Root MealyBug Treatment

Hi,

While potting on some greenhouse overwintered Fuchsias we found one that was not growing as well as the others and once knocked out of the pot it was clear to see a large infection of Root Mealybugs.

Closer inspection of the other plants, though growing strongly, also had some smaller traces of these bugs.

Looking on the web, seems a 'hot' water 46c treatment does work, also Hydrogen Peroxide added to a drench of water was suggested but no details of the dilution other than add a splash !

Am currently doing a drench / soak of hot water plus a dilution of Provado Concentrate which they claim kills mealbug, though expect it will not affect the eggs ?

Is there any other method of control worth doing or any better product than Provado as we do ot want to discard these plants if possible ?

Busy checking all of the new year plants in the greenhouse, so far clear, but again on a larger scale is there any regular preventative method we can use ?

 

Neem oil, insecticidal soaps, and diatomaceous earth are all organic options available to control mealybug populations. As mentioned above, diatomaceous earth can be mixed into the soil. Insecticidal soaps and Neem oil can be used as a drench on some plant varieties. Neem drench works as a systemic insecticide as well.Diatomaceous earth is a natural and organic insecticide that kills insects by breaking their exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate.

 

Thanks, do have some small bottles of Neem and Castile which sound useful as a preventative measure for in the pot and above.

Not sure about using Diatomaceous earth , sounds like its something to mix into the compost as you pot up, rather than curing a current outbreak ? though some web pages do sound like it could be equally nasty for humans, a little bit off putting.

With the greenhouse being so full at the moment its going to be a job to control let alone eraticate and with the weather turing colder cannot put much outside yet.

 

Tell me about it. I have a similar problem with root aphids on Primulas. Very difficult to deal with.

 

I'm getting cacti pots full of ants atm.
I used to drench pots with Malathion but you cant get that here anymore.

Do Provado still do the soil drenches for vine weevil, that would probably work on Mealy bugs.

 

[QUOTE="pete, post: 1417398, member: 13"

Do Provado still do the soil drenches for vine weevil, that would probably work on Mealy bugs.[/QUOTE]


The old Provado / Provanto Vine Weevil killer seems to be off the market and the only uk one seems to be the Bug Clear Ultra VWK, which contains Acetamiprit, an organic nicotine type of product, rather different to what Provado used.

Most other bug killers seem to be based on Oils and Pyrethums.

Does seem harder to control these things... think we will have to look more seriously at water baths and Neem oils etc.
Might work against your Ants ?

 

Yeah, never been a fan of oils and soaps.
Repeated use on a weekly basis with most of that stuff.

 

Search results for: 'vine weevil control' (agrigem.co.uk)

 

Re the Diatomaceous Earth, seems there are 2 types a Marine and a Freshwater, which we assume is the light brown and white ones respectively you see on ebay etc.

Can either be used or is one better than the other for pot plants ?

 

Been reading up on the Earth stuff, might give it a go myself on the root aphid front. Jst need to wear a mask when using it, but then you ought to do the same when using Perlite.
Not mad keen on using any of the nicotine based insecticides as they all do affect bees.

 

Sounds interesting, only had a quick look up till now.

 

We had top growth mealy bug on some window cill Cacti in the house, does it follow that they will have Root mealy bug ?

Gather the Root mealy bug is a smaller species , no idea if they can migrate /convert ?

 

From what we have found we should be using the Food grade product and have only seen one reference to how much should be used, that was 1TBS per 1ltr of compost.

You can buy the powder on ebay etc though seems its also sold as Chicken Red Mite Powder.

Mask, rubber gloves and goggles recommended to be safe.

 

If it's food grade why do you have to take so many precautions, I m really asking what is it chemically.
I wonder how you would use it on food.

And can it be used as a spray.

 

Its because its very small particles that are very hard and sharp and the finer they are the deeper into your tissues, eg eyes and lungs, it can get and irritate.

Appears it works on the root mealy bugs by being too small and sharp even for them.

It does make you wonder if mixed with compost if it will be washed out over time by normal watering, equally could it be watered in as a top dressing, which would make it easer to apply to existing infected pots.
Seen nothing on the web to say if that works / can be done.

Will be ordering some but also going to try the 'hot' water drench method on existing pots without removing all the compost as not sure how the plants, now busting out with lots of top growth, would handle having the roots cleared of all compost and then repotted ? surley would be set back a good bit ?

Edit - seems it also works as a Desiccant and some web comments about mixing it with new compost on a 10-20% basis and that repeated applications may be needed.