Mealies are nasty little creatures as are scale (of any kind). I, and
others, have had very good sucess with alcohol. If you have just a few
plants, alcohol on a swab will work just fine. When you have more, a spray
bottle filled with an alcohol/409 orange mix is a lot more convenient. I use
1 qt 70% rubbing alcohol and 1 qt orange409 mixed with enough water to make
1 gal of spray (which lasts indefinately in a gallon jug) makes a very
effective spray against many bugs, including whitefly, aphids, and boisduval
scale. I've ad no ill effects on orchids under my conditions but you may
want to try a small number under your conditions first before using on
everything.
Gary

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...
#@!##@$$#@@#$%%$%^&&&*(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!

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!

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.

Help,
Joanna