"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
In article , Mushtywoof
writes
SCREAM

I went into my greenhouse today and spotted mealy bug on a handful of
cacti.........how can i get rid of them ? I have a can of spray stuff
(cant
recall the name offhand) but it says to 'water well prior to spraying'.
As
the cacti are now to be kept dry till spring what can i do ? There are
too
many for me to pick them off, i havent got that much time free!

I like to be 'organic' so dont routinely spray to debug 'just in
case'.....is this my downfall ?

No .. they seem to develop resistance to pesticides quite easily. You'd
have got to the same state even with regular spraying ;-)

Kay, could you do a bit of explaining please:

I presume that the development of a resistance to a pesticide is a genetic
process. I envisage it as occcuring when one specimen undergoes a genetic
modification in the desired direction, and subsequent sexually transmitted
mixings spreading it through a population. If this is so, I don't think one
will notice as quick an immunity as you imply.

Please tell me what I misunderstand.

Franz