When the Phals start blooming the Mealies start breeding. I'd like to get a
jump on it this year. Has anyone had success with biological controls? I'm
considering releasing some Cryptolaemus montrouzieri into the greenhouse.
These are the commonly named Australian Ladybug. Supposedly both the adults
and larvae are predacious. They are supposedly useful in controlling citrus
and longtail mealies outdoors. Anyone tried them in a greenhouse? Merry
Ho, Ho!

The mealy bugs from hell live at my house, you figure out how to get rid of
them let me know I've tried alcohol, soap and alcohol, insecticidal
soap, sevin dust, all kinds of bug sprays. I'm hoping the freeze we just
had will do the little suckers in. Fortunately they aren't on my orchids,
just my moss rose. Even the two lizards living in the moss rose pot can't
get rid of them.

Shell


"Cecil Kimber" wrote in message
news:bMsDb.402110$ao4.1322156@attbi_s51...
When the Phals start blooming the Mealies start breeding. I'd like to get
a
jump on it this year. Has anyone had success with biological controls?
I'm
considering releasing some Cryptolaemus montrouzieri into the greenhouse.
These are the commonly named Australian Ladybug. Supposedly both the
adults
and larvae are predacious. They are supposedly useful in controlling
citrus
and longtail mealies outdoors. Anyone tried them in a greenhouse? Merry
Ho, Ho!

Cecil Kimber wrote:

When the Phals start blooming the Mealies start breeding. I'd like to get a
jump on it this year. Has anyone had success with biological controls? I'm
considering releasing some Cryptolaemus montrouzieri into the greenhouse.
These are the commonly named Australian Ladybug. Supposedly both the adults
and larvae are predacious. They are supposedly useful in controlling citrus
and longtail mealies outdoors. Anyone tried them in a greenhouse? Merry
Ho, Ho!


I don't grow many Phals, but I did declare war on the mealies that were
infesting my paphs a couple of years ago. I confess that I had missed
the infestation for far too long. I wondered why I was losing leaves
and some of my plants were struggling, but didn't make the connection
until too late.


Anyway, depending on how many plants you have, this might work. I
treated a little less than 800 this way. I said it was a war, didn't
I? My memory recalls that I had the following military strategy (but
the victors write the history, so maybe I'm a little off). Phase 1)
Repot everything, spraying plants and roots with ENSTAR. Phase 2) After
everything was repotted, spray very liberally with ENSTAR every five
days for three additional weeks. Phase 3) week four, mind you...
Spray with Orthene WP every five days for three more weeks. Total
nuclear annihilation. Haven't seen a mealy bug for a couple years. And
if you are going to go through all this, be sure to quarantine new
arrivals for at least a month, if not longer. And always make sure you
have an exit strategy before you engage the enemy *grin*


So... Enstar inhibits insect development (I'm pretty sure it inhibits
molting), and it is quite specific. Quite effective, too, if the bug
can't molt it can't grow up and make baby bugs... And fairly
expensive. But, if were spraying anything anywhere around other humans
or pets, I would use Enstar and skip the Orthene. You might have
trouble finding it. I suspect that a dedicated regime of Enstar would
have been sufficient, but I had the Orthene WP, so I figured better safe
than sorry. Quite frankly, anything that you find acceptable (alcohol,
soap, malathion, uranium dust - just kidding!!) would be suitable, as
long as you repot everything and are diligent in your follow-through.
Even if you don't see any critters, keep up the assault for the full
duration.


Sounds like overkill, doesn't it? But if you do it right, you don't
have to spray again. A small collection in an enclosed environment
(house, or grow room) is quite hard to infest with critters. Kill them
all, take no prisoners, and make sure you don't put any critters back
into the collection.


If you do go with the predatory insects, let me know how it turns out.
I haven't tried it yet (haven't needed to since my successful
campaign!), although I'm considering it as a weapon against spider mites.


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

yes rob OVERKILL is the word for it

enstar by it self 1 time a week for 4 weeks would have given you plenty of
kill or orthene 1 time a week for 4 weeks would have done the same thing

or you could have just treated with marathon G 1 time a year and it would
have done the same thing

you could also use merit 75wp 2x a year and grt the same results

you have to realize how these chemicals work in order to use them properly

orthene is systemic as well as a contact insecticide that has a residule of
20-60 days depending on the soil conditions or in this case bark mix

enstar is a long lasting growth regulator
http://www.mavrikaquaflow.com/pdf/Enstar_Spec_label.pdf
it contains minoprene witch is a close relitive to methoprene which is used
to control German roaches

here is how the label reads
make 2 applications 7 days apart

When infestations of root mealybugs are observed,

the entire pot containing the infested plant should

be drenched by submersion in a solution of ENSTAR

II at a rate of one-half (1/2) ounce per 5 gallons of

water [3 tsp/5 gal]. Submersion should continue

until no more air bubbles are seen escaping from

the fluid surface. This insures that the root system is

saturated and the container is thoroughly treated.

Do not enter or allow worker entry into treated

areas during the restricted-entry interval (REI) of

4 hours.

to much of a good thing can be very stresfull to your plants. orthene can be
very stressfull on your plants

here is the label for orthene

http://www.pestweb.com/msdslabels/do...llets_spec.pdf



Sorry to rant and rave



we have had good succsess at Swifts orchids controling mealy, aphid, and
scale with a programe of 2x a year using Talstar N Flowable and Tempo 20W
by Bayer



Jim Saitman

Dewey Pest Control

Cecil,

Mealies are the cockroaches of the orchid world. Nothing seems to affect
them!

