Root Mealy's

Does anyone know of any natural methods of killing Root Mealy's ?
I have used Confidor with great success but I have recently been reading that confidor has been linked to CCD (colony collapse disorder) even with native bee's. So i'm keen to keep my bee's but dont want to loose half my spiny's to the sap sucking, fungus spreading vermin.

Hey shortly.

If you're wacking root mealies in pots I don't think that Confidor would be a problem. It won't be making it into the environment like the stuff that is sprayed on commercial crops, and as you said it is a wonder - in fact, I'm going to be using some of my stash today to knock off an infestation, that was carried in by ants onto some of my epis, that I missed before.

It's bizarre actually - I've watched ants tend aphids, but I was surprised to see them doing the same with mealies on my epis and huernias. Mistaken identity, or do mealies reward the ants too, as aphids do?

Anyway, if there's any sign of ants consider baiting those buggers as well, just to be sure...

Oh many different ants definitely "farm" mealys including the subterranean spp.

All most all of my cacti are in pots & many under "glass" but I'm not keen to risk my new hive, given that its only 20' from the main glasshouse. My bees have already found the mamm's flowering in there.

Has anyone tried a dip of permethrin or tobacco tea ?

Now i'm gonna have to build covers to prevent hybrids when i'm trying to get seed.

Hey WoodDragon have you any Confidor left? I have them big time...just thought id ask before i go to Bunnings to get ripped off

tobacco tea, certainly works IME with mealy [which is definately farmed by ants], but like all bio/nonsynthetic methods , you need to spray more than once.... Good thing is that contrary to what you can do with soap/spirit solution, you can water the tobacco tea if it is to eliminate root-mealies.... I try to remove most with hand at first, then spray...

Hey blowng.

I've pm'd ya about the Confidor - I do have some left.

I had to whack most of my epis with it today. The mealies have absolutely burgeoned over the last week or two whilst I've been mostly away from the hothouse (they were helped by ants), and indeed one of my best epis had its central stem so infested that it's rotted to the middle at the point where the mealies congregated.

I can't believe how quickly they took hold on the epis. But what a pleasure to hit them with the Confidor - they just fell off as soon as they were touched with it. I noticed that there were zillions of babies being washed out of the fluff balls, so I hope that they're all caught too - in the end I'll probably vary treatment with baccy tea and such, although I'm still trying to track down some rustica seed after Aussie Post lost the lot that I snaffled at AE.

My hoodias have also been attacked. I have them growing in clear pots, so I can actually see the mealies around the roots too - very instructive... I'll be watching with keen interest to see if the root mealies cark it as quickly as the ones on the stems.

Gawd, I hate the bloody things...

How to control Mealy Bug on roots and surface.

Rogor is all I use pretty much, but once you have them they're never gone.

Question: Will bare rooting my plants, and then spraying the roots and body with a systemic pesticide, and then keep them dormant till spring be better at this time of year? .........Come spring I will nuke the soil before repotting, and take other preventative measures .

Quote :

but once you have them they're never gone.

if you can't avoid something learn to live with it.

I have avoided to use synthetics so far, I have only used fungicide for the cactus seed sowings in closed box.

Well root mealy the one's on top of the surface arent bad cause i can controll them but the root one are going bezerk. In 2008 i used systemic insecticde rogor confidor and crown so insects would not build imunity thought they were all gone i was slack last year and didnt use insecticide like year previous now i am going to pay for it threw out three nice sulcos today not happy. Any way i am going to remove effected plants wash roots clean dry then put in new soil come spring time i am really going to stick to posion like i did in 08 but until then its going to cleaning the roots dont like to do this at this time of year but never mine. The thing thats wierd is they are only in one house in one corner so befoer it gets worse ill isolate infected plants. I was using metho and water at half/half but some of the wax coated plants and blue ones dont like it so ive gone back to confidor. JUst hope i get on top of it lucky i noticed when i did as this time of year i am not up there every day looking over everything.

I have recently had to deal with some root mealies on my hoodia collection. My approach is simple - un-pot, blast the mealies off the roots with high pressure hose. then dry in a well ventilated area. once dry I give the roots a spray with confidor and repot. I then spray the rest of the plant.

I guess it will be ongoing but im using the exact same approach and this seems ok just alot of work then im isolating the newly repotted plants and will give secound spray in a fortnight from first spray. I noticed they seem to love the plants on heat mats and with more potting mix in soil.