Thanks to members of this forum I've begun to use Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub or BATS for my colonies of mealie bugs . The question now is how long does it take to kill these pests? It's been a couple of days now with no results that I can see. The dose that I was told to use is an ounce per gallon (2 tablespoons).
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks again.
Ray Bayer
Mealie Bugs and BATS
Ray,
In addition to BATS, it would be very helpful to use rubbing alcohol directly on the mealies you see. I would take the whole hoya and spray every crevice of it with rubbing alcohol (I just put it into a sprayer bottle and keep it on hand). Make sure you get under the leaves, at the nodes, and on the peduncles.
Good luck,
Gabi
Ray - There needs to be some time for the BATS to take effect. You can hasten it by spraying the whole plant with 100% full strength rubbing alcohol - all over those places Gabi mentioned. To get the maximum effect from BATS...the plants should be drenched with the BATS while sitting in a pan and sit there after watering for a few moments while the plant is able to absorb more sitting in the pan.... The affects are supposed to be effective for up to 10mos./year.
Did you let the BATS soak in the pots for a good while ? If you didn't, the plant wouldn't have
'sucked ' it up, which would not make it undesirable to the mealies....
I also noticed, on my Pothos ( not hoya ) that I had to give it 2 treatments of the BATS, along with
alcohol treatments and showers, to finally get rid of them all.
HTH
Paula
Oops, I guess I was posting as you were too Carol !
Sorry to repeat....
Thanks everyone. When you all say to soak the hoya do mean to put it in a saucer and let the plant suck up the water or to submerege the plant in the solution?
Pardon my density!
Ray
This message was edited Sep 1, 2008 3:56 PM
To get the maximum effect from BATS...the plants should be drenched with the BATS while sitting in a pan and sit there after watering for a few moments while the plant is able to absorb more sitting in the pan... The affects are supposed to be effective for up to 10mos./year.
Yes.
I let mine sit in the "BATS bath" for a half a day and it didn't do them any harm at all. To define a BATS bath: sit your plant in a deep saucer or bowl and water it with the BATS solution until it comes out the bottom of the pot; let the plant sit in this "bath" for as long as you're comfortable. If the plant soaks it up, pour more in. I don't know that the half day is necessary but it didn't seem to me that a few minutes was enough to let it circulate through some of the plants that have longer vines. It still takes some time before new critters stop appearing, and yes, keep that spray bottle of alcohol working to kill the evil little monsters that you can see. But this double whammy will definitely work.
Christine
Okay...that's what I thought. In fact they're still sitting in their BATS bath now and it's been about 5 hours. I'm going out now to empty the saucers.
Thanks again everyone.
Ray
Christine, I think you hit it on the head, allowing the plant to sit in the liquid for a few hours. I try to wait until the soil is pretty dry as well, to get it top really absorb all of the mixture it can. If you hit the plant with a strong enough dose (2 tbsp/gallon is what I use), that usually seems to kill all of the adults in a week or two. I usually let it sit until I think they are all dead and then blast the plant with a hose to get all the carcasses and eggs off the plant.
The alcohol (or insecticidal soap) spray would hurry the process along.
Be careful with plants that are prone to spider mites- imidacloprid (BATTS) doesn't kill them, and can sometimes make them worse.