ARRRGH! I just drove two towns over to get a bottle of Neem Oil in my latest quest against the insidious mealies infesting my Stapeliad collection. Leave it to one cheap garden center plant to infect my whole collection. I found the stuff I wanted but the label was torn and dangling off so I reached behind it to get another bottle in "mint condition" and bought it. Got it home and now I see it's Pyrethin spray instead of the Neem Oil. The bottle is the same shape, design and color only the label is different.
I have my receipt to return/exchange it on monday but it's pretty irritating!
When I finally score the right stuff, is it true the Neem Oil will kill the mealy eggs as well as any living critters? I'd been using rubbing alcohol mixed with dish soap but it simply drove the mealies underground and gave me a false sense of security until the plants started deflating.
Here's my current plan, take divisions of all my infested Stapelias in their cleanest upper parts and new growth segments from last summer, treating those cut parts with the Neem Oil and repotting as a mini-cutting and simply tossing out the rest of the plant and essentially starting over.
Would it be a good idea to spray/wipe down my whole grow shelf (which is made of wood) with the mealy spray to hopefully avoid a re-infestation a few months down the line? Luckily it's only about half my Stapelia shelf which has them but I think i will treat and repot everything in new plastic whether it appears to have them or not.
I have my receipt to return/exchange it on monday but it's pretty irritating!
When I finally score the right stuff, is it true the Neem Oil will kill the mealy eggs as well as any living critters? I'd been using rubbing alcohol mixed with dish soap but it simply drove the mealies underground and gave me a false sense of security until the plants started deflating.
Here's my current plan, take divisions of all my infested Stapelias in their cleanest upper parts and new growth segments from last summer, treating those cut parts with the Neem Oil and repotting as a mini-cutting and simply tossing out the rest of the plant and essentially starting over.
Would it be a good idea to spray/wipe down my whole grow shelf (which is made of wood) with the mealy spray to hopefully avoid a re-infestation a few months down the line? Luckily it's only about half my Stapelia shelf which has them but I think i will treat and repot everything in new plastic whether it appears to have them or not.