Cephalotus with pests. How to cure?

[YtK]

Hello. I may need some advice pleas.
I have my Cephalotus now for more then 2 years. It has grown ok and eaven flowerd this spring. Any way from the begining of this winter i have noticed white bug on it and in English im not sure if its Mealybug or Scale. Also i see ants visiting them and the base of the plant. Ive tried some stuff to control them but they just keep coming so i suspect ther are some of them in the roots. I tried the trick with the nicotine in water and spraying it on the plant and it didnt really work. Now i tried puting the Cigarette in some Alchohol and then i tried to rub them off with a brush diped in it and tried to do it on all the foliage. They still keep coming back.
The Cephalotus seems ok with two leafs and two mature traps and its now groing new traps and leafs. Is it not so bad then?
I dont have acceable insecticides and would prefer not to use them.
I heard that this creatures dont like cold weather. The temps here dont drop less then 7C(but its preaty cool now at winter) so i thought mybe i can put it in the fridge (with about 4C) for a few days and it will kill them. But also i dont want to cause a shock to the Cephalotus. Will it hurt it?
Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks


YtK

 

[wickedthistle]

Yikes. You've got a boozing, smoking ceph!

Anyhow, the few times I've had mealy on my orchids, I simply tweezer them to death. It takes awhile though, and if your infestation is too large it won't work. What I did is to first carefully wipe the top and bottom of every leaf with a different piece of tissue paper. I noticed that if I used the same paper I was just spreading them. Be very careful to get near the base of the stems where they like to hide. Then wait a few days and tweezer the remainder and repeat.

If it was any other plant I would tell you to pull it out and rinse it, with water and a mild soap, but cephalotus can be very picky. I hope someone else can give you better advice soon but this should hold you over until then. Good luck!

 

[agustinfranco]

Hi all:

You may want to immerse the pot in a bucket of rain or Reverse osmosis water for 30 minutes to an hour let the buggers die by drowning them all.

I particularly use insecticides which according to my criteria are not harmful to the plants, but then again, your bugs are different from mine.

Gus

 

[YtK]

Hi. Thank you both... The reason i dont want to use the inecticides is becaus im not sure if the ones that i can get here are safe for the plant... Any way i think that if i see more of them ill try the submerging thing... Do you think it can cause the plant any shock


Thanks again..

All the best

YtK

 

[Sarraceniaobsessed]

Hey,
Part of the problem are the ants, they are notorious for 'farming' scale and mealy bugs which means they actually bring these pests and place them on your plants. They return to milk them of a honeydew type substance. They wil even spread them all over a desirable host. Try the saucer method with the plant to stop the ants from getting to it and then work on getting rid of the scale and mealy bugs(all of the above treatments seem reasonable). Rubbing the lip of the pot with vegatable oil will create a barrier that will keep the ants out as well. Good luck.

 

[YtK]

Hi. Thanks. I figured it is part of the problem.. They will be taken care of... Mu hahaha........

YtK