2. The MGS Forum
  3. Gardening in mediterranean climates
  4. Pests and diseases
  5. mealy bug
« previous next »
Pages:  [1] 2 3

mealy bug

  • 34 Replies
  • 31365 Views

Daisy

  • Sr. Member
mealy bug
« on: September 17, 2012, 12:52:29 PM »
Last year, I lost a couple of key plants to mealy bug.
This year, I am finding it on everything. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Well alright, not literally everything, but an awful lot of different plants, throughout the garden. Much more than last year.
It seems to be uncontrollable. The only plant I have managed to get clear of it, is a newish, young, Mandevilla.
It was small enough to be able to clean it up with cotton buds, dipped in surgical spirit.
Everything else, is too large and too leafy. Only a systemic insecticide would reach it.  But it seems, that they are no longer available.
In such a tiny garden as mine it is devastating.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Daisy :)
Logged
Amateur gardener, who has gardened in Surrey and Cornwall, England, but now has a tiny garden facing north west, near the coast in north east Crete. It is 300 meters above sea level. On a steep learning curve!!! Member of both MGS and RHS

Jill S

  • Full Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2012, 03:35:39 PM »
Daisy, the RHS 'chemicals' advice is to use:
'A systemic insecticide, thiacloprid, is available as Provado Ultimate Bug Killer Ready-to-Use or Provado Ultimate Bug Killer Concentrate 2. This can be used on ornamental plants and greenhouse-grown tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and aubergines, but not other edible plants
Other systemic insecticides that can be used against mealybugs are acetamiprid (Scotts Bug Clear Ultra concentrate or Bug Clear Ultra Gun) and thiamethoxam (Westland Plant Rescue Bug Killer Ormanental Plants). These two pesticides are for use on ornamental plants only'
 Dont know how to get them out to Crete though. 
Logged
Member of RHS and MGS. Gardens in Surrey, UK and, whenever I get the chance, on Paros, Greece where the learning curve is not the only thing that's steep.

Alice

  • Hero Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2012, 07:35:57 PM »
Here are some organic methods I have found to control mealybug infestations:
1. Spray with a strong jet of water to wash off the insects.
2. Growing plants such as dill, fennel and Coreopsis near the affected plants to encourage parasitic wasps.
3. A garlic spray. For recipe see http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Garlic-Garden-Spray

Logged
Amateur gardener who has gardened in north London and now gardens part of the year on the Cycladic island of Paros. Conditions: coastal, windy, annual rainfall 350mm, temp 0-35 degrees C.

David Dickinson

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2012, 09:10:07 AM »
Hope I'm not teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here but I have found Neem oil very useful. In addition it is the perfect solution to Red Spider Mite for me. 5ml dissolved in 1lt of warm water with a couple of drops of washing up liquid. Only affects sap sucking pests so Mealy Bug enemies are not affected.

Some potentially useful info here on Mealy Bug "cure"

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-get-rid-of-mealybugs/

And some info on Neem Oil here. Especially important to know that you won't see an immediate effect with the oil. Give it a week to ten days  before you judge how effective the treatment has been.

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html.

Logged
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.
*

ritamax

  • Full Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2012, 11:06:49 AM »
I have mealybugs in my 3 meters high ficus tree. The recommendations I got: pyrethrine, neem oil or soap-oil-water mixture. The last one is the cheapest, I will try it on the tree.
Logged
Hobbygardener (MGS member) with a rooftop garden in Basel and a garden on heavy clay with sand 600m from seaside in Costa Blanca South (precipitation 300mm), learning to garden waterwise
*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2012, 05:05:01 PM »
Neem oil seems to be an interesting remedy if you have to use insecticides, but where do you find it?  I have never seen it in Norway or in Greece.
Logged
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.
*

ritamax

  • Full Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2012, 06:09:46 PM »
I have bought neem oil in garden centres in Switzerland and Germany. You will probably find it online. It is expensive though. It seems to work well.
I got the advice to put horticultural glue on the tree stem.
Logged
Hobbygardener (MGS member) with a rooftop garden in Basel and a garden on heavy clay with sand 600m from seaside in Costa Blanca South (precipitation 300mm), learning to garden waterwise
*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2012, 06:33:52 PM »
I have searched the internet but not been able to find any online shops in Europe selling neem oil.
Logged
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.
*