When you treat for them you have to treat the entire environment. They live
on the plant, in the medium, down in the wood work in your growing area,
under the benches in the greenhouse, etc. In an office building I used to
work in I watched the indoor plant specialists completely change out two big
planter boxes near the front door. They took out all the dirt, mulch and
plants. They sprayed down the area. They refilled the area with fresh soil
and new plants. Within a month they were infested again with mealies. They
re-did the same thing again and once again they were infested. Finally,
they replaced the live plants with plastic plants.

If you have one or two plants with bugs and you can't take them outdoors
this time of the year to spray I would find a big plastic dry cleaner bag.
Spray the plant with a bug spray that says it kills mealies on the label.
Put the plant in the plastic bag and tie it closed. Place the plant and bag
in a bright area out of direct sun for a week. This usually kills the
adults and young hatchlings. Sometimes you have to spray it a second time
and keep it in the bag for two weeks.

If you have a large collection you may have to live with a few mealies.
Everytime you bring a new plant into the collection you risk adding a single
bug that will multiply and become hundreds in a few week.

I tried regular ladybugs last spring in the greenhouse and they were very
interesting. Most of them found a way to get out of the greenhouse. Many
of them died. By the end of a month I did not find any of them. If they
ate any of the mealies you could not tell. I didn't try the Australian
Ladys because they aren't convenient to find.

Today, I still have mealie bugs. I live with a few and have a bottle of
orthonix that I spray on them when I find them. Periodically, I go through
my collection and wipe off the leaves and inspect for scale and mealies.
Infested plants are put together so I can keep an eye on them for a re-birth
of the bugs. Eventually another area of the greenhouse will have a plant
with mealies and the cycle starts over again.

For larger bugs (crickets, spiders, etc.) I have several anoles that run
around the greenhouse. They keep the crawly things at bay. Since they have
taken up residence I don't see the sow bugs that I used to have by the
thousands. Now that I think of it I haven't seen a earwig in a long time
either. Another side benefit of the anoles is they are fun to chase with
the hose when you water. They scurry around and up the glass and stare down
at you when you water. They, too, have found a way to get out of the
greenhouse as I found a few of them outside this summer. When they
disappear I just go to the pet shop and pick up a couple of more.

Good Growing,
Gene







"Cecil Kimber" wrote in message
news:bMsDb.402110$ao4.1322156@attbi_s51...
When the Phals start blooming the Mealies start breeding. I'd like to get
a
jump on it this year. Has anyone had success with biological controls?
I'm
considering releasing some Cryptolaemus montrouzieri into the greenhouse.
These are the commonly named Australian Ladybug. Supposedly both the
adults
and larvae are predacious. They are supposedly useful in controlling
citrus
and longtail mealies outdoors. Anyone tried them in a greenhouse? Merry
Ho, Ho!

Here's a perspective from someone with a smaller collection than y'all have
been talking about. I have about 200 plants, including a fair number of
young adults (have been growing only 3+ years, and made all the usual newbie
mistakes in the beginning).

My Phals decided to attract mealies last spring. Also had a run on thrips
in the Vandas and Catts shortly after that. When the mealies hit, I used an
alcohol/soap/water spray and soaked the medium as well. Then a couple of
days later I pulled them from the pots and found the rats on the roots,
coming back. I sprayed the bare rooted plants with the same stuff, and
repotted. End of mealies, gone, over, done.

When the thrips descended I treated the entire collection with Orthene,
leaves, medium, benches, everything, and repeated ten days later. Haven't
had a probelm since then, but when (not if!) an infestation occurs again,
I'll do the same thing. I grow outside, so the little geckos do help out,
but when you get hit with something heavy even the little guys can't keep
up.

BTW, careful using label directions with Orthene liquid. Two
teaspoons/gallon will do the trick. The label calls for three tablespoons.
Too much stress for the plants!

Diana

There are protocols about releasing ladybugs to increase their
effectiveness. I don't purport to remember them -- something about doing it
in the evening when they're sleeping, I think.

When we have a serious scale or mealie infestation, we try for a 2-prong
approach: a quick contact kill to get rid of as many as possible [alcohol
on the foliage, repotting as needed/possible], followed up _promptly_ by a
systemic such as Orthene or Liquid Sevin. It is important to rotate the
systemics -- not by alternating at each spraying, but if you have to spray
more than 2-3 times, then switch to a different one after the 3d time. It
is also important to spray AT [not above, not below] the recommended dosage.
A more concentrated spray may harm plants unnecessarily; a more dilute
spray may get rid of _most_ of the pests, but the survivors are likely to
breed resistant offspring ...

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com

"Cecil Kimber" wrote in message
news:bMsDb.402110$ao4.1322156@attbi_s51...
When the Phals start blooming the Mealies start breeding. I'd like to get
a
jump on it this year. Has anyone had success with biological controls?
I'm
considering releasing some Cryptolaemus montrouzieri into the greenhouse.
These are the commonly named Australian Ladybug. Supposedly both the
adults
and larvae are predacious. They are supposedly useful in controlling
citrus
and longtail mealies outdoors. Anyone tried them in a greenhouse? Merry
Ho, Ho!