I use neem oil on my plants and spray EVERY plant b4 I bring it ANYWHERE NEAR my others. It gets quarried for ATLEAST a month. This seems to help me. Neem oil also gives the plants kind of like a boost too. You need to make sure you spray the underneath of leaves very well. it's natural coming from a tree. Hope this helps! :)

Sorry it duplicated

This post was edited by LilBit7765 on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 13:56

Sounds like a mealy bug problem, but without pics, hard to provide an educated treatment plan because we don't know what we are treating! As suggested Neem Oil might work but the problem is this particular treatment can cause burning if you place the plant in bright light after treatment. I like systemic insecticides like imidacloprid. Also, if the infestation is limited, a spraying of 50% rubbing alcohol may work; again we don't know what we are treating.

This post was edited by bikerdoc5968 on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 13:57

Mealy builds a cottony web. The bugs are white with a tail.
Post pics.

Mealy and scale are killed with alcohol, but, one cannot leave the plants in sunlight or during very hot weather. I've had black spots burn into my cactus with this as well as systemic insecticide that fell on the plant bodies.

Permethrin spray is very good at killing mealy. Just use with same caution.

Best time to to treat an infestation is in the cooler evening hours and leave in shade for at least a few days.

Hi, sorry. They are hard to photograph, as they are so small. this picture shows some of them. i picked a large one off, and it has a "tail" so is probably a mealy bug, though there is no webbing that i can see. Can you please tell me if sunlight is a problem once the alcohol is dry? How long should I keep them in a safe shady spot? Thanks, Janine

That is most certainly mealy. Isolate the plant and have at it with whatever works. Another option is to mix just a few drops of liquid soap without the fragrance kind with imidacloprid or the pyrethrins/permethrins or whatever insecticide you wish to use. The soap decreases the surface tension of the water so the mealies get "wet" with the insecticide. This is one reason why spraying doesn't work, sometimes. You spray and the plant gets wet but the bugs repel the spray. In addition, you may have to treat the soil with a systemic.

This post was edited by bikerdoc5968 on Sun, Aug 24, 14 at 18:50