CLOSED: Pink Hibiscus mealy bug

Well it has finally happened to me. One of my hibiscus in the front yard has been attacked by the pink hibiscus mealy bug. I have called the Dept. of Agriculture to come out and release these special wasps to irradicate this malicious pest before it spreads to other plants throughout the neighborhood.

That's too bad. They're expected to infest all of Florida one of these days too, last I read. I wonder what kind of wasps they'll be using?

Thanks for the reply. I was contacted today by the Department of Agriculture, they will be here in the next few days....I will find out exactly what type of wasps they release....these wasps only feed on the pink hibiscus mealy bug....Cayman has had great success with these, along with the help of lady bugs.....here is a link to more information on this menace...I surely hope that we can contain it....

http://www.gov.ky/portal/page?_pageid=1142,1700669&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

I will post images of this pest and the series of events to irradicate them.....thanks again for the reply

Here is this malicious pest, the pink hibiscus mealy bug...The Department of Agriculture came by yesterday and confirmed it. They will return next week and release the wasps onto the plant and along with the lady bugs that are arriving, maybe we can irradicate this extremely harmful pest. The other hibiscus around this plant do not have any infestation at this time.

Here again is the link to the Department of Agriculture's pdf file containing all of the information and presentation of the Pink Hibiscus Mealy Bug (PHM) A very informative file that may be helpful to others living in tropical zones. Included in this presentation is a map of other infected areas. Please have a look, very informative and maybe we can get a handle on this pest. Thanks.

http://www.gov.ky/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/CIGHOME/FIND/ORGANISATIONS/AZAGENCIES/AGR/MEALYBUG/PHMPRESENTATION.PDF

thanks for posting this good information. i appreciate it!

caribblue, please post this on the Hibiscus forum as well, I'm sure they would like to know about it too. I'm trying to grow some Hibiscus for the first time this year, I'm looking forward to it. No Iguanas here , but I bet the Japanese beetles will love them...


http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/hibiscus/all/


edit: oops, I see that the Hibiscus forum is subscriber only, I'll post a link there so people can read this thread

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 1:25 PM

Good evening friends!!

Still waiting for the Dept. of Ag. to arrive with the wasps and lady bugs to start combating the mealy bug.....we had our long Easter weekend last week and that may have set them back...I will call again in the morning to remind them that this is critical now....the next hibiscus is showing signs of infestation....YIKES@!!!!!

I will subscribe soon and be able to gain access to the GOOD stuff!!!

Thanks Clay for posting the link....this s*%t is scary!!

Look for y'all soon,