Sorry you're having such a HECTIC day klyde!! Hang in there, it will get better,lol Deep breaths...very good for you. Take a few more, then get some Neem oil, water and a drop or two of ivory soap and a good spray bottle. Mix according to directions on the bottle and spray every single leaf(don't forget under the leaves, branch, pot, saucer. Do this in the shade or bathtub. You don't want to do it in the hot sun. You can also use Alcohol, but I will let others tell you the proper dilution. Although, I've never really used it, I've heard you can use it solely w/out diluting it?

I'm sure others here will have other remedies...Good luck!!

Crazy day, huh Klyde! Everything happens at once - one of Murphy's many laws... I don't know why someone didn't off that guy before he made all those laws!! ;-)

Anyway, if you have a lot of plants, your going to need to watch them all like a hawk. It sounds terribly impractical, but after fighting mealies for years, I found the only way to keep them in check is the inspect each and every plant carefully every single time you water. Take them down, look under leaves, on leaf axils, under pot rims. You can't be too cautious because once you have them, you will never, ever be completely rid of them. And I don't know anyone who has grown more than a few plants who hasn't had them at some point. So don't feel alone...

I took to using Bayer's Tree & Shrub, but if you have kids and pets that could get into the plants, I wouldn't suggest anything terribly toxic. Isolate the plant! Then you can use the treatment suggested by Pug, though I've never used neem. Before BATS, I used rubbing alcohol - still keep a spray bottle of full-strength in the GH for those rare occasions I find one of the hideous creatures. Zap it with a stream... Or dip a Q-tip in alcohol and wipe them off. Check the plant every 7 days (which is their gestation period, from what I've heard) and every 7 days for at least a month or so.

As for the bella - BTW, bella is by and far one of the worst mealy magnets of all Hoyas IMO - I'm not sure what a white "crawly" bug would be, since by the time you see mealies, they aren't moving much at all. Could be baby mealies if they're very small. If so, I'd use the same method on them.

Most importantly, check all your other plants. Good luck and here's to dead mealies and paper plates!

Denise in Omaha

Thanks you two, I knew I could turn to my forum people. I have just a few questions. Can I really spray alcohol on plants without harm? Full strength you say?

I do have neem, but not Ivory soap, but on top of the above disaster, I do have to go for groceries, so I'll pick some up.

These critters on Bella are coming out of the bottom of the pot, are creamy and very fast moving. This spring I repotted Bella and included some orchid mix in the general mix I made up. It has quite a bit of wood chips. Could this be some kind of bug from that? Someone said maybe woodbug larvae? I don't think it is. Hold on I'm gonna go take another look...could it be fungus gnat larvae? They are longish, small, whitish and coming out of the bottom of the pot. Yuck. Triple yuck. I do have a FG problem as well. I try to let the plants dry a bit between waterings but that hasn't done much to lessen that problem. I think I can deal with the mealies. Diligence, diligence, diligence. Any further thought on the FG's?

Much appreciated...

I have a recipe at home to catch gnats if I can find it.
I also use straight alcohol with a Q tip to get what I can see, then sometimes spray the leaves too. Heard once that you shouldn't let the alcohol get on the roots. Then I use BATS as said above as a soil drench, (water with it).

shanna

Yes, you can spray it on full strength. If I find a mealy, I'll thoroughly spray every nook and cranny I can get at (as Shanna said, avoid the soil as much as possible...), then let it sit a few minutes, then I'll spray it with plain water to wash off the alcohol. Not that it hurts to leave it - I just don't like the smell. Then I hang it in a shady spot until the next day. If you put it right back in the sun, the alcohol create spots.

As for fungus gnats, there's another thread towards the top that started out about VF-11 and down towards the bottom, they talk about FG, so take a look at that. I don't really have much problem with them since I started using VF-11.

Denise in Omaha

I will certainly check out that thread, but I do not believe VF-11 is available in Canada. How is is possible that something you spray on the leaves tackes FG's? Right, read the thread...

