Shew! fly, don't bother me,

[charlesf6]

Tiny white hijackers found on plant this evening. Any clue?

[Dollythehun]

Probably whiteflies.Do they zoom up when you touch the area around them? If so, Bayer three in One. Also treat the undersides of the leaves, that's where the eggs are. If it is whiteflies, they usually move in when the plants are stressed and humidity is low.

[estación seca]

Do those things fly? If so, agree with above. The larvae live on the undersides of leaves and are small translucent greenish yellow things, so small they are hard for many people to see.

They are probably on nearby plants, as well. The adults don't do the major damage; the larvae do. You can also kill them by spraying insecticidal soap solution, or 70% alcohol, on the undersides of the leaves.

This insect is why a lot of greenhouses have a piece of sticky yellow cardboard over the plants - the adults are drawn to it and get stuck before they can lay eggs. The sticky yellow trap also catches the first few adults and lets you know before an infestation really gets out of hand. You can make your own trap by smearing petroleum jelly over a piece of bright yellow plastic.

If those things don't fly, they look like egg cases of mealybugs or scale. That is a much worse problem.

[jkofferdahl]

I was leaning toward mealybugs myself. They can be a pain if that's what they are. With a new few appearing it's possible you just picked up strays, though I'd wonder where they originated.

When I have seen them, and mine came in on a plant from a well-known grower, I took extreme measures. You can attack scale the same way. If either gets out of control they can decimate a collection. First I clean the plant with isopropol alcohol. I like to use cotton balls, some spray it. I think you need to scrub them a bit, so I use the cotton. Then I unpot the plant and clean the roots. Next I spray the plant really thoroughly with insecticidal soap, roots and all, before repotting. While repotting, I dust with diatomaceous earth as I add media, and finally dust the plant itself. I'll gently rinse the DE off the next day, and it's fine if it drips into the pot. These bugs have an ugly life cycle, so I'll spray the plant with insecticidal soap on a weekly basis for a month. It's kind of the nuclear option, I guess, certainly overkill (pun intended) but these are nasties I don't want to fool with.

[charlesf6]

Well they didn't move at all. I took the plant outside and poked at them with it's wooden skewer and they fell off and with the aid of the wind just blew away.

There were only two of them on the top side of the leaves, would think that maybe it could be some foreign debris other than they looked so similar with their oval bullet shapes.

[Dollythehun]

Keep a watch on them. Closely.

[estación seca]

Sounds like scale or mealy bug. I would treat all your plants with a pesticide.

[Dollythehun]

Next time, if there is one, look at them with a magnifier.

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Keep a watch on them. Closely.

Now that I am watching them closely:



My Dendro has a couple of white dots + I gave it the alchohol rub (not a bad idea for myself either)
I also am getting suspicious of a few faint white smears
on my Cochleantes. (Going neurotic)

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Sounds like scale or mealy bug. I would treat all your plants with a pesticide.

Anything special (pesticide)? Most of my collection resides in the bedroom.

---------- Post added at 08:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Next time, if there is one, look at them with a magnifier.

I tried this with the tiny Dendro spots.
They became large white spots.