Lovely. Are the plants on a rack of some sort? Looks very nice, and you will enjoy them all summer. Thanks for sharing

I don't blame you for giving up on the plant. Sometimes it's just not worth it. I have a house plant with mealybugs sitting outside. I'm thinking I'm going to walk it to the trash. I just don't feel like fooling with it.

Beautiful!!!! This is the best weather!! My succulents love spring and fall, I dread summer though.

i have an e. black prince with terrible mealy bugs. Today I set it on top of garbage can, not inside yet but sitting on top. It's a beautiful plant, lots of heads but I can't get rid of them.

Holy macaroni what nice plants:)!

I've thrown away plants because I just can't anymore. If I have worked and worked and that plant still gets meallies(meallybugs are usually my issue) then I will throw away. I don't want to risk my other plants health.

This year I'm turning over a new leaf:). I'm going to really try to quarantine my new plants. I think that will help a ton. Usually I buy a plant and then just put it out with my other plants, but not anymore. We'll see how long that lasts;).

How much do you water your echies?

Kara, I keep them, particularly the 4" pots, on the dry side. During the winter everything goes completely dry before I water.

In the summer because of very low humidity up here the small pots get watered every day, the larger pots every other day. The cactus get watered when I remember.

Crassula Campfire is a magnet for mealybugs but I keep working on it. However I've started some babies both from leaves and cuttings so the mother plant may get heaved.

Ok good to know. So you water your echies a lot. In the summer I water once every 7-10 days. That's not enough because they always lose their size and drop bottom leaves. They get to dry and shed whatever leaf that's not important. I wanna try to get my echies huge with a bunch of leaves like yours:).

Thats why I do not own campifire because of that reason and that reason alone;). I even see them covered already with meallies at the BBS. I don't need that. They are pretty when they're screaming red:).

Beautiful plants, Dave!

My black prince sitting on garbage can, should I or shouldn't I? I thought about buying some Bayer sticks and see if that kills the mealies. Alcohol and this spray I bought does nothing

I sprayed with a 3in1 spray last fall, would it still hurt ladybugs? I might order some. Do you have link where you bought yours?

I wouldn't put Ladybugs on it just in case, but then when I think about it, if the friggin meallies are still alive? The ladybugs should be ok. I got the Echeveria in my pic from Home Depot. So most likely it came from Altman's. I already have a BP, but the one above was pretty big. It's in a gallon container, and a little over 8 inches across. Usually when I find them they're in little 3 or 4 inch pots. I didn't need it, but it was cheap. Plus I was impressed by it's size. That's what she said;). I know that was stupid.

Oh no, not stupid. I'm a sucker for a large stunning specimen also. You asked how readily available here, same as you, usually small 3 in pot . I may totally unpot mine and get down way underneath for those mealies, what have I got to lose.

I agree! Make those meallies even sorry they came to your yard;). I bought a PVN a couple months ago just because it was big. I have 3 inch PVNs sprinkled all over my yard, but this one is at least 6 inches wide. That's big for a PVN:).

Here is a chart I have for beneficials versus insecticides. Not sure why Hippodamia are not listed (ladybugs) but maybe there is further documentation.

Sorry the image quality is bad, I don't own a scanner, my book is soft cover, and it's at night. =)

For the notes on ladybugs, it says do not release in direct sunlight. Optimal storage temperature is 8-10C.

Really nice plants Dave. Mine have really good color right now too, although we haven't had as much winter chill as usual. Re Black Prince, I can't seem to grow it wihtout it being deformed from mealies and aphid. I ave read that it is known to be extra vulnerable, and I have pretty much given up. I have at least 160 varieties and am able to grow clean plants with all but a handful of varieties, Black Prince/King/Knight are all on my no buy list now, having wasted time and money on them too many times.....

I do think at one point the big ol BP in my pic had meallybugs at least one point because the center growth is all wavy like. The Echeveria doesn't have them now so I'm not totally sure, but it has that funny growth in the center growth that meallies are famous for.