Mealy bugs and Scale. End of me I Quit

[lepetitmartien]

You can cook, make tea, use the fibers, fertilize, kill/repulse pests, feed the animals in the farm… quite good all rounder it is! Now you can perfectly have some in town, it likes some human unbalanced fields, with too much N for a normal balance. It's common in Europe near places where theres a lot of urea (near buildings in farms for example). You can have some in wasteland too.

 

[Erythrone]

I've often found it as a weed with annual bedding plants sold in pots in spring. Like LPM I am pretty sure there are some in NY city. Maybe you should take a look at community gardens?

 

[cnycharles]

maybe some between the apple tree and the bee hive

 

[ALToronto]

In Russia, nettles are about as commonplace as dandelions, and are considered a noxious weed. They grow everywhere. They're very rare in Canada, and I have no idea why - the climate and growing conditions are the same.

I still get nasty flashbacks from being stung by them when I was little. You have to wear gloves and thick long sleeves if you want to pick them.

 

[Bjorn]

In Russia, nettles are about as commonplace as dandelions, and are considered a noxious weed. They grow everywhere. They're very rare in Canada, and I have no idea why - the climate and growing conditions are the same.

I still get nasty flashbacks from being stung by them when I was little. You have to wear gloves and thick long sleeves if you want to pick them.

Not only in russia here at my place its everywhere and one of my main roundup targets. :evil:
Further its even one of the commonest weeds that seed into the orchid compost!
does not grow well there though as it likes high fertilizer levels. Its actually used as an indicator plant for N-rich soils.

 

[Erythrone]

In Russia, nettles are about as commonplace as dandelions, and are considered a noxious weed. They grow everywhere. They're very rare in Canada, and I have no idea why - the climate and growing conditions are the same.

I still get nasty flashbacks from being stung by them when I was little. You have to wear gloves and thick long sleeves if you want to pick them.

They are not very rare here

 

[SlipperFan]

Very common here. And when I forget to wear gloves when I'm weeding....!

 

[lepetitmartien]

When I made my fermented extract this summer, I forgot the gloves… So 2,5 kg later I had hands stinging though less than I thought it would. It helped me forget the pain in one wrist I had and still have, during 2 days, then it stopped.

There's simple cures to diminish the stinging, sodium bicarbonate in cataplasm, to lower the pH and break some molecules, and crushed leaves of Plantago major or Plantago lanceolata will lower the pain. It was too late for bicarbonate, but the Plantago works.

BTW, on the mealies front, after my return 10 days ago, I did a mechanical removal, then water/alcohol/soap spray, and the nettle extract I had left on my hands (not much) and for now a big week later, no one in sight (but it'll come…). Next watering soon to come will be nettle powered "full force" (5% to try).

 

[daniella3d]

I hope you understand that this will not eradicate, only control. YOu will always have pests in your plants.

Not good enough for me. All the 5 plants that I bought from this place are infested with mealy bugs. Today I used Imidacloprid. nough already.

Anyone tried to suffocate them with carbone dioxyde (dry ice)? I read about a method that should kill everything safely if done in a tightly scealed place like an aquarium with saranwrap. Someone used dry ice to generate carbone dioxyde in a scealed aquarium. He poured dry ice in a bowl of hot water and the dry ice instantly generated a lot of dioxyde, then he left this for an hour and all the bugs were dead. Seams like a very effective and safe way to kill them all. Totally harmless for the plants, even beneficial.

one application probably will not lead you to a bug-free winter
orthene is a dangerous pesticide so be careful when you use it and make sure people, animals, and anything else you don't want to kill are out of the area





i have had a different experience with beneficial insects and have used them effectively in greenhouses (and in my home) for years
it depends upon the insect and the environment as to whether or not they will eat everything
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (mealybug destroyers) typically will not eat all of the population of mealies
Lacewing larvae on the other hand will eat everything they can fit into their mouths, and they'll take a bite out of things that are too big
depending on the greenhouse, some of the mealies (and probably aphids too, if they were present) may have been parasitized (stung by a wasp that lays its egg in the varmit. the egg hatches and the larva consumes the host from the inside out, then cuts itself out of the varmint and moves on to the next pest)
if the greenhouse you visited had aphids, did you notice if they were bronze or goldish colored?

 

[NYEric]

Never heard of that. Let us know how it goes.

 

[daniella3d]

I will not try the CO2 method myself because I don't have the equipement needed. Heck, I would not know where to buy dry ice or even co2 container, so I used imidacloprid. It's systemic and should be very effective.

Here is a link about the co2 method. Of course nobody should be allowed to breath the co2 so it must be very well contained.

http://www.orchidboard.com/eliminate-terrarium-pests-with-co2

Maybe I would try that next summer if I have pets problem so I could try that outside in an aquarium or terrarium.

Never heard of that. Let us know how it goes.

 

[mormodes]

The original poster never returned to this thread to say if any of this helped, not that there's a requirement to do so, LOL! If you are still out there Ladyslipper I'd like to know if anything helped.

 

[troy]

I got a pyrethrin spray blend that I sprayed in a haynaldianum crown I saw mealies in and it liquified them. problem solved no harm to the plant, I can post a pic of the product when I get home

 

[cnycharles]

sometimes places that make/sell block or other ice have dry ice as well. i know of a beefalo producer in the jackson valley of wyoming that packs and ships frozen meat in boxes with dry ice

 

[kellyincville]

Interesting idea with dry ice. In my area it's sold pelletized by some grocery stores.

I use it at work sometimes when I need to drop the temperature of a container quickly. I would be very concerned about cold damage to the plants. In the link the person mitigated that by adding hot water but personally, I would still be wary.

Unlike CO, breathing CO2 isn't going to hurt you but if you're inside some ventilation is needed.


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