Today I found what I think might be mealy bugs on two of my new clems. One was purchased a few days ago from Tallahassee Nursery and had been in their greenhouse since last year. I'm not sure that is what it is, but my pepper seedlings were severely attacked by them last year and I used safe soap to kill them. Should I use safe soap or Neem on my clems? I bought Neem last year after reading a thread on DG and it worked wonders for my peppers!
Mealy bugs on clematis
Boys! I detest those meally bugs if that's it! Some of my gh's plants were infested with them. I tried not to use much chemicals if I can help it for my butterflies' sakes. My Jatropa and a night blooming jasmine were severely aflicted with the mb I'm concerned about their recovery. I prunned the affected branches severely, and washed them off, and am watching for new eggs to hatch, yike!
Editted for typos.
This message was edited Apr 24, 2009 7:37 AM
Sharkey..you can use the Neem but remember to never spray when full sun is out..after sundown is preferable as Neem will burn the leaves...What I like to use and is a more effective way to treat mealy bugs is a repeated spray of 50% isopropyl alcohol and 50% water ....Jeanne
start with soap and water (lotta soap)
neem products contain neem oil, which can burn tender leaves in the hot sun. i have ruined foliage before with neem products.
call the greenhouse where you bought the plant , they may give you some of what they would use, but if plant is outside in hot sun, you may have to shade it with cloth while you treat it...it is the combo of product and sun that can hurt the clem.
i am experimenting with diatamaceous (sp check needed on this) earth this spring, any area i feel could be sluggy, (have never seen a slug here, just paranoid). you might read up on that and see if it is also good for mealybugs. there are a lot of insects this will control and it is completely natural an dunharmful to cats, bird, chihuahuas, DH's and even gardeners!
jeanne we were posting at same time!
i have found neem products , even if used at sundown to remain on the leaves and possible burn the next day . i have had several bad experiences with it. i would only use it on completely overcast, english type weather when no sun was expected for a few days. i burnt the heck out of some alberta spruce with it, the burn happened the next day.
alcohol and water is interesting. if i get any bugs will test it here on a few leaves. here, until the new growth is fully hardened off, say end may, it is very sensitive foliage i have found.
Neem oil maybe still safe unless if our temp. shot up above 90 F. anytime soon. Down here, we're hovering on the mid. 80'ish already! So provide shade is a sound thing to do. Thanks CG.
I'm off to a garden tour today, will post more pix when I return this afternoon.
My local nursery has advised that I can use Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to safely remove mealybugs. It's time consumming, but I'd do that for some of my more sensitive plants.
Always use a mask when dusting with "Diatomaceous" aka DE as it is a fine powder and if ingested can damage your lungs..CG...I have used after sundown hon and found that the leaves dry off overnight and usually don't burn..for me that is
Lily..mixing 1/2 and 1/2 of alcohol and water in a little spray bottle..makes it so much easier than dabbing with cotton..make sure to lift leaves up when spraying to ensure all is covered...doing so in early morning or late afternoon is advised
Thanks, guys! I've used the Q-tip method on houseplants, but when you have a lot of the little critters, that is not practical. I think I'll try the dish soap and water first, but does it matter if the sun is out when using soap?
Last year, I had many peppers in the ground that had been producing and then the leaves started dying. I sprayed with Neem and they started putting out new growth and actually made peppers again. Last August presented a new bug every day for me to identify, Right now I can't even go outside without needing a body-sized mosquito net to wear. (recent flooding here made it worse than usual.)
i would not spray anything on a clem in hot sunlight, esp if they are fresh young vines, not hardened off to hot sun.
you guys have probably been sunny for so long down there, you may not have the tender vines we do up here in april and early may. basedon my experience i would spray in the evening , even with the spao and water, esp if it is nice and strong.
again, i have hurt plants with the neem based stuff even when used in the evening , but the next day they were burning. i would not use on tender clem vines.
the diat. earth can be mixed with water and sprayed, or poured on the earth around a clem for slugs, so there is less particle float and danger.
Id use a good spray of soap and water and then you could eyeball check for anything you missed and rub them off. I am not a big fan of the Q-tip /rub alcohol business - used to do that on my hoyas and really it never worked satisfactorily.
( And are they in fact mealy bugs or maybe aphids?)
Soapy spray works great on aphids. Mealybugs are more resistance, seems like the white 'powdery' coat helps protect the soft bodies?
