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Augh! mealy bugs!

gaaaahhhh
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so i'm going over my vft's today making sure they're all happy and healthy... one of the traps on my dente had gotten a little black corner a day or so ago so as i went to snip it off i noticed that what i thought was a little fleck of dust inside the trap... kinda...had...legs. panicking, i cut the whole dang stem off and found several more up to an inch or two from the end of the trap. looking closer i found two more of the little buggers on a trap that hasn't even opened yet. no sign of them anywhere else, on the other VFT or the three succulents i have nearby. yet. 99.99% sure they're the mealybugs described on the ever-popular sarracenia.com which i quickly referenced cause i knew i'd seen them somewhere.

so... uh... short of a hack job removing *all* of the infested leaves, how do i kill these things??? i already moved it as far away as possible from the other plants. grrrrr.

thanx!!
 
Dab te spots with mealy with a cloth dipped in isopropyl alcohol. Do it a few times and it should fix the problem.
 
I would use some orthene. Yes it's true if you hit them directly with alcohol it will kill them. However, mealybug will work their way down into the potting mix and infest the rhizome as well. You need to hit the plants with something that will knock off any unseen mealies. You might also need to reapply, depending on what you use, to kill any that hatch after the first treatment.

Tony
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Tony Paroubek @ Nov. 09 2004,9:59)]I would use some orthene.  Yes it's true if you hit them directly with alcohol it will kill them.  However, mealybug will work their way down into the potting mix and infest the rhizome as well.  You need to hit the plants with something that will knock off any unseen mealies.  You might also need to reapply, depending on what you use, to kill any that hatch after the first treatment.

Tony
Could you just drench the pot/plant with a bottle of alcohol and not harm the plant?
 
Drenching the plant would not be a good idea. The alcohol would quickly go through the leaf surface, burn the roots etc.
 
OOOOOOOHHHHH, DON'T PUT ALCOHOL IN YOUR POTS! BAD IDEA! It works conveniently to use the alcohol but a few times I had to reaply up to 4 times before riding my cactus pads of them d**n things. I have never used Orthene but it has to be quicker and easier than constant reapps to a plant and Cps are delicate enough without alcohol showers.

Joe
 
ok, isopropyl alcohol spot treatment... ugh i tweezed the litthe buggers off the original stems in the meantime but maybe four more have appeared... i was hoping my buddy in the chemistry stockroom could procure an ounce or so of isopropyl for me but otherwise i'll pick some up at the store tomorrow. you would think it would be a wee bit easier to find *alcohol* on a college campus, of all places ;)

another question though, how does a plant acquire these little buggers anyway? i have a haworthia, an echeveria and a very pretty young kalanchoe that i've grown somewhat attached to and due to common interests in lighting, they all live together with the VFT's on the shelf above my desk. my baby philodendron was moved immediately upon discovering the infestation, since i know those are susceptible to mealy, but i left the succulents a little longer (why i dont know). besides than moving them to Outer Mongolia, are any other preventative measures i can take? when can i put them back under the good light so they'll be happy?

thanx!!
 
How long have you had the VFT? Perhaps it came with them. I would also check all your other plants very carefully as they may have migrated from another plant. Mealies don't just arrive one day like some other airborne pests. Mealybugs can also camp out on pots, trays etc for a time, so look around the rims of the pots and underneath for little spots of cottony looking stuff.

Tony
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Tony Paroubek @ Nov. 11 2004,9:34)]How long have you had the VFT?  Perhaps it came with them.  I would also check all your other plants very carefully as they may have migrated from another plant.  Mealies don't just arrive one day like some other airborne pests.  Mealybugs can also camp out on pots, trays etc for a time, so look around the rims of the pots and underneath for little spots of cottony looking stuff.

Tony
i've had the vft's since august, i would think they'd have come out by now...

i did just recently acquire the other four plants but i've checked them VERY carefully every day since i noticed the bugs on the VFT, and found nothing, not even a hint of fuzzyness. the bugs on the infected flytrap aren't even particularly furry, but that may be because there are so few of them (max one-two in any given area). they really don't look like anything else i can find online. could they have been dormant?
 
  • #10
scratch that... just discovered more on the haworthia and echeveria. must have been in the greenhouse. so far the kalanchoe and philodendron are unaffected and we're going to try to keep them that way ;) i might just toss the echeveria, it's really not doing so hot, and the haworthia only had two on it so the alcohol may work. i'm going to invest in some insecticidal soap along with the alcohol tomorrow so i can treat all of my plants... meanwhile the two "clean" ones are FAR away from the rest and FAR away from each other, lest one still be infected, so only time will tell.

darn insects.
 
  • #11
I would second Tony's initial suggestion to use orthene. It sounds like you have the mealies pretty well established in several pots and I doubt that your spot treatment with alcohol will do the trick.
 
  • #12
Are these anything like aphids? Could you just submerge the plant(s) under water for a day to drown the little critters?
 
  • #13
well i gave the alcohol a shot (diluted it 1:4, figuring it may not be such a good idea to put pure rubbing alcohol onto notoriously sensitive plants). rather satisfying to see their plump little carapaces shrivel and brown on contact :p i'm hoping the things haven't had the time to establish themselves too thoroughly... i literally have not seen more than two individual insects at once, and no fuzzy nest things, so i'm hoping i nipped it in the bud. i'm also thinking of "drowning" the flytraps in distilled water for a day or so to take out anything in the soil, although form what i know mealybugs are diffucult to kill because they're essentially waterproof. maybe it'll hit any eggs?

where would i FIND ortene, or even insecticidal soap for the succulents? i just got back from walmart and they looked at me like i had six heads... "yeah, uh, maybe over by the Raid." or... how about no... oy.
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] (moonflower @ Nov. 12 2004,11:04)]where would i FIND ortene, or even insecticidal soap for the succulents? i just got back from walmart and they looked at me like i had six heads... "yeah, uh, maybe over by the Raid." or... how about no... oy.
Perhaps the wunderkind that work at Walmart need some learning. The active ingredient in Orthene is acephate. Try another garden center. Trade names for products containing acephate include Orthene, Asataf, Bug B Gone, Pillarthene, Kitron, Aimthane, Ortran, Ortho 12420, Ortril, Chrevron RE 12420, Orthene 755 (116, 9).
 
  • #15
I've heard this works with most CPs without killing them: Submerge them in water for a few days. Note that i do not know this for sure, just a rumor.
 
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