Mealies, Mealies, and more mealies

[cgillett5]

I would like some advice on mealies. I know I have them. I have tried several different methods to get rid of them. I have had some success with rubbing alcohol and also a three in one miticide, pesticide, and fungicide, but still have mealies and a few less plants. I lost one of my favorites this winter and have vowed to eradicate the pests no matter what.

What does everyone else do to get rid of the icky things?

I could use any advice out there.

thanks to all of you in advance.

[BarryRice]

Are they on cacti? I use Bayers products (cyfluthrin, imidacloprid) with great success.

I don't grow many non-cactus succulents.

[Gary]

I also use the Bayer products (sold as Provado here in the UK). I use the aerosol version in winter when the cacti are dormant and either a diluted spray or soil drench during the growing season. I also keep a cocktail stick handy so I can squish them (and their nests) as soon as I see them....not very effective in a serious infestation perhaps but satisfying all the same If you have root mealies the aerosol and spray probably won't help much unless you're depotting at the same time and removing material from the roots.

Good luck

[cgillett5]

I currently have 7 plants that had visible mealies. I have used several different treatments in the past. This time I asked the owner of my local green house. He recommended using diluted rubbing alcohol. It's been a week and only 2 plants are showing new signs.

I had planned on repotting most of them this spring anyway. I actually went and bought new pots for them tonight. I am hoping that the mealies are only on the spines. My experience with root mealies has not been good. I have lost all but one plant that had root mealies.

I am worried about the two plants that have mealies. They are normally dark green and firm. They now have lighter green spots that are softer, not squishy, but definitely not firm. There were three of them, but the third started to stink. I figured rot or something similar. It was starting to shrivel and was squishy to the touch. I threw it away in fear for my other plants.

I just want to get rid of the mealies once and for all.

Where do you purchase your products? I tried finding the Bayer, but when I asked at Walmart, they sent me to the aspirin aisle.

[iann]

when I asked at Walmart, they sent me to the aspirin aisle.

Walmart do sell Bayer insecticides, but maybe not every store. Maybe they have a different one. Try to find something with Imidacloprid in it, there are generic products now cheaper than Bayer. Look in box stores like Home Depot, or garden centres.

Rubbing alcohol is satisfying but ineffective. Kills some mealies, leaves some to spring back when you think they're all gone.

[cgillett5]

Mealies may have won. My cacti is chewed on. Do I continue treating or say good bye. They were hiding under the top dressing next to he plant.

Hama-Mealy damage.jpg (38.39 KiB) Viewed 2779 times

[greenknight]

Mealies are sucking, not chewing, insects - something else is doing that. Here's a good description of mealy bug infestation - http://www.cactus-art.biz/note-book/Dic ... y_bugs.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Systemic insecticide should kill whatever is doing that. Personally, I use a soap solution, but I don't have a very large collection - it's a lot more work to use, and there's no residual effect so you have to apply it repeatedly. Resistance never develops to soap, though, or to alcohol. You can't apply alcohol to the soil, however, but you can plunge the whole pot into soap solution.

[Robb]

Personally, I use a soap solution, but I don't have a very large collection - it's a lot more work to use, and there's no residual effect so you have to apply it repeatedly. Resistance never develops to soap, though, or to alcohol. You can't apply alcohol to the soil, however, but you can plunge the whole pot into soap solution.

Could you please tell me what recipe you use? And do you plunge the whole pot, soil and all into the soap?
I have mealies on at least half of my collection, and I would prefer not to use chemicals that may kill some of the beneficial insects in the greenhouse.
Cheers!
-Robb

[iann]

You won't eradicate a widespread root mealie infestation with a soap dip. Done properly, you can kill the majority but they'll just be back 6 months later. You can use it for a quick knockdown, then treat with a systemic at your own leisure. Be sure to soak for several minutes, or you'll just be giving the mealies a wash instead of kill them

[greenknight]

I've had good results with the soap dip, actually, Here's full instructions, copied from a post I made almost 2 years ago (the mealies I treated then have not returned)):

The soap I use is Fels-Naptha (doesn't really have naptha in it). It's an old-fashioned yellow laundry soap cake, with a long-standing reputation as an effective insecticidal soap, and it's dirt cheap. It does have some scent added (makes your cacti smell clean! ), but it's never hurt the plants I've used it on - and it does the job.

Directions I've read say use 1 or 2 tablespoons per gallon of water - I use 1. You have to scrape some off with a knife to make soap flakes, measure out what you need, and mix that with a little hot water to dissolve it before diluting with cool water. Less convenient than something like Safer's, but a fraction of the cost.

To kill root mealies - plunge the plants, in their pots, into a bucket of soap solution; leave them submerged for 15 - 30 minutes, then take them out and let them drain thoroughly. I don't rinse the soap off; hopefully the solution still remaining in the potting mix will kill new hatchlings for a while. At the next watering I try to rinse off the debris that's left stuck in the spines of the plants.

Should repeat the treatment in case more hatch after the soap has stopped working.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The reason for soaking them so long is just to make sure the soap reaches the entire root system - all that's needed to kill the bugs is to get them thoroughly wet with the stuff. I failed to mention in this post that you also need to get rid of any crawlers in the area around the plants - I dipped the trays from under the plants in the soap, as well.

[cgillett5]

When I removed soil and top dressing, all I found was Mealies. Look just like the picture on the link. So is there another little bugger out there that looks like mealies?

[iann]

The pests in the link are not root mealies. They are above ground mealies and they look a little different. Root mealies are smoother, smaller, and slightly more maggot-like, but you're still unlikely to mistake them for anything else.

[Robb]

I've had good results with the soap dip, actually, Here's full instructions, copied from a post I made almost 2 years ago (the mealies I treated then have not returned)):

The soap I use is Fels-Naptha (doesn't really have naptha in it). It's an old-fashioned yellow laundry soap cake, with a long-standing reputation as an effective insecticidal soap, and it's dirt cheap. It does have some scent added (makes your cacti smell clean! ), but it's never hurt the plants I've used it on - and it does the job.

Directions I've read say use 1 or 2 tablespoons per gallon of water - I use 1. You have to scrape some off with a knife to make soap flakes, measure out what you need, and mix that with a little hot water to dissolve it before diluting with cool water. Less convenient than something like Safer's, but a fraction of the cost.

To kill root mealies - plunge the plants, in their pots, into a bucket of soap solution; leave them submerged for 15 - 30 minutes, then take them out and let them drain thoroughly. I don't rinse the soap off; hopefully the solution still remaining in the potting mix will kill new hatchlings for a while. At the next watering I try to rinse off the debris that's left stuck in the spines of the plants.

Should repeat the treatment in case more hatch after the soap has stopped working.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The reason for soaking them so long is just to make sure the soap reaches the entire root system - all that's needed to kill the bugs is to get them thoroughly wet with the stuff. I failed to mention in this post that you also need to get rid of any crawlers in the area around the plants - I dipped the trays from under the plants in the soap, as well.

Thank-you so much!
I will run a trial test on some of the badly affected cacti.
Cheers!
-Robb

[keith]

To kill root mealies - plunge the plants, in their pots, into a bucket of soap solution; leave them submerged for 15 - 30 minutes, then take them out and let them drain thoroughly. I don't rinse the soap off; hopefully the solution still remaining in the potting mix will kill new hatchlings for a while. At the next watering I try to rinse off the debris that's left stuck in the spines of the plants."

Add rubbing alcohol and tobacco to that soap bucket- that will kill them... usually

imidacloprid ( also called merit by Bayer ) also works as long as the plants roots are working . They might get rid of this though, some people say it kills bees.