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Another pest…

joossa

joossa

Aklys
My Red Dragon has been sending up shock traps. I was afraid I was over watering it so I slowly reduced the amount of water I apply since a month ago, but the shock traps kept coming. Today, I decided to uproot it and change its growing media (also in hopes of finding a possible answer to the cause of its illness).

As I was cleaning off the peat from the rhizome with water I saw a small white object on the rhizome I thought it was a small piece of perlite, but after spraying it with water it didn’t come off. After taking a closer look I found that it was some sort of bug. It began to walk on the rhizome and it looked like a miniature version of a rolly polly or a Sow Bug, except it was pale white and very very small (about 1-3mm long). After further inspection, I found several of these things on the rhizome (about four or five); they were much smaller though. Using a dissection probe, I flicked them off the rhizome and repotted it the pot.

Anyone know what these white larva-rolly polly looking things are? Could they be damaging the plant? Is there a way to get rid of them?

Thanks for the help.
 
mealie bugs? I look at it this way, if there are bugs ON my CPs and not IN my CPs then I have a problem that gets sprayed.
 
Yeah, sounds like mealybugs. They're related to scale insect and cause the same damage as scale or aphids by sucking the juices from your plant. They do look a bit like the sow bugs that can't roll up completely into a ball. Instead of a hard scale they have a white waxy fur. The females will form a thin white cottony mass for their eggs. You have a bad infestation if you see this.

They relocate when disturbed so it is unlikely you got them all. They can also get into the roots of your plants and are difficult at best to get rid of at that point. You probably need to treat all your plants as they spread.

You can try drowning the plant for a few days. Ladybugs will eat them, particularly the black ladybug "Mealybug Destroyer" from Australia. Expensive.

A systemic insecticide like acephate (Orthene) or imidacloprid (Merit/Provado) should take care of them unless they are in the roots.
 
I don't mean to hijack the topic, but can I use Ortho Dursban (chlorpyrifos phosphorothioate) in a pinch? It's an organophosphate, so will this add phosphates to the media?
 
FWIW acephate (Orthene) is an organophosphate.
 
Mealybugs never crossed my mind, I guess I drew a blank. They looked exactly as pictured here:
garden.jpg

(So I guess that takes care of the ID.)

One last question: Is it safe to apply the insecticide directly on the rhizome and roots? There were no bugs on the foliage only on the rhizome; also the plant’s leaves and traps are very small and weak, so I would have to apply the Orthene to the rhizome, right?

Thanks for the help.

:censor: pests!
 
Indeed, mealy bugs, I use a powder but soil drenches seem to work better. Find one that takes care of all those annoying white bugs, Mealy bugs, aphids, whitefly, etc.
 
I use Physan 20 in liquid form-just mix about 1/16 of a teaspoon in to a spray bottle, and your good to go! it is also systemic!
 
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