Here is the story of jasmine granduke that I have bought from a local nursery last fall for 20dollars. The plant is 4ft tall,in topiary form. I saw the nursery started with $70 on these plants and this was the only one left that they had it fo 30 and when I asked for 20 they sold it to me,because they do not have a big greenhouse to hold it. At the time of buying I did not notice any visible pest on it otherwise I would not have bought it. But when I bought it home in September, I have noticed it did have mealy bugs that started spreading to my other plants. I seperated the plant and took care of it like a baby by using neem oil, alcohol tips to wipe the cotton mealy bugs families as they appear.

The plant survived through winter and now I moved it on to my deck. I had hig maintainence of all my jasmines this year because of mealy buy infestation, almost every plant survived and now all are outside. The tree grandduke is budding up with new greenshoots, looks very health, but today I have noticed mealy bugs inside the thick stem peel and next to the wooden pole the plant trunk is tied to. I scraped all that and pulled the wood stick out and trashed it thinking that the wooden stick to hold the plant trunk is encouraging this bugs to have a nice place to breed. Even though the plant looks healty I am in confused that is this worth keeping the plant and taking it indoors again slaving for it? I just can't get rid of these mealy bugs even outdoors? It is 90degrees outside doesn't that kill that bug? Need your advice, the plant looks healthy otherwise. I have few months before I make that decision to bring it in or trash or give it away to someone who can take care of it. I just don't want this to spread to my other tropicals. I will try to post a picture soon. thanks