Dear group,
I'm trying to get an insecticide/pesticide that can be used
safely with
Bougainvilleas against mealybugs.I tried one without
success,and it made all the
leafs drop.
Some of my Bougies are infested with them and hand removal is
not an
option.They are small,persistent green little worm like devils
that are eating not
only my leafs but the flowers too.
And I'm going to kill them all!
Please advice.A product name would be great and will save me
time at Home
Depot's.

As Nina said, these aren't "mealy bugs." Mealy bugs make white
cottony mounds on leaves and stems. The insects themselves are
scale like with a white, waxy shell.

Green worms SOUND like caterpillars. Do they have "legs." If
so, they're caterpillars, and a spray or powder of Bacillus
thuriengensis (BT) will do the job. Any garden center sells BT
sprays. If no legs, they're something else, probably the larvae
of some critter. A pesticide containing pyrethrums will do the
job. I've sprayed Bougainvilleas with Pyrethrums and have seen
no damage. Again, garden centers will have something.

Are these trees outside? Or inside. In outside, probably a HARD
spray of water will do as well as anything to get rid of the
critters. Ditto inside, but HARD sprays of water are more
difficult in the living room. Keeping plants outdoors usually
reduces the bug problems by 75%.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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