J Fortuna wrote:
#@!##@$$#@@#$%%$%^&&&*(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And for good measure $%%^**@!
I just had one more look at the plant that I posted about a moment ago. The
one that has been bud blasting on the one hand and opening flowers fast on
the other hand. I looked under a leaf, and there was this white cottony
creature - mealy bug - under the leaf. So far I have seen only one, but if I
understand correctly they don't come in just one, right? I moved the plant
immediately to another area of the apartment, but it's been with my other
flowering plants for the past two weeks - yes, I know, I have heard about
how important it is to keep new plants separate, but I ignored it,
stubbornly, stupidly, grrr!
Actually I believe they can come in ones, but they are often
parthenogenic (is that the right word?) in that females don't always
require males to bear offspring. So one is enough... Keep new plants
separate... Oh, you knew that... *grin*
So what do I do know? Aside from go to work (right now), I don't have time
to deal with it until tomorrow. Do I assume that all the other plants in
that area are contaminated? Do I just watch them carefully to establish
whether or not they are? This is my first experience with critters, but I am
very certain this was one, I could really see it quite distinctly and it
looked very much like in the photos I had seen before. It had this sticky
cottony substance around it. It was yucky!
If you only saw one, chances are good that there aren't many others,
if any. So I'd probably adopt a pose of watchful waiting. Be careful
to look under the leaves, and at the base of the plant. They also (on
paphs) like to live at the base or right inside the new fans of leaves.
Don't assume that if the plants closest to patient zero are clean, that
the rest of the plants are clean. Baby mealies are quite mobile. If
you do find more, then don't be afraid to take drastic action. I like
to repot everything. If the infestation is really bad, I usually just
pitch the plant. But then again, I have lots of plants. Some plants
are more tasty than others, and if it is badly infested it may just be
snack food for the rest of its life.
Do I understand correctly that rubbing alcohol is the thing to use on them?
Do I repot the plant? Do I need to cut the spike off (it's got a lot of
flowers that just opened, and more buds remaining)? I know I probably should
already know the answers to these questions, but until now I had no reason
to pay too close attention to pests issues.
Depends on the plant. I wouldn't use alcohol on a catasetum or
masdevallia. But catts, paphs, phrags, phals... sure. Just use a Q-tip
(or other, non-branded cotton swab). If you want, you can spray the
whole plant with alcohol. I wouldn't remove the flowers. But keep an
eye on them, that is where the mealies will go for snacks. Keep the
plant isolated for several weeks. Be careful to look near the roots,
sometimes mealies get in there and then they are hard to get out. I'd
definitely repot the plant when it is done flowering.
Rob
--
Rob's Rules:
http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit