certain ants have a symbiotic relationship with homopterans like mealy bugs. Ants like nectar / honeydew, which they can seemingly milk when the mealy bugs are eating vegetable matter? Ants can act as defenders to predators of the bugs. What an amazing world. ;)
Still, I want to kill them when I see them on my plants!
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by Tina »

I have heard of moth balls being used, my sons moaned about the smell.
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by IanW »

widea wrote:I strongly suspect there is another environmental factor mealybugs don't like. If we know that factor maybe we can use it to get rid of these bugs apart from the other methods we already know.
Unfortunately I suspect the answer to the question of what that factor is is probably "Crappy British weather", and bringing that into the greenhouse kind of defeats the object of having a greenhouse :lol:
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by Cidermanrolls »

I have a collection of cacti in a 13x10 Alton.
I've not sprayed insecticide in there for ten years or more.
Do I have root mealy? Yes. Do I care? No. They do no significant harm IMO
Do I have top growth mealy? Well, if I answered that I'd probably bring on the first such attack in ten years or more.
Am I a green tree hugger? No. In my orchard I spray. On my cricket ground I spray. In my greenhouse, I find I currently don't need to.....
Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe I have natures friends....
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by widea »

IanW wrote:
widea wrote:I strongly suspect there is another environmental factor mealybugs don't like. If we know that factor maybe we can use it to get rid of these bugs apart from the other methods we already know.
Unfortunately I suspect the answer to the question of what that factor is is probably "Crappy British weather", and bringing that into the greenhouse kind of defeats the object of having a greenhouse :lol:
Haha, well, the same applies for the Netherlands in autumn and winter but now the weather is perfect to put them outside, as I did. And not one mealybug... But maybe that will remain a mystery.
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by makleodss »

I had a neglected ferocactus which was heavily infested with mealy bugs. And root mealy bugs were present on roots as well. I did not kill any of those kritters. Just ordered neem oil as this case was an excellent test ground. I sprayed it twice and already 6 weeks I do not see any mealy on plant. After a while I will check roots to see how they are doing.
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by dalesmatt »

Sounds good! Maybe you can update us at a future meeting on how you think its working? ;)
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by Chris L »

What tends to happen with me when taking my photos is the plants don't get returned to their proper place. They get left propped across a few trays.

Decided this morning to have a tidy up and put plants back in their correct location.

Shuffling pots around to get them back in I've found quite a lot of mealy bug egg nests in the bottom of the trays. Far more than normal.

The really bad trays are going to be soaked with neem oil and I am going to work my way through everything else over the next few days.

I suspect the mealys have been busy in the hot weather last week...... :shock:

The black under trays are being wiped out with lavender spray and kitchen paper.
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by Chris L »

I've marked on in blue where the worst infestation always seems to be.

Going down my GH from the LHS is (with associated genera near by) Notocactus, Mammillaria, Rebutia, Echinocereus, Neoporteria, Astrophytum/Ariocarpus. Echinopsis and Opuntia are across the back and Gymnocalycium are down most of the RHS. The Notocactus and Mammillaria and two trays of Gymnocalycium are out of the picture.

It always seems to be the Echinocereus, Neoporteria that are the worst affected, which then affect the trays either side.

Could it be the plants are prone to mealies, or is it the location in the GH that is the problem, or both? The two trays are half way down the left hand side.

I feel concentrating on these few plants will go along way in getting rid of the mealies once and for all.
The location of the usual infestation
The location of the usual infestation
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Re: Remedies against mealybugs - what do you think?

Post by Keith H »

It always seems to be the Echinocereus, Neoporteria that are the worst affected, which then affect the trays either side.

Could it be the plants are prone to mealies, or is it the location in the GH that is the problem, or both? The two trays are half way down the left hand side.
I do think that some plants are more prone to mealies, when I re homed my collection it was the Echinocereus and Echinopsis that were more troubled by them. Four years later I still have the occasional outbreak of mealies, almost always it is on those two groups of plants.
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