Help getting rid of mealybugs without hurting birds
 

I think I got rid of the mealybugs in my orchids. I only noticed them in my Cattleya and I have been thoroughly checking in every nook and cranny in my orchids ever since). I thoroughly sprayed my Catt 4 times, once every 2 weeks with Ortho Plant care plus (Bifenthrin) and a Pesticide I bought in an orchid show (it's just diluted Potassium hydroxide). Just to be safe I sprayed every orchid once.

So, the questions about the mealybugs are: do you think that was enough to eradicate the problem in my orchids? And, my main concern: How do I get rid of them outside without hurting the birds that come to my feeders? I noticed them in my Ficus and a couple of other really leafy plants, so I can't really check every leaf and remove them by hand. And is it really worth it to spray everything if my neighbors are infected too? My patio is really small and I have two neighbors with small, neglected yards. I'm pretty sure most of my pests come form my neighbors. Thoughts?

When I had my house I would sometimes use imadacloprid on some of my susceptible plants.

You can't get rid of them permanently if they are in the environment. Your choices are to use a systemic insecticide, to spray regularly with non-systemic insecticides in rotation, or to be very vigilant and treat when you see them.

I think I'm gonna try systemic for the first time. After a quick search, I found someone selling Bayer's Confidor and New Leverage (Imidacloprid + Deltametrin). Are these safe for orchids? Are they bird safe too?

As far as I know those products are only toxic to bees.

That sucks, but I have almost nothing in flower this time of the year, so hopefully they won't be around to get killed by me.

Systemics remain in the plant for months after application. Insects eating any part of the plant in the future might be killed. This includeds bees eating pollen. Agaves here in metro Phoenix are protected against the local Agave snout nosed weevil for several years after an application in the soil where they are planted. Thereafter people use contact insecticides at the base of the plant, because these aren't taken up to affect bees feeding on the flowers.

Birds wouldn't be likely to eat enough of the plant to have a problem.

Outdoors? That's an expensive and losing battle. Like ES said in his first sentence:

Look into predatory insects?

I have tried to buy predatory insects in the past but I couldn't find any vendor that would sell the tiny amount I needed. I don't think there's a big market for predatory insects in Mexico City. I'll try systemics and evaluate the results.

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