Is this a Mealybug and if so, how do I kill the little ***?

[Orchid Whisperer]

Dounoharm is right.

Sorry about your dog! Regarding systemic chemicals and using them around your dog, one of the best controls for mealies is imidacloprid, which is used as a flea control for dogs. If you are using imidacloprid on plants, there should be little risk to your dog (but ask your vet just in case). Imidacloprid is in Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower and some other Bayer products.

The soap-based home remedies will temporarily suppress mealies and scale but will never get rid of them (I know from experience).

Any plant on which you actually see mealies should be removed from its pot and medium, thoroughly cleaned, sprayed roots and all with a systemic, spray new media with the systemic, then repot. Spray the leaves again at intervals recommended on the bottle, repeat for at least a month. For plants that show no infestation, spray the leaves and stems at recommended intervals for at least a month.

[nikkik]

I grow indoors in the winter too. I have two small children, two dogs and two cats, so I'm not comfortable spraying any plant indoors because a systematic makes that plant toxic for a period of time. And I have to many living beings that sometimes taste test my plants.

I have been very lucky that I have only had a few plants come with "travelers". On most of those I have used diatomaceous earth (food grade) and it has solved the issues. I have gotten rid of thrips and mealy bugs this way. It's completely nontoxic to us and pets, but apparently it causes bugs with exoskeletons to parish because it scratches them and causes dehydration. If it is wet it becomes much less effective, but I give my plants a good soaking and then a dry rest for a week while their coated in the powder and repeat.

Here's what I did: 1) soak the plant out of it's media for at least an hour (give a good spray of water to flush out any other pest; 2) repot; 3) sprinkle the diatomaceous earth on all the crevices of the plant and around pots with pests as a line of defense; and 4) as you water your plants you may need to repeat step three until the problem is resolved.

This may be slightly more tedious then chemicals, but I always try more of a green solution than pulling out the big guns and it has worked for me. I wish you much luck and I am sorry you received plants with pests, it is SOOO frustrating!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Yep that's Mr. mealy, Mrs. mealy will be wrapped in cotton looking patches. I had a big infestation one time when I got a huge Jade plant from a friend in Colorado. It took this thing a long time before it burst with them.

Then I got my orchids a bit to close they got on some of them. So here is my 2 cents. I kept them at bay for a long time, when they did finally move onto the orchids I finally had to throw out my Sherry babys, oncid's are a pain because they can get deeper into them.

I got great pleasure in squishing them. The only thing I would sometimes spray them with was neem oil. I don't like to use the chemicals unless I have to either. I was told neem when used on the soil will act like a systemic. I am not sure of this but I would put it in the water when I watered them sometimes. I'm sure it will kill the eggs. I isolated the orchids and just went over them every day and squished them. Also the jade plant.

And not sure if this helped but the one spider I let live in my house is the little jumping spiders. For some reason I like them so they live around my plants. I really do think they ate them but I guess I don't really know for sure. I just did a quick squish every day for a month or so and no more mealy's.

I even still have the huge jade plant and I haven't seen a mealy in over 2 years. I still haven't re-potted the jade plant as it is going to be such an undertaking. I'm not sure where to begin.

That Masde is going to be very easy to get under control. They just don't have to many places to hide. Not sure about all the others but I didn't think that phal's were to bad either.

Good luck, but don't throw them out just yet.