Posts Tagged ‘mealy bugs’

Neem Oil

Last week, our blog about Neem oil mentioned how the latter was not necessarily a good remedy to get rid of pest insects such as mealy bugs or aphids affecting indoor plants (Trevor Thomas did point out, though, that once a plant is treated for such pest insects, Neem oil was effective in keeping them from returning.)  How, then, does one get rid of pest insects such as mealy bugs or aphids?

To answer that question, we are reposting our blog from last year offering very concrete, step-by-step advice on how to go about treating pest insects, mealy bugs in particular on indoor plants:

“If you notice a little ball of white fluff on one of your plants, take a closer look. You may have a mealy bug problem. There are many kinds of mealy bugs but the one that seems to be most common in houseplants in North America is the citrus mealy bug.  In as far as your houseplants are concerned, the name has nothing to do with citrus fruit, nor with the fact that you may enjoy eating oranges and grapefruits.

Mealy bugs

Adult citrus mealy bugs are not very mobile and especially like to congregate tightