Is This a Mealy bug ?

[Anton]

I was checking my plants this evening (daylight savings at present) and found this little bug-ger slinking out of my newly potted D.kingianum keiki pot.

Not only that, but another reared it's ugly little body out of the potting mix whilst I was photographing the one on the edge of the pot.

Are they mealy bugs ?
Do they do any damage ?
What do they do ?
I sprayed the Den and potting mix with Pest Oil, will this help ?

Never seen one of these before, ugly little buggers.

[mayres]

The color looks correct but the overall shape of the ones I have to contend with look more like those in the link following. Yes they suck the life's blood out of your orchids! At least for me in my home environment they are the only major pest I have to deal with (so far). I believe to some or maybe even all extent - I have the armies of local ants to blame for this - they bring the young ones (or eggs) in - when they start sucking on your orchids the plants produce a sap-like substance that the ants then thrive on. My defence at this point is Bayer rose and flower systemic spray - seems to work fairly good but I have to stay with it every 30 days. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...LD:en%26sa%3DN

[arleneg]

It looks like a type of mealy bug.

Right now, I'm battling the same problem, but with my Onc. incurvum. I'm finding them on the spike and inside between the developing buds and spike stem. So far, about 10% of the buds aren't opening because of these suckers.

At this time, I'm spraying with alcohol every few days. I think I'll be moving on to spraying with a little Indoor Pharm solution, if I see more emerge from the bud/spike. However, I don't like the idea of losing the buds and flowers.

[Anton]

Mike, seems mine are identical except for the "tail".

That description from the link describs them perfectly.

Maybe the Ozzie ones are a bit different.

The Pest Oil that I am using has the same constituents as the Bayer Rose Spray, I checked it out.

Thanks for the help.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

The Rose spray has imidacloprid and a systhetic pyrethrin, don't remember the exact one, but it is the imidacloprid you want to make sure it has, and I have found it takes a while to kill them, and probably a good idea to repeat it a few times.

[Anton]

Which gets back to an idea I had a while ago, ...take the potting mix out and nuke it in the microwave, that should teach em a lesson.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, probably not, since the eggs are probably attached to the roots, so you nuke the mix, and the eggs hatch into this nice sterile mix. What ever happend to those mysterious bugs you sent me the video of?

[Anton]

Good question cynthia, I think the Pest Oil zapped them.

I have repeated it after 2 weeks, and seems to be working....... I think.

Last week I found a concentrated form of the Pest Oil which is to be diluted and used to refill the spray bottle, so I poured a bit around the base of the plant, then watered it. Hopefully it has soaked down and will do the job.

[Joaniep]

Hi,
On Long Island in NY imidacloprid is banned as it's contaminating the water system. Can anyone suggest a good substitute that is environmentally friendly and successful for getting rid of mealies ?

[prisana]

Yup. It's mealy..I've got a whole tree full of them right now..raining down like abominable snowflakes when the wind blows..if you ever find out how to get rid of them forever, please let me know. :-)

[Anton]

Burn the tree down ?

[kmarch]

Hi Anton,

There is good news here. Fortunately (in my humble opinion) mealy bugs are one of the easier pests to get rid of. I use PestOil which is readily available here in Australia, isn't as horribly toxic as other insecticides, and seems to get rid of mealies quite well. Some use isopropyl alchol (spelling?) and a cotton swap and dap it directly on the pests.

-Kevin

[Anton]

That's EXACTLY what I use, and now I have a concentrate that you can refill the spray bottle with, rather than having to by a new spary bottle every time you empty it.

Also means one less container going to the tip.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Joan, you're not going to make a gnats eye's worth of difference to the water table. Next trip over the border of the restricted area, ...

[Anton]

Thanks to Dennis posting a site on pests I now know that the mealybug I photographed is a Longtailed mealybug, Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni-Tozzetti).

I think my picture is better than the one on that other Website on pests.

[turkeytaker]

I had really great success on one of my epis completely covered in mealies...

I had a spray bottle of Lysol, All Purpose, 3 in 1, Lemon Breeze cleaner in the bathroom I use for my plants and blasted it. The mealies are dead and the plant seems to be fine. Curiosity killed the mealies.

I've got another epi that's going to get the same treatment. I'll see how it works.

[Anton]

AND, it leaves that clean fresh smell...............

