Noticed my chlorantha wasn't looking so hot, checked it and low and behold found mealies all over it. Not only chlorantha, ds-70, and multiflora. The multiflora seems to continuously get them back. So I am ready to use a systemic. What would anyone recomend? I plan on treating all of my hoyas before I move them back in for the winter. I've tried the alcohol, and the sprays, but they are definitely not working, at least not on my multiflora. Everytime I get new flower buds forming on the multiflora, they drop. Is this due to the mealies? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
~Heather
Mealies
Heather - for me, the BEST is Bayer's Advanced formula for Tree and Shrub. Mixing 1oz per gallon, you pour it into the soil (soil dry as possible). It works as a systemic for up to 12 months (around here with all the rain, that equates to about 6 months). Often if there are mealies, there can be root mealies (living in the soil) and they can really diss a plant.... The active ingredient is Imidocloprid and it has no odor...In fact, I am in the process of treating all the plants in my greenhouse as I have seen ants about...also on a war against the ants.
In the meantime, you can spray the plants with water...mealies hate water!!!
Hope this helps.
Carol
I have a friend who has a problem she refers to as mealies, but I'm not sure that's what it is. It definitely comes from small flying insects and is a white blob - I've seen her wipe the white stuff off of a leaf and it wasn't there seconds before. She has an amazing solarium that has been emptied, and scrubbed top to bottom. She has lost dozens of plants, including hoyas - her compacta was just riddled with them, and nothing that she tried worked on any of the plants. I'm going to tell her to get some Bayers and see if that works on the heathens.
I literally dunked a Hoya compacta in a long tray of alcohol to get rid of mealies....vine by vine and bottles of alcohol!!! NADA, ZIP! I am a firm believer in Imidocloprid...and someday it won't work any more and we will have to use something else...so best not to use it unless you REALLY need to!!!
Orthinex works for me and hasn't harmed the hoya so far. It stinks to high heaven and is obviously toxic. I hate using chemicals in my garden as I'm always afraid of injuring the beneficial insects, the dogs, or us humans.
I tried being nice but the dish soap and habanero pepper concoction didn't work at all.
This message was edited Jul 29, 2005 4:47 PM
Okay, bayer it is, off to the garden center to find some!
Just wondering if I applied a product sold to me, systemic, how long should I wait to use the Bayer application. The "systemic" I had already purchased absolutely did not work. I found three more mealies on the plant today!
Heather
This message was edited Aug 1, 2005 8:57 PM
When did you use the other systemic? Can you control them with alcohol...spraying the whole plant will not hurt it....100%, and wait until your other systemic is "passed thru".... :)
Heather...how long ago did you apply the other systemic?
Just FYI...it does take a couple/few weeks to take effect.
I've been recently using the Bayer systemic too, and it does seem to work on the hoyas and some tropicals.....but I've used it on my Brugmansias and the spider mites and Earwigs still prevail!!
Carol.... wasn't it said that the 'formula' is 2 TBSP per gallon of water? I'm wondering if I should be using more on the Brugs?
Good luck, Heather!!
Gee, Nan...I have always used 1 oz (probably the same, more or less)... Unless there is a new formula, I don't think the Bayer works on Mites.... (#@%$^^*). Today I have to strip leaves off my seedlings, burn the leaves and spray for Mites (brugs).
It is funny...here Earwigs are a beneficial insect....they eat the badies! and don't eat the Brugs.
Carol
I must have applied the othe product about 11 days ago. It just doesn't seem to work. I will probably wait to use the bayer until I move them in for the summer. Hopefully, not for another couple of months. Hopeful thinking!!
Heather
Nan, Carol is right, the Bayer systemic dosn't work on mites. Here in San Francisco the mite problem is horrible for certain plants, especially in the fall, when it gets super dry and warm. I've given up spraying for them with anything but soap- the chemicals are too harsh and neem and other oils seem to slow down growth as well as respiration, and makes the leaves look plasticy. In fact, I usually don't spray Brugs at all, just make sure they're fertilized heavily and they usually keep a bit ahead of the mites with new growth. There is a fromulation of neem made of just the extract of the active chemical, which is much less oily, that you might try, but you have to spray all the time, which is my least favorite aspect of gardening.
The bayer systemic does work like gangbusters on mealy bugs, but it helps to take them outside and give them a hard spray with the hose, as the dead mealies and their cotton will hang around in the leaf axils forever.
Aha!! Guess i didn't read that label too thoroughly.
A few years ago, I was using Volck Oil Spray on my Brugmansias (outdoors) and it worked quite well on spider mites.
That year I had *loads* of blooms, too.
I'll have to check into that again.
Thanks for the info, folks....this is good to know.