Removing Mealy Bugs - Good DIY Methods?

[Bulbopedilum]

Every time my paph sends a bloom out, the mealies come and go into the ovary and sheath. I currently remove them with a toothpick (yes you read that right, a toothpick) and poking it into the orchid. It doesn't harm the orchid (as far as I know) but it's a bit tiring. Anybody know good DIY ways? Please dont offer me chemicals or specialized insecticide. I don't want to buy anything.

[Orchid Whisperer]

You really can't have it both ways.

1. Either get a good systemic insecticide, or
2. Trash can for the orchids when infested, or
3. Gradual decline of all of your plants as they succumb to the infestation.

[MattWoelfsen]

I wash mealy bugs off Orchids in my kitchen sink using the jet spray setting. This knocks off quite a few of the bugs. I also use a soft bristle tooth brush and brush the plant's stem, under neath the leaves and in the crown.

But I also use Neem oil and spray the plants and potting media. Allow the oil to dry before putting it back into light.

Regularly doing this reduces the mealy bug population.

[Roberta]

Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) 70%(then cotton swab or toothpick to remove the corpse) is quite effective on individual bugs. Of course it has no lasting effect. For a chronic infestation, a systemic pesticide is a lot better. (like imidacloprid)

[bil]

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

Regularly doing this reduces the mealy bug population.

and as was said so elegantly by Orchid Whisperer.

"In that case learn to live with them."

Someone gave me a recipe for a natural treatment for mealy bugs.
It was a lot of work, stank vilely and was as much use as politely asking them to leave.

All this natural stuff sounds lovely, but just isn't practical.

Did you see where the UK Midwives are trashing their previous fixation on 'Natural child birth'? Whenever some idiot would suggest it t0 my wife, when she was pregnant, they were politely asked if they went in for 'natural dentistry'.
(Her choice was for a full anaesthetic, and for her to be woken when the child was 18.)

Very little you do in the garden is 'natural' because if it were, your garden would be full of weeds that would outcompete the plants. Every time you water orchids, protect them from cold, or heat etc or treat them for fungus, you are being UNnatural.

A natural life is short, brutish and hard.

[Bulbopedilum]

Thanks. I cleared up all the mealy bugs using the Great Toothpick of Mealybug Removal (I made sure to check in the tight spaces) but next time I'll try using a toothbrush. Luckily the only plant that ever gets mealy bugs in my garden are my paph, plumeria, and some unhealthy cacti (the healthy ones never get infested).

[Ray]

The primary issue with most "home remedies", including the toothpick method, for mealy bugs, is that, while you may be able to kill the adults you see, you are doing nothing to kill eggs and juveniles, nor any that are populating the root system.

As recommended by OW, a good, commercial insecticide should be used (I recommend that it be a systemic), and applied thoroughly three times at one-week intervals.

[Optimist]

Put it in a wire cage with a bunch of lady bugs? They eat mealy bugs and scale.

[Pippa]

With phals, I wash the whole orchid and compost in methylated spirits. Not sure if other types of orchid could cope with that treatment though. But it does knock them out, eggs and all.

[rbarata]

Imidacloprid or Thiacloprid is the way to go!