[Kevin Western]

Hi Anton,
Zacchary right! That's a mealy bug for sure but they usually sport something of a tail too.
Best trick for your type of collection is either a pressure pack of Confidor or Folimat sprayed under the leaves and over the top of the pot once every week for 4 weeks. This get the critters and their babies when they hatch out too. Yep they are a pest. The damage is insidious as they seem to be sap suckers and rob the life out of plants that are heavily infected. They also seem to impact on flower quality and often even migrate up to the succulent buds and sheaths. I definitely recommend to zap-em!
Kevin W

[Anton]

Luckily Kevin it was just in the Phal which lives inside.

I have since taken the potting mix out of the pot and nuked it in the microwave and put it back, NOTHING has crawled out since.

[ladybbugs62]

Although I'm a newbie to orchids, I'm a fair gardener otherwise. We tend to have pounds on mealies on our tomatoes here in deep south texas (none on my orchids thank God!). You might try making a spray out of dishwashing liquid and water. Spray on the offending mealies and they're soon dead. Doesn't hurt the tomatoes but have never tried it on orchids.

[tweedip]

In fact it's a predator of mealy bugs... in the family Coccinellidae.
Go see for yourself

www . sterlinginsectary.com/bene_mealybugdestroyer . html

It is now used as a biological agent to control mealy bugs... I've been using it myself and it works better when it is in a closed greenhouse. If the windows are open, the insect will fly out during its adult stage
Enjoy!

Originally Posted by Anton

I was checking my plants this evening (daylight savings at present) and found this little bug-ger slinking out of my newly potted D.kingianum keiki pot.

Not only that, but another reared it's ugly little body out of the potting mix whilst I was photographing the one on the edge of the pot.

Are they mealy bugs ?
Do they do any damage ?
What do they do ?
I sprayed the Den and potting mix with Pest Oil, will this help ?

Never seen one of these before, ugly little buggers.

[Sharyn]

I read this today and was a bit surprised.

Zachos, Ellen, Orchid Growing for Wimps, Pests & Diseases Section,
pg 107, paragraph 2:

"Immature mealybugs can and do move around, so plan a twofold attack. (You need to eliminate all stages of mealybugs or the reproductive cycle will continue.) First, spray foilage with a 10% solution of rubbing alcohol, i.e., nine parts water to one part alcohol. Repeat after ten days. Then, collect a few used cigarette butts. Peel the paper off the filters and poke them in the potting mix. The nicotine absorbed by the cigarette's filter is an effective insecticide."

The above quote is, of course, not the only remedy suggested in her book. I've heard of using water soaked with nicotine in the garden, but have not ever seen this remedy for mealybugs in orchids. Don't worry............don't have any mealys and won't be using this remedy. Just wondered what you think.

[fred]

I have never tried that and I am not that keen to try it either
I will stick to the rubbing of alcohol and also on my cyms I use Malathion diluted then used again ten days later

[norris]

I would hesitate using nicotine from cigarette butts, as I've heard that you shouldn't smoke when gardening because you can transmit tobacco mosaic virus to garden plants. Just a thought.

[Greenhouse Gal]

Good Morning All,
Tweedip is right. The picture at the top of this discussion is a mealy bug destroyer. See this link please: Mealybug Predator Cryptolaemus montrouzieri - GreenMethods.com

The same site has some "nice" pictures of at least one type of mealy bug at: Scale Insects and Mealybugs - GreenMethods.com

I have released these several times for mealy bug control in institutional greenhouses. They do an alright job. I have also had them feed on other scales, always a nice side benefit.

When you see "mealy bugs on steroids" or "coarse" looking mealy bugs they are often these good bugs. (Sort of ashame that the good guys are so hard to tell from the bad guys, but isn't that the way of life?)

[glossterline]

Hi Fred. I am interested to see that you can use malathion. I did not realise that such organophosphates were still available for domestic use. In the UK, insecticides based on this class are no longer available. I have regreted this because they were very effective, and they were not residual.
Les

[Sushibuddy]

It is a mealy bug destroyer. I am thinking if you have these on your orchid, you may have mealy bugs. See this link.

Sterling Insectary: Information on the Western Predatory Mite

I discovered these bugs on my Phal...nuked it with lysol spray and then sprayed it with dish soap and cinnamon concoction I read and followed instruction being given by articuno75...its all gone and hope it wont come back!

[Greybeard]

You'll have to try to get a better close up, I was unable to get a good look. If you did get rid of it try looking for pics of the little pest in the threads on pests if you can remember it's appearence Hope you got rid of em

[Emma Grey]

If you are talking about the little fuzzy thing on one of your blooms, I'd venture to say that it IS a mealy, but a better picture would be nice. There are several newer threads on mealies in the pests and diseases section of the forum that have ideas for ridding your plants of them.