Subject: Re: Indoor problem: mealybugs on hoya

From: [email-masked] (Martin Tom Brown)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 10:03:54 +0000

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] "
" writes:

> I'm always fighting mealybug and looking for organic way to beat those 
> mealybug back. On my fruit trees they turn the fruit black.   Let me know if 
> someone comes up with a good idea.

I'm curious as a cactus and succulent grower I sometimes have problems with
mealy bug and generally use a powerful pesticide (malathion) to control it.
Choice is limited because the plants mark very easily with some pesticides.

Some folk claim to be able to control mealy with a concoction of
Safers' soap in water and Isopropyl alcohol - have tried it?
Does it work for you? For me it just gives cleaner mealy bugs. YMMV

Regards,
-- 
Martin Brown  <[email-masked]>     __                CIS: 71651,470
Scientific Software Consultancy             /^,,)__/

---

From: jdtruss @ island.net (John D. Truss)
Date: 19 Feb 1995 07:38:04 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Martin Tom Brown) says:
>
>In article <[email-masked]>
>           [email-masked] "Kenneth A Robb" writes:
> 
>> I guess those beautiful streptocarpus I bought a couple years ago came 
>> from a bad source--they brought along a mealybug infestation and despite 
>> everything I could do--touching each with an alcohol-soaked Q-tip, soap 
>> bath, even (groan)spray (rotenone) and then a systemic--they killed off the 
>> streptocarpus, then spread to a ten+ year old hoya.  I've tried the same 
>> things and nothing seems to stop them.  You know how tight the leaves 
>> grow to the stems on hoyas, so it's almost impossible to reach them all 
>> with a Q-tip.  The systemics I've used smell but don't work.  Any 
>> suggestions? 
>
>It's always worth quarantine of new plants for a while to check for latent
>pests - especially mealy and red spider (which are common in greenhouses).
>
>Since you now have a problem - I'd suggest using malathion outside, and
>spray at least 3 times at two week intervals to kill them as they hatch.
>It usually works for me (on cacti), but some plants may mark. 
>
>If you are more organically inclined, Safer's soap & a trace of alcohol
>is supposed to work too (for me it just gives clean mealy bugs). YMMV
>
>Hope this helps.
>Regards,
>-- 

I'm very new at the Internet and so I hope this article has the correct 
headings etc. 
 
I have a very old Hoya carnosa that became infested with mealy bug
 and the only thing that seemed to work was a continued treatment of 
Orthene (acephate) sprays at 10 day intervals for a month.  
It is very smelly, but has a relatively low toxicity and is systemic.  
Hope this is of some help.

John D. Truss