Treatments against Mealybugs

[estación seca]

The juvenile form of scale often looks a lot like mealy bugs. In my experience scale are much harder to eliminate than are mealy bugs. Be sure of what you're treating.

[monivik]

Yeah, I'm not scared of using pesticides, after all it's my indoor plants so it's not like I've got insects in here. Not more than an occasional fly that flew in, oh and certain times a year the mosquitoes (not a big fan of those)

So yeah I'll just try this neem oil mix now, and I'll see how it goes since I've got it now... it says reapply every 72 hours for best result so I've sprayed the plant twice now.

I am still considering taking it out of the pot and bark again though.... spraying it thoroughly roots and all...

It did loose that leaf though... I hope not any more leafs...

[Roberta]

A drop of 3% hydrogen peroxide in the crown might be a good idea, in case you have crown rot developing. (keep it off the roots, though) As I was scrolling through the thread and saw the earlier photos, the thought did occur to me that it's possible.

[monivik]

Originally Posted by Roberta

A drop of 3% hydrogen peroxide in the crown might be a good idea, in case you have crown rot developing.

Ok, thanks.

But now it's all worse!!! I've got two more sick plants!!!

It's the 3 that I bought at the same place a month ago. Fortuntalely I've been keeping them separate from all my other orchids and plants so far. The Schilleriana was the first one to show the mealybugs, I've been keeping my eyes like a hawk on these other two. Also kept them separate from the Schilleriana as soon as I found out it had mealybugs.

Now I've just discovered that the Phalaenopsis Hieroglyphica is turning brown in the crown, I opened it and saw white specks. These were not there before! By the way this one's got two flower spikes with a number of buds.

Then it's the Paphiopedilum Callosum, it's newer leaves are getting brown spots. I still don't see any white specks on this one, but I can only assume that it's the same cause.

The other thing I should mention is that I am currently having a problem with another Paphiopedilum, it's a Maudiea, this one though hasn't even been near the other three that I just mentioned. And did not come from the same grower, this one I bought in the local supermarket last October. But I am experiencing problems with rot with that one. See other post:

Rot on Paphiopedilum?

[Roberta]

Ouch! It certainly seems like you have received some "guests" with your plants. I think it is pesticide time. I don't know if you can get something that contains imidacloprid (or whatever is now being sold to replace it) It's a systemic but can kill on contact too. Pyrethrin products could also be useful, I think.

[monivik]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Ouch! It certainly seems like you have received some "guests" with your plants. I think it is pesticide time. I don't know if you can get something that contains imidacloprid (or whatever is now being sold to replace it) It's a systemic but can kill on contact too. Pyrethrin products could also be useful, I think.

Yeah I was thinking the same, it's time to bring out the big guns. I immediately went to the nearest gardening shop and bought one, it says against mealybugs (among other ones) on the bottle. It is organic though. I'm starting to think that it's not an easy thing to find "poisons" here in this country, maybe it's not allowed.

Anyway I took them all out of the pots and medium and flushed them with water at the sink before spraying them all over roots and all with the spray.

Unfortunately the Phalaenopsis Hieroglyphica is looking the worse at the moment. The newest leaf is in such bad shape that if I'd pull it a big harder it probably would have come off. I thought it would come off when I flushed it under water. The thing is that the entire crown is affected. Will it make it? Or is this it? All I can hope for now I suppose is that it makes a keiki?

I made sure to spray the crown with that stuff since that's what's looking the worse.

I haven't really repotted them now, first of all I've run out of bark (I've ordered online but don't know how long it will take) but because of the hot temperatures right now, I'm afraid they'll dry out so I've got them in loosely packed spaghnum moss, for now.

I do have another question: do phalaenopsis orchids have hairy areas on their leaves sometimes? Like very short velvety hairs.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by monivik

I do have another question: do phalaenopsis orchids have hairy areas on their leaves sometimes? Like very short velvety hairs.

Not that I know of! That sounds a lot like whitefly, but I didn't think they went after Phals. Cymbidiums and Lycastes is where I have found them. (If that is what they are, they're pretty easy to kill)

As for something stronger than what you can get at a store... There's the Internet. in the US there's a website called doyourownpestcontrol.com ... they put disclaimers about places they can't ship to (like California, where I live) but stuff gets shipped anyway. Amazon also may be a source. Nasty rules, that might apply to agricultural operations get applied to small home growers too. Maybe they won't ship, the EU is a lot more strict about enforcing rules than the US... but it is worth asking. (Don't necessarily believe the disclaimers without at least trying...)

[monivik]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Not that I know of!
As for something stronger than what you can get at a store... There's the Internet.

First of all the really bad news is the Hieroglyphica lost the newest leaf, right in the crown. It's all black there. The question is can it recover from this? Or is it the end? Can I just hope it will make a keiki now? The other thing is, it's got two flower spikes with flower buds. Should I leave it the way it is or do something about the flower spikes? I mean I guess poor plant won't have the energy for flowers now. On the other hand could it make a keiki there?

The other thing is my mistake I thought the spray that I got was organic, it said Eco...something and so I guessed. But turns out it's a real poison. At least I think so after reading the ingredients on the label and searching in Google. The top ingredient says Pyrethrin.

[Roberta]

I would let the Phal hierogylphica go ahead and produce its flowers. It may, indeed, make a keiki (actually, a basal growth) if it has good roots. (Remember, those roots can photosynthesize, so it does have an energy source even with no leaves. I think at this point, let nature do what it will... Basal growths are one of the strategies that monopodial plants have to survive. It won't grow more leaves from the (now dead) crown, but it can still surprise you.

Pyrethrin is made from chrysanthemum flowers, hence the "natural" or "organic" label.. It is a very good insecticide (and I think miticide as well).

[Mr.Fakename]

Phal hieroglyphica is one of those species that quite often sends new basal growths so there's still hope.
Yours seems to have nice roots and enough leaves, it'll bounce back.