ritamax

  • Full Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2012, 09:22:13 PM »
Go to amazon.co.uk or amazon.com (they send to Europe), search for neem oil, they have it. I order often books from both of these and they deliver very well. Bayer is producing a neem oil product for the garden, but I would buy pure neem oil. The neem oil I had from Switzerland had the instruction of dilution: 7,5 ml neem oil to 2,5 litres of water.
Logged
Hobbygardener (MGS member) with a rooftop garden in Basel and a garden on heavy clay with sand 600m from seaside in Costa Blanca South (precipitation 300mm), learning to garden waterwise
*

JTh

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2012, 09:50:36 PM »
Thank you, I'll try Amazon (I use both regularly, but mainly for books).
Logged
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

Jill S

  • Full Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2012, 09:31:12 AM »
Question: if you use a systemic insecticide (and this seems to include Neem oil) that supposedly only effects anything actually eating plant material, does it also get into pollen and nectar and so cause problems, i.e. 'death', to the 'good' bugs?
Logged
Member of RHS and MGS. Gardens in Surrey, UK and, whenever I get the chance, on Paros, Greece where the learning curve is not the only thing that's steep.

David Bracey

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2012, 02:00:53 PM »
The active ingredient of Neem is azadirachtin which is obtained from the tree Azadirachta indica, the same family as Melia azedarach. Neem appears to be a mixture of several chemicals which are insecticdally active.  Because it is naturally occurring it may be classified as a biochemical.  Neem acts as an Insect Growth Inhibitor (IGR) by preventing full metamorphoses as well as having anti-feeding effects. It has slow insecticidal action and has both contact and systemic activity.  Thus insects have to ingest a toxic level of product by eating treated leaves or by sucking up a toxic amount of the chemical ie aphids, mealy bugs to be effective.

The literature states that pollen will contain very low levels of product which are not thought toxic to bees etc. In general other beneficial insects will not be harmed since they do not ingest treated plant material however the questions remains "what happens if they eat insect material which has died as result of eating treated plant material" ! I suspect that beneficials will be killed if sprayed with the chemical, but this point is not well covered.
Logged
MGS member.

 I have gardened in sub-tropical Florida, maritime UK, continental Europe and the Mediterranean basin, France. Of the 4 I have found that the most difficult climate for gardening is the latter.

Daisy

  • Sr. Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2012, 01:45:18 PM »
Many thanks to you all for your suggestions.
I have already tried a number of organic solutions, but none have worked.
In fact, the mealy bugs seem to thrive on them! ??? ??? ???
A special thank-you to Jills, for telling me the active ingredients in the pesticides available in the U.K.
I have found a local product  containing acetimiprid and plan to use that to get rid of them.
However, I am not happy about using chemicals long term, so another special thank-you to David for letting me know about Neem oil.
In the long term, this appears to be a better solution.
It is not available locally, but a local Pharmakio is trying to get some for me.
If they cannot, it is available through the internet.
Daisy :)


Logged
Amateur gardener, who has gardened in Surrey and Cornwall, England, but now has a tiny garden facing north west, near the coast in north east Crete. It is 300 meters above sea level. On a steep learning curve!!! Member of both MGS and RHS
*

andrewsloan

  • Jr. Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #13 on: October 11, 2012, 05:11:32 PM »
What a useful set of info as usual from the Forum. Today I have discovered a mandarin fruit tree with quite a bunch of mealy bug attack and so now I am going to give it a spray with the Neem Oil and washing up liquid which I am sure will be especially effective as today is a Fruit day in the Lunar Calendar. Gracias.
Logged
*

John

  • Hero Member
Re: mealy bug
« Reply #14 on: October 13, 2012, 08:05:41 AM »
I'll chip in here and mention that though Provado is very effective against aphids it has little if any effect on mealy bug in my experience.
Logged
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.
Pages:  [1] 2 3
« previous next »