Mealy bugs and nepenthes

[NepsAroundTheHouse]

Hey All,

It seems that I am constantly battling mealy bug infestation with my Sarracenias, but not with my Nepenthes. Both genuses of plants feed primarily on ants. Ants are known "farmers" of mealybug and scale because they are attracted to the honeydew produced by these pests, and they move the pests between plants at will. Since I grow both Sarracenia and Nepenthes outdoors, ants frequent their traps on a daily basis. However, my Nepenthes have never had a mealy bug infestation whereas my Sarracenias always get the little buggers in their crowns. I've also noticed that scale isn't much of an issue with my Nepenthes either. Has anyone else experienced this situation? For some reason my mealy bugs attack everything except my Nepenthes. I wonder if they have some sort of natural pest repellant in them.

Any thoughts??

Joel
Nepenthes Around the House

 

[ilex]

they attack mine, altough the problem is not as serious as with sarracenia. I've noticed scale prefers weak plants.

 

[RainforestGuy]

There is a nepenthes pest going around. It is ,like a small tiny white fly/insect. It gathers in groups and not tended by ants. they will remain on a pitcher or stem even until they dry and turn brown/black.
I have used a strong spray of water and it seems to work. I have also used very hot water from the tap in a mist bottle and chemicals from Merit and Orthene wp to even Avid with some success.
I have recntly used marathon with mixed success.

M

 

[lol]

I;ve got theese really wierd small pests that keep poping up and mainly attacking my truncata and truncata hybrids for some reason. They're also on my ventrata. I got the pests from a grower here in cali who grew a truncata and ventrata outside, which I now have. Theese demonic pests have small, narrow white bodies (or maybe those are dead bodies?) that group up and cling to the leaves and stems. If given time, they wil take over the anatomy of the host, and leaves it covered in disgusting white flecks that are very difficult to wash off. They dont seem to fit the description of typical pests, but I think they may be in the presence of some scale. Have you ever encountered theese things NepsAroundTheHouse? Nepenthes are deffinately not immune...

 

[NepsAroundTheHouse]

Lol,

They might be thrips. They're little small cigar shaped things. I haven't had them hit my neps, but a few on my Sarracenia. They kind of scrape off the green part of the pitcher and leave behind a "sanded" look. It seems they work in a group and spread. That's my best guess. Scale and mealy bug are easy to spot.

Joel

 

[Capslock]

Good God I hate those little white things! I can't even tell what's the bug or what their deal is. They seem to be accompanied by another slightly larger, grayer thing. They are a nightmare to get rid of, but it is possible. One weird thing is that they will infest one plant, but leave the adjacent plants untouched. And they only attack my nepenthes. I consider them my worst insect nemesis.

Capslock

 

[lol]

Capslock, thank the lord somebody else has theese (hehe, sorry its you ). Mine look exactly as you describe them. I was beginning to think They really were aliens

. How have you been able to control them?

 

[Capslock]

I've only been able to manage them. I've competely killed them on some plants, but they cling tenaciously to a couple of them, defying any attempt at killing even with repeated orthene applications.

I wouldn't be suprised if they were aliens. They don't look like anything I've seen before, and I've never even seen one moving around. They are almost spooky that way.

Capslock

 

[lol]

I too find it very odd that you never see theese things moving. It's really baffling. Maybe I should take my plants to one of the colleges around here, and see if someone there can identify the pest.

 

[Capslock]

What are these foul things??!!

Capslock

 

[dlybrand]

Those are mealybugs, my friend. The pestilence of the horticultural world has arrived at your doorstep, it seems. Or at least, one of them...

