|
Post by vraev on Mar 14, 2009 21:17:48 GMT -5
Hey guys, May this serve as a guide if you find your heli suddenly stop growth and behave strangely. My minor that I got from Dom grew great since last yr and suddenly stalled in january. This ladies and gentlemen is called soft brown scale. LOL! I should be pissed...but suprisingly...after having faced my sweetheart neps munched...this doesn't really matter that much. Anyways..I am trying a couple of insecticide treatments. Alcohol burns the leaves of helis. Good night, V
|
|
|
Post by hal on Mar 14, 2009 21:25:02 GMT -5
Nasty little buggers, but they look fairly localised. You can scrape them off many plants with a toothpick, but heli pitchers are fairly brittle so that may damage them.
|
|
|
Post by ellsie on Mar 14, 2009 22:41:18 GMT -5
Yikes!! That looks like a very nasty scale infection you have there Vreav!! Have you noticed the presence of ants near your indoor plants?? (Ants typically "farm" scales and aphids for their excreted honeydew, and if there's a large enough infestation, ants may also transport them to nearby plants, to feed on "greener pastures"). If possible, I would immediately repot your Heli; wash off all the old soil, examine the plant parts that was covered with soil for the presence of scales (they love to suck on roots, bulbs, rhizomes, etc.). Also, separating your "sick" Heli wouldn't be a bad idea, to minimize the scales from spreading to your other cherished plant pets. You may want to try the following all purpose spray on your Heli. I'm usually faced with numerous species of nasty bugs when deliberatly looking for them as teaching material and this spray works wonders at killing scale insects and spider mites!! 2 Tbs (=30mL) Murphy's Oil Soap (a type of cleaning solution typically for wood floors) 1 capful of YELLOW mouthwash (yes, has to be yellow, like Cepacol or Listerine....tried the green Listerine, but it doesn't work as well) 1 tsp (=5mL) baking soda mix all ingredients into a 1L spray bottle and top up with RO water for CP's good luck!!
|
|
|
Post by vraev on Mar 14, 2009 23:27:25 GMT -5
Thank you very much for the post Ellsie. LOL! I have no clue whats happening here. Looks like someone brought down a plague on me. THanks for your recipe. I will keep it in mind. meanwhile the neps show something like this: Note: below are not my pics...but depict the same pest from the same source location. Could u possibly ID this for me? I think its scale. Those white things don't move. Some ppl say its whitefly. But positively it isn't whitefly as they don't move and the instars of whitefly are transparent and I would have easily spotted their eggs. I already this nep away though. But this same scale or whatever is still there. I find it on low numbers on all the 10 or so neps I have inside the enclousure at some time or the other. I know they are hiding and only show themself once their numbers reach a high. I have got some new Bayer insect killer systemic insecticide. I already tried it on the heli today. The good news is that it seems CP safe. Helis are for the most part among the sensitive CPs. If they are ok...neps should be fine. Depending on how this one goes...I will treat every single plant in my collection.
|
|
|
Post by fragrantphals on Mar 15, 2009 8:18:40 GMT -5
if your bayer systemic has imidacloprid in it, it should work wonders! bayer advanced rose and flower granules got rid of all my mealybugs on my orchids and jasmines and everything else. i was battling this pest for 7 years and tried everything out there. imidacloprid is the same chemical that is in flea collars and some flea meds. can you test it on one plant 1st? this product is only available in the US. also the white insect is another type of scale. good luck with the treatment! are you going to dilute it and spray it, or do you already have the spray? be careful with it too!
|
|
|
Post by ellsie on Mar 15, 2009 9:14:34 GMT -5
Hey Vreav, The insects in the Nep pics look like mealybugs, a type of unarmoured scale insect. Do you remember if they looked/felt "waxy"?? (Mealybugs secrete this powdery wax layer used for protection while they suck the plant juices). The good thing though, I find that mealybugs are easier to get rid of than other types of scale insects. Your plants must have been extremely happy and healthy, producing loads of sugary nectar to entice these annoying little bugs out in full force!! But not all is lost, hopefully. While there's no doubt that you were on the right path to making your plants happy, these bugs just saw a great opportunity when they discovered your cherished plant collection and just settled right in!! (At least that's what I keep telling myself after an exhaustive day of trying to rid these bugs!!)