For aphids, I just hope that these 'good guys' hurry up and multiply. Our friendly ladybugs. ^_^
I'm not positive these are mealy bugs. One was in a 2-gallon pot because it is a recent purchase and I'm trying to get a place ready to plant it. I was able to move it to a shady spot today and spray it with soapy water. It doesn't seem to have helped yet. Not sure what aphids look like. This almost looks like a white substance on the woody stem. I'll have to get my magnifying glass tomorrow and examine it more closely. This plant has only a few leaves so far.
If the infestation is caught early. Chances are that you can control them pretty effectively, I think. I looked at my Jatropa today. I took it out of the gh last weekend. Trimmed off major aflicted branches and leaves. Wash them of with just water. Today, it's looking good, no powdery white substance, not a trace of those 'suckers'. Thank goodness! I detest those mealybugs!!! My night blooming jasmine, look pretty 'puny' however, I may have lost it, because the infestation was pretty severe. Good lucks with yours.
lily love, why don't you try the chamomile tea spray if it is mildew related quest???? just strong, plain chamomile tea sprayed on the plant, just read about it recently but have not had cause to try it.
CG, I'm planning on trying your C. tea. But this isn't mildew substance. It's those soft-bodies white powery bugs (characteristic of mealybugs). They can destroy our plants if not properly controlled.
Sharkey;
A couple years ago I found some mealy bugs on two of my fuschia... I remember form years back about someone telling me that they had used coffee in a spray bottle to get rid of them so I gave it a try... I brewed a pot of strong coffee, let it cool, and put it into a spray bottle and drenched both plants... Then took the grounds and put them on the surface of the pots... It worked great.. No more mealy bugs... Earlier this spring I noticed I had some aphids on one of my hibiscus, so I thought I'd give the coffee trick another try... Worked on aphids also.... Haven't had a sign of any more,,, Haven't had any white flies lately, but I'm sure sometime this summer they will show up on something... When they do, I think I'll show em the Folgers coffee trick and see if it has the same effect on them also....
..Dave
Dave, I'm in the process of having my morning strong coffee, so maybe I'll try that. One plant in the pot is still in the shade. There is still a white substance on the stem and a few white dots on the leaves. They just don't move like the mealy bugs did last year on my peppers when I sprayed them. I think I need to go to Bugfiles and learn what some of these other creatures look like. If you will allow me to ask a dumb question, when you have mildew on clems, is it black like mildew on a shower curtain?
I'm sending you a D-mail.
sharkey, powdery mildew is whiteish like a film or powder. not like shower curtain stuff!
In that case, that could very well be the problem. Wow! I really do learn something new every single day at DG. Just think how much I'm going to know this time next year!!!
I'm going to try the tea, as you suggested. I use it when planting pepper seedlings, also learned on DG from Critter. I'll let you know how it goes. Thank you, Guru, once again.
if the ch. tea doesn't work ,get a bayer rose three in one that has a fungicide in it....doss, on the dg forums turned me on to this, i have had good success with it when needed.
I have Bayer 3 in 1 already. Just fed my new rose with it yesterday. It's the kind you dilute in water. I think a nursery owner in Tally told me last year that she uses the granular kind, but I couldn't find it listed anywhere. My roses love it, as they seem to be doing great. (I planted my first roses last year as well.) Do you feed Bayer to all of your clems, or just when there is a problem?
no , i use the 3 in one spray on the few roses i have and the clems nearby get hit with the roses. i also use the granular bayer with it too. i treat my texensis clems with the spray even if no sign of powdery as i know they are susceptible and i did have some my first year in clems on the texensis.
best powdery cure is to treat before it appears in areas or on types you know are so prone.
i have heard anything for roses good for clems. bu ti have few roses and am entering that field gingerly, just for clem support and counterpoint.
I sprayed with ch. tea today. It seemed to help some, but not enough. So, I mixed some Bayer 3 in 1 and poured it in the pot. I won't be planting that for a few more days. We finally finished the new flower bed where it will live. I looked very hard for granular Bayer, but couldn't find it. I wanted to mix it in with the soil before I planted my new rose. I didn't know there was a 3 in 1 spray by Bayer.
Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know if the mildew (?) disappears. By the way, I wonder why the instructions on the liquid Bayer says not to use it on potted plants. This one won't be potted very long.
3 in one spray, premixed for roses that includes fungicide. i think it is called 3x.