-D. Lybrand

 

[Trent]

Actually, those are called 'Whitefly'. Those are the egg/larval cases. The hatchlings suck the plant juices out from inside the case. The adult is a small whitish colored fly. They can be seen flitting around the plant, sitting on the leaves. However, they spend most of their time down in the potting mix, where they mate. The females then lay more little elongated white dots that suck your plant dry of vital life fluids. They often return to the area where they hatched, because, if you're a whitefly, it was a successful place to breed. This whole life cycle takes about ten days to two weeks.
Whenever we see them in the greenhouse, I take action immediately. First step-remove the white dots. As recommended to me by a Florida Agricultural agent: mix rubbing alcohol and water 50/50. Add a few drops of liquid soap, like dish washing detergent. Soak a cotton swab in this mixture and gently scrub off the white dots. Be thorough-these little suckers like to hide in leaf crevasses and undersides of leaves. Once removed, I like to rinse off the plant with purified water.
Next step-eradicate the adults. For this you should use an insecticide. Whitefly adults are not tough. Any standard insecticide will work. Spray the infected plant and the surface of the potting mix. Spray the potting mix surface of adjacent plants.
Check the infected plant a week later and remove any new white dots using the same procedure. Repeat the insecticide spraying 10 days to two weeks later. I find preventative treatment is best. We never have problems with them anymore-nor scale or mealybug.
Bye bye whitefly.

Trent

 

[lol]

Then how come I never see the flies flying around? All I ever see are the immobile white things.

 

[RainforestGuy]

I have good success uisng Merit every ten days. I also use very hot water through a mist bottle and burn the hell out of them!
I have way too many plants and many are inaccessible to swab alcohol. These are tough little guys. Its interesting that they are not associated with ants and they get around on their own. Its also interesting that they persist even on dried foliage and remain after the leaf/pitcher/tendril dies.

Avid also works well, but this is too expensive for regular use. I have also alternated with Orthene WP (wettable powder) with positive success.

Also removing very damaged leaves and pitchers helps cut down the breeding population.

Michael

 

[Finch]

Many mealy bug species come in many different shapes and forms. I personally have never actually seen a mealy bug and i dont often see aphids around here either... or jap beetles... or gypsy moth...



mebbi my climate does have some pluses

 

[Trent]

No guys, the pic on the previous page is a whitefly, not a mealy bug. We'll see if we can get a pic of a mealy bug... they almost look fluffy, like cotton. They are not the same as whitefly.

lol, the whitefly are tiny, and you may not see them around. The little white dots are egg cases of this whitefly. We have had good results with Orthene, but now we use Talstar and haven't seen a whitefly attack since our first application.
Just spraying the plant with a non-systemic (like Talstar) does have disadvantages - because once the plant produces new leaves, they are unprotected by the insecticide. Orthene is a systemic, which means the plant absorbs it and is inoculated for several months.

Whitefly is tough to get rid of, but we did it. Michael, I have spent a lot of time cleaning leaves with the cotton swab, it really helps to control the problem.

 

[dlybrand]

You know, Trent, I'm going to have to disagree with you here. Capslock definately has mealybugs. I have seen both whitefly and mealybug and those things could not possibly be whitefly eggs. They are the cocoons that mealybugs are found in. Whitefly eggs are far too small.

-D. Lybrand

 

[RainforestGuy]

So far everything I have read on here seems to point out that we are talking about white flies. Its a different species, much smaller than the one more people are familair with. but in any event, they BOTH require the same kind of treatment, bith are sucking hemipterous insects that auses damage from sucking juices out of the plant. both in large quantities can cause necroses or even death to that plant organ.
I prefer a system as I have way too many plants, some faster growing than others and when I use a systemic, I get nearly all of them, even new growth and old alike. I do spray perdiodically with Talstar and even a malathion wp just to prevent immunity of the insect to a particular insecticide. if you have a few plants (less than a thousand), its good to swab and clean them manually, but if you have too many, by the time you clean a few hundred, the previously cleaned ones may already be infected again. I am lazy and prefer to just nuke* them with a systemic.

Its interesting that the larval stage of this pest seems to be a stationary parasite that actually becomes part of the host plant when sucking and doing damage.

(* FYI: Nuking doesn't refer to the use of nuclear war heads or weapons of mass destruction)

 

[lol]

Would crickets eat theese things? Are there any preditorial insects that would prove helpful?

 

[RainforestGuy]

I would normally say something like "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?" But I won't!


But I will just say that spraying a systemic is really the best remedy. There are ladybird beetles that are carnivorous and would eat these but will never completely control them to absolute genocide of the population.

Crickets don't eat other bugs!