Hi,

we have a problem with mealy bugs on our Fukien Tea... we found
them few
weeks ago and since then we try to pick them up using ear buds
soaked in
alcohol... we always think we got rid of them and we always
find some
more in few days.

Is there any other way how to get rid of them? We want to be
gentle to
the tree but we are also getting desperate...

a friend of ours recommended using "tobacco" spray or "soap"
spray - but
we are not sure whether it can be used on bonsai (he uses it on
his
tomatoes ) - and if it can be used - in what quantities?

I recommend against tobacco spray. The soap spray should work
over here, SAFERS makes a good soap spray. Or you can make your
own with 1-3 teaspoons of liquid soap (NOT detergent!) per gallon
of water. Some people mix it with a tablespoon or so of
vegetable oil, but that just makes mixing it harder.

Or, a spray with pyrethrin in it will work fine.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.


We also noticed that some stems are "dried out" and falling
off. The
truth is, we never noticed that before but it may as well as be
not
related to the bugs (our Fukien just started to grow berries).

Thank you for your help!

David and Eva


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we have a problem with mealy bugs on our Fukien Tea... we found
them few
weeks ago and since then we try to pick them up using ear buds
soaked in
alcohol...


Jim said:
The soap spray should work
over here, SAFERS makes a good soap spray.

I just had someone contact the "bonsai doctor" with a fukien tea that he had sprayed with a soap insecticide, and it had made the tree completely defoliate. So I'd test the soap first, before doing the whole tree.....

I have very good luck with pyrethrin sprays against scale insects, and I haven't seen any phytotoxicity, but I don't have a fukien tea, of course.

Nina
---
Nina Shishkoff


************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

we have a problem with mealy bugs on our Fukien Tea... we
found
them few
weeks ago and since then we try to pick them up using ear
buds
soaked in
alcohol...


Jim said:
The soap spray should work
over here, SAFERS makes a good soap spray.

I just had someone contact the "bonsai doctor" with a fukien
tea that he had sprayed with a soap insecticide, and it had made
the tree completely defoliate. So I'd test the soap first,
before doing the whole tree.....

Ouch! Yes. ALWAYS test a spray you haven't used on a particular
species before spraying that prize-winning tree.

This was my ignorance of tropicals coming out. I KNOW that soap
is bad for trident maples, and should have warmned that it may be
bad for other species, too. My bad.



I have very good luck with pyrethrin sprays against scale
insects, and I haven't seen any phytotoxicity, but I don't have a
fukien tea, of course.


My second recommendation, which should have been my first. I
have yet to find anything that reacts badly to pyrethrin sprays.
(except bugs, of course ;-)

BUT STILL, TEST IT.

Listen to Doctor Nina!

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

This was my ignorance of tropicals coming out.

It's a problem for me; knowledgeable outdoor bonsai people don't ask advice from me- they know better. It's beginners with indoor bonsai who have questions, and I only keep a few easy indoor trees (that are all outdoors now). I'll have to get a fukien t
ea just so's I can kill it.

Nina, veteran of many dead serissas.
---
Nina Shishkoff


************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by John Quinn++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++