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General questions about pests (aphids, mealy bugs, etc)

Baylorguy

"Oh, now he's a philosophizer"
Hello gang -

I have yet to get a N. but have been reading a lot about them. My question is mainly about pests. Basic question, but I am paranoid due to all of the threads about plants being ruined by all of the pests out there (search function started the nightmare), so now when I am looking at my plants, I panic when I see any brown spot or imperfection.

Do any of you take preventative measures and treat the plants before they even have a condition or pest? If so, what is a safe product to use that gets rid of most pests a CP could have?

As far as what I see... on my filiformis var filiformis one of the new leaves looks like it was almost snipped by tiny scissors; however, I just got them, so this could have even occured during shipping... like I said, I am just extra paranoid:crazy:

Thanks!
 
Oh PLEASE don't just type the first letter of the genus.

No preventative measures, because this builds resistance. That's why we have strains of bacteria that are resistant to drugs: because we use hand sanitizer and antibiotics to frequently.
 
I realize this is deemed as a "newbie mistake" but seems like the experts on here know what I am talking about, so figured I would take a shortcut :wave:

Thanks for the advice Clint... that makes perfect sense.
 
Well, it's not that :) Imagine if you had used "D." instead. That could mean Dionaea, Drosera, or Darlingtonia.

That's another good reason to use Latin names instead of common names. For example, "Pitcher plant" could mean Sarracenia, Cephalotus, Nepenthes, Darlingtonia, or Heliamphora. "Sundew" could mean any of over 170 species (not counting hybrids and cultivars) of which many differ vastly in their culture. You wouldn't want to give someone the requirements of say, D. capensis, if they had D. adelae. You'd fry it in short order!


And besides, it brings back bad memories of Pon14.
 
I read ya.

I am guessing I don't want to be known as the return of Pon14. :-))
 
aphids: You'll know if you have them, you can see them and you're plant's leaves will be all deformed. they're not common on N's though :)
scale: You can see these too as hard little barnacle like things
thrips: Are annoying. You can't see them because they're in the leaf. The leaf looks all scraped though. However, scraped looking leaves can also be fungus.
mealybugs: Easy to find, you'll definitely know if you have them. They're about the size of a small rolly-polly, and they live in cottony stuff. ANNOYING to get rid of.
those are the ones I know most about.
 
I thnk the aphids are timid around my place... all of my house plants got attacked this winter and looked terrible EXCEPT my CPs. I think they mst know that I would become the aphid targeting version of Rambo if they touched them.

But it was really weird to see them totally covering all of my other house plants and not even one on any of my CPs.
 
Yeah i have been lucky i havnt had one problem with pest or infections yet... keeping my fingers crossed it ownt happen :-D
 
You could probably use neem oil and kill two birds with one stone (prevent fungus and stop insect infestations). However like JustLikeAPill said it can cause resistance. Since you don't have as many options with cps as far as pesticides and the like go you don't want things building up any resistances to the few options you have for getting rid of them.
 
  • #10
I would just go with clints recommendation
 
  • #11
for preventing fruit flies, etc. I have heard you can use rocks or a layer of sand at the surface. Anyone had experience with this? Fruit flies seem to love living in the dead Long-fibered sphagnum that I use (even though I used a fresh batch less than 2 weeks ago :( ). Also, does a coat of live sphagnum at the top of the pot keep pests from coming through the top of the pot?
Thanks for your help.
 
  • #12
Fruit flies seem to love living in the dead Long-fibered sphagnum that I use
Those aren't fruit flies.

Also, does a coat of live sphagnum at the top of the pot keep pests from coming through the top of the pot?
I think you answered your own question. But, no.
 
  • #14
phission,
i'm pretty sure they are drosophila (commonly known as fruit flies)-i could post a picture if you want....
They lay eggs in the dead LFS and then fly around in the pot with my baby Drosera adelae, which traps them. But it's kind of annoying, considering the plant only has one large leaf right now.
Do you ever have bug infestations, phission? If so, how do you prevent/deal with them?
 
  • #15
Drosophila melanogaster is the "common fruit fly". Drosophila is a very diverse genus with over 1,500 species. Not all of them are after fruit ;).

I've only ever had scale two or three times, and it's only affected a couple of plants. I just dip a q-tip into 90% isopropyl alcohol and dab the scale with it. They die and turn brown immediately, and as long as you get them all, they don't come back (you could also spray the plant with 90% isopropyl....maybe dilute it to 50% alc+water). I don't get anything but scale, except for a plant or two I've gotten in a trade from someone with mites. They've never infested anything other than the plant they came on though. I think my plants are grown pretty well and generally have strong immune systems, which makes it much more difficult for insects to infest said pot.

Oh and last night I found an earthworm in one of my pots lol.
 
  • #16
I would deal with em by getting more drosera and having them get stuck and die... isnt that why we grow cps ???
 
  • #18
The only kind of pests I have had on my plants in the GH has been a few mealy bugs on a couple plants. I have a couple orchids with scale infestations and I am treating them, but I yet to see scale on a nepenthes. Aphids I have yet to see also. I have mites on one plant in the house I have been trying to deal with. I think I am going to trash the plant its just a palm because it has mites and scale and both are pretty bad. I have yet to see thrips also.

For mealy bugs, thrips, scale, and maybe aphids you can use merit. If you don;t want to buy the concentrated stuff since it is a bit pricey. You can buy Bayer advanced stuff from walmart or lowes. I have diluted the yard and tree versions down and used it for my plants. I have also used the premixed rose and flower spray. Careful there are versions with fertilizers added. Needless to say the yard or tree and hrub versions are more bang for your buck and go a little farther. This stuff is safe to use in the house and works on termites too. LOL It is a systemic pest control, meaning your plant becomes poisonous to the sap sucking insects. I spray on the foliage and then water the plant with it too. The roots will take it up.

Now Merit does NOT work on mites. In fact I have heard it called viagra for mites. You need a mitacide for them and sorry I have not used any there.

People say not to use it as preventative, but if you rotate different products so that if by chance something gets resistant to one thing and survives then it is killed by the other stuff before it becomes a problem. the regiment is a pain to keep up and I find it not worth it. the better practice is to quarantine new plants and make sure they are pest free before you place it into general population.
 
  • #19
Ok, I don't need to know who pon14 is anymore.
 
  • #20
i found a nematode/worm in one of my pots couple weeks ago and i started thinking to myself:"oh crap, it's there's one there's more" ._.'
 
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