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facepockets
In Search of Equilibrium

Registered: 10/31/11
Posts: 313
Loc: 5b
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Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide?
#17552054 - 01/15/13 12:54 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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I was checking out my winter quarantine room, and the mealy bugs on a couple specimens are getting a bit unruly.
Copiapoa hypogea

 Lobivia maximiliana

I had previously applied soapy water (made with liquid hemp soap) to the individual bugs using a Q-tip; despite doing this twice during winter already, the wooly bastards are back at it.
What should I do to eradicate these pests? I'd prefer solutions that don't resort to synthetic insecticides, but any input is appreciated.
Also, to throw off the pest-ridden pics, here's a fresh Opuntia pad a couple weeks late for Xmas.
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Tangich


Registered: 10/28/09
Posts: 8,723
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: facepockets]
#17552074 - 01/15/13 01:00 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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I hate those little bastards... Kill them! Kill their whole families!! If you don't want to use synthetic insecticides, I'd suggest trying with tobacco tea, hot peppers and neem oil. Or a combination of all those. I didn't manage to destroy them all in more wooly species with tobacco tea, while it killed off the spidermites completely.
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Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd



Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 5,043
Loc: Perfidious Albion
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: facepockets]
#17552076 - 01/15/13 01:00 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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Physical removal, isopropyl to neutralise any missed, and eggs. Neem as a systemic.
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Juke Adro
I love peach fluff


Registered: 04/05/08
Posts: 6,957
Loc: Inside your head
Last seen: 4 years, 10 months
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hey mostly how do you use your isopropyl as an insecticide? i use metho.
-------------------- Someone said: im actually not using ms, im using prints.
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Mostly_Harmless
wyrd bið ful aræd



Registered: 05/12/09
Posts: 5,043
Loc: Perfidious Albion
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: Juke Adro]
#17552462 - 01/15/13 02:28 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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A fine squirt where needed, or applied with cotton buds.
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3hree1ne3hree
The funk.


Registered: 05/05/10
Posts: 320
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Genocide? You mean to the point of extinction? Hell no.
-------------------- Between the velvet lies There's a truth that's hard as steel The vision never dies Life's a never ending wheel [I am a proud and active artist of literary fiction. Anything that is posted from this account is false, and to be regarded irrelevant.]
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facepockets
In Search of Equilibrium

Registered: 10/31/11
Posts: 313
Loc: 5b
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: 3hree1ne3hree]
#17552873 - 01/15/13 03:57 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
3hree1ne3hree said: Genocide? You mean to the point of extinction? Hell no.

It's all about the localized genocide. There families will suffer my wrath unless they leave the important plants alone. If they aren't on the desirable plants, they are easily ignored.
And Mostly, I enjoyed watching the extremities of the mealy bugs seem to melt off with even the slightest application of isopropyl. Now I'll have to pick up some neem for the ones that I surely missed.
CACTUS POWER
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savage.renegade


Registered: 07/02/10
Posts: 986
Loc: Bay area
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: facepockets]
#17552911 - 01/15/13 04:07 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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I just feed my cactus neem seed meal.5-1-2. Fights root fungus and fertilizes as well as keeps bugs away
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Juke Adro
I love peach fluff


Registered: 04/05/08
Posts: 6,957
Loc: Inside your head
Last seen: 4 years, 10 months
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mealy bugs are cute imo but not on my cacti! you won't find a single bug on mine! I've got menthol plants around them and pyrithum plants then tobacco plants which bugs land on and get trapped in the hairs, i also use mosquito plants and DE in all my soils. however my plants sometimes get bugs such as the brugs but never anything on my cacti. I don't know how you have even let it get that bad! unless you purchased them like that.
-------------------- Someone said: im actually not using ms, im using prints.
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nicechrisman
Interdimensional space wizard



Registered: 11/07/03
Posts: 33,241
Last seen: 4 years, 7 months
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: facepockets]
#17556067 - 01/16/13 08:55 AM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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HATE mealy bugs. Those and spider mites. Sure, you can control them, but good luck ever getting completely rid of them.
-------------------- "Cosmic Love is absolutelely ruthless and highly indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not." John C. Lily
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facepockets
In Search of Equilibrium

Registered: 10/31/11
Posts: 313
Loc: 5b
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: Juke Adro]
#17557186 - 01/16/13 01:47 PM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Juke Adro said: I don't know how you have even let it get that bad! unless you purchased them like that.
Neglect, mainly. Only four plants have been infested to varying degrees, and they were all slower-growing spineless cacti. Now I've got a quarantine room that's as much of an experiment as it is a plant hospital.
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gr33ntea
That Guy


Registered: 01/08/13
Posts: 221
Loc: Melbourne
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Re: Who's in favor of mealy bug genocide? [Re: facepockets] 1
#17560894 - 01/17/13 05:02 AM (11 years, 1 month ago) |
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you should torture a couple first and let them die slowly in front of them all to send a message to the other bugs.
I usually place my cactus around my tomato plants when paranoid about insects, they have fine hairs on them like tobacco plants that insects get stuck on than die a slow painful agonizing death,
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