For fungus gnats, you can get some mosquito dunks, crumbles some bits off it, and sprinkle on top of your soil, so that when you water your plants, it waters the stuff in. It isn't toxic, it's a strain of bacteria that gets ingested by the larvae, which then makes the larvae unable to feed, and they starve to death. I put this in my terrarium, which got a rather bad infestation from an orchid I brought in my house that was infested. Wiped them out quickly, and I haven't seen them since (I think it was a few months ago that I did this.)

Klyde...I'd suggest that you do it the quickest and cheapest route...water the plants with BATS...raise out of reach of children and pets...and you're all set. Neem Oil, though useful, will not kill Mealy bugs...their bodies are too hard for the oil. Neem oil doesn't "kill", it suffocates the insects...and mealies are too hard-bodied to die from it. I've had little success with alcohol...even using the 91% alcohol. After months of trying Neem and alcohol and zero results...I tried the BATS and that was the end of mealies...and almost every other kind of pest. I've never used a product that worked so effectively (thanks Denise!) Please, never use BATS on African Violets! Or if you HAVE to, try it at 1/4 strength and hope for the best. Mix BATS at 2 tablespoons to a gallon of water and water it in...it takes time to work...but, you're finished...hopefully for a full year. Best wishes, Patrick

Why can't you use it on African violets? I used the Rose and Flower version on my African violets, with no harm done. It's got the same active ingredients, I believe.

Patrick - I think you're thinking of scale... they're the hard-bodied ones. Little brown shells on stems & leaves. Mealies are the white cottony ones, soft, turn yellow and die with a spray of alcohol. But the BATS is really the most effective for either.

Denise in Omaha

Quinn and Denise...please keep in mind that I'm no expert when it comes to bugs...I've had plants for over 40 years and never experienced "bugs". I'm speaking only of what I've learned from searching the internet (Yahoo...mealy bugs...where they state that Neem will not harm them due to them being "hard-bodied") I'm only speaking from experience from this summer...the Neem and the alcohol, despite many applications, didn't even lessen the mealy bug problem. I had mealy bugs on my Bird's Nest fern, my Stephanotis Jasmine, one Carnosa krimson queen and an entire shelf of African Violets. After many applications, the situation only worsened. I tried BATS on all 4 types listed above...it killed the violets (other than 2 or 3 leaves in the center of each plant), but, it totally restored the other three plants...they're all bursting with new growth. The KQ is absolutely gorgeous again...new pink leaves sprouting everywhere. Mealy bugs cannot be missed on a bird's nest fern...and there's been no evidence of any mealy bugs since...and new growth is sprouting like crazy. Honestly, I started wondering if BATS had a "fertilizer booster" in it!!! LOL I'm sorry if I've offended anyone...I was just hoping my own experience would save someone the trouble and expense of trying other things...which had no help for me at all. I feel so ecstatic over the results of BATS...though it's a poison, it certainly works. I'm nearly finished treating ALL of my plants with BATS, other than my Nepenthes. I pray that the Nepenthes never show signs of mealy bugs..I'm afraid they'd be like the AVs and die...but, I'll use it if I ever notice a single bug on one of them. Klyde, please be "certain" to keep your cockatiels away from any plant treated with BATS...all birds love potting soil...and this chemical would kill them in short order. Move the plants to a room inaccessable to your birds. I've been involved with birds for most of my life, and travel the U.S. and Canada giving seminars on avian care and breeding. I think this treatment is very effective, doesn't need to be repeated for a full year and is no more difficult to treat than "watering" a plant. Again, I apologize profusely if I offended anyone..I'll try to remain quiet. Best wishes, Patrick

Look on the growing tips if vines and new developing leaves. I think mealies are just a part of growing Hoyas, sooner or later you are bound to find one.

I use either insecticidal soap or neem oil/dish soap solution and it works well. I simply take the plants to the bathtub and give them a good spraying with the solution, spray again in a week or so.
Many growers use Bayer products or other insecticides that contain Imidicloprid and they do work well but they are toxic and very harmful to the environment. I know this is a controversial subject but people need to realize the effects that many pesticides have on their health and the environment. We are killing the worlds pollinating insects simply so we can enjoy pest free plants or agricultural crops. Pests are part of nature and we need to accept that there are going to be pests present and just try to stay one step ahead of them by checking plants often and using a simple and inexpensive solution like a dish soap or insecticidal soap solution to deal with the problem. A Q tip dipped in alcohol is another very easy and inexpensive way to remove most plant pests you might find.

Please read the article in the link.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Imidicloprid and Bees

I wasn't offended, I was just curious if there was some reason I'd never heard of. I'm very happy with the Bayer Rose and Flower Insect Killer, which is basically the same thing as the BATS I think. (I couldn't find the BATS.) It does what it's supposed to. I was just sharing that I used it on African violets with no ill effects. But I didn't spray the leaves at all, just the soil. I did try the neem spray on some AVs once, and they died quickly afterwards. I think they didn't enjoy getting wet. Now when I use neem, I just dilute it ever so slightly with water, and apply it directly with a q-tip.

Anyway, I especially like using the Bayer stuff because I don't have to spray it all over the place, just into the soil. It feels less toxic that way.

Oh, you posted while I was posting, Mike. I have a question. Is it really so bad to use the imidicloprid if the stuff never gets anywhere besides the soil of plants you keep indoors? I don't drain any of it anywhere, I don't spray it outside, I only use it on my indoor potted plants and in my terrariums, which are pretty much closed systems (and in which mealies can get quite out of hand.) The only thing I've used outside is slug/snail bait, which is supposed to be nontoxic.

When using the product indoors you are not going to be affecting the pollinating insects but you are still likely to be exposing yourself to the chemicals.

Read the info in the link and decide weather the benefits outweigh the risk of using this product. I used to use Orthene insecticide which has the same active ingredient but have not for about four years. These products have a not so pleasant scent although so does insecticidal soap. I just want to make sure that people know that many of the chemical insecticides are causing serious problems and that product info and education should be the first step before deciding to use them or not.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Pesticide info

Everyone I cannot empasize enough how much I appreciate all of your advice. It is great to get so much feedback.

Whilst I am keen to get rid of the mealies and the FG larvae (pretty sure that's what it is), I've always been extremely cautious about applying chemicals especially in the house. My house is teeny, probably smaller than most of your garages, and isolating my plants after spraying is not a possibility. I am pretty confident I can get on top of the mealies now that I realize I have them. Diligence is key I guess. The fungus gnats are another story. Please do not tell me to let my plants dry out a bit as that simply does not work around here. I cannot let ferns an begonias dry to the point that it affects the larvae. I'm not familiar with mosquitoe dunks, it that a kind of BTK? I have heard that the Israelensis (sp?) variety of BTK is very effective with the FG larvae but am having a devil of a time locating any in Victoria. It is available for commercial use, but I cannot afford or use up the large amount I would have to buy. Any thoughts on this method? I am somewhat more, but not entirely, comfortable with applying that around children, myself and our new addition (pearl chick cockatiel name Ziggy).

I read in another forum in GW where a lady used a half of a raw potato. She said potato slices didn't work only a half of a raw potato worked. The FG larvae are attracted to it. You check it now and then and throw it away when it gets gross with larvae and cut a new one to replace it.
Be sure when you get rid of the infected potato you take it outside to the trash rather than into the kitchen trash.
Cheap and worth a try! Let us know if it works!,,,,Debbie

I absolutely will give that a try and let you know! Thanks for the tip.

Kelly in Victoria

I keep a carnivorous Mexican Pinguicula to help catch the adult gnats but I have never had a serious gnat problem so not sure if it would be enough. These are fun plants to grow, they help control gnats and they're beautiful.

Here are some photos of my Pinguculas, the second flower if the plant that is currently in bloom.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Some online info on Pings

I grow a few sundew and they help a lot with little flying bugs.I have one in the kitchen and it seems to catch all the summer fruit fly's.

Cindy