|
|
|
Post by petmantis on Mar 15, 2009 9:55:33 GMT -5
Vraev, what you could do is soak the infected plants in distilled water for a day, then repeat the process again when you notice that the eggs laid by the live adults hatched, and so on, maybe for a week? I don't really know, never tried it
|
|
|
Post by dvg on Mar 15, 2009 10:23:45 GMT -5
Petmantis, I've used the 'submerge plant under water' technique with vft's and a P. caerulea, that had a colony of aphids living on them. I submerged the vft's for three days and the caerulea for two days, I believe. Probably works with spider mites as well, if one day dips were used followed by a dry day, alternated for a week. That should get the hatching eggs.
|
|
|
Post by lloyd on Mar 15, 2009 12:22:45 GMT -5
Mealybugs get into the roots so you'll have to unpot, wash the roots in distilled water. I would spray the roots with the Neem recipe, too.
|
|
|
Post by vraev on Mar 15, 2009 15:02:11 GMT -5
that seriously can't be mealy bug. From the pics of mealy bug I see...the insects are supposed to be bigger,.....and make more fuzzier type of formations. I still think those are a kind of scale.
|
|
|
Post by tom on Mar 15, 2009 16:52:05 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by ellsie on Mar 15, 2009 17:06:09 GMT -5
Let's see......well from what I can see based on the third picture, those white bugs are no doubt mealybugs. The ones with the slight bluish color are close to the adult stage. Perhaps the smaller "white dots" in the rest of the Nep pics are mealybugs soon after they have hatched or maybe at a younger stage in their lifecycle. Of course, there are many numerous species of mealybugs....and I think the ones in your Nep pics resemble these ones (especially the small white dots): The biological control that I typically use is the Australian ladybird beetle (I think there's already another thread on a similar subject...) The larvae of this beetle mimicks the mealybugs, like a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and just walks into a mealybug colony unnoticed!! Pretty gruesome way to go for the mealybugs, but really cool to watch!!
|
|
|
Post by sherkas on Mar 15, 2009 17:32:52 GMT -5
This thread makes me very sad, I hate pests but I guess its part of growing the plants. Sad to hear you lost some plants as a result though.
|
|
|
Post by dvg on Mar 15, 2009 17:48:01 GMT -5
Ellsie, that Australian ladybird beetle larvae is just incredible. Yep, had me fooled. I at first overlooked it as a mound of mealybugs. That camouflage is just the perfect mimic! Could you provide the latin name of that species, and a good place to order it for use as a control, if possible. Thanks in advance. You're really turning out to be the plant doctor, for any bug that ails ya. It's really good to have you aboard the Good Ship OCPS! ;D
|
|
|
Post by ellsie on Mar 15, 2009 18:08:05 GMT -5
Hey there Dvg, I think there's already another thread on the same topic....(under general discussion "looks like thrips").... Anyway, I think I may have posted a similar website as well. This is where I get most of the beneficial predators that are typically used in univeristy greenhouses used for teaching purposes: www.naturalinsectcontrol.com/The name of the beetle: the Australian ladybird beetle (C. Montrouzieri) is a good control for mealy bugs, and various species of scale insects. However, at ~ $1.00/beetle, you really have to watch them so that your CP's don't snack on them too often!! Perhaps clogging the CP traps on a temporary basis until the pests are under control may help?? Also, since you're located in Alberta, this website might be useful: www.thebugfactory.ca/index.phpClick on "where to buy" on the lower left of the webpage and locations in Alberta can be found. Hope this helps!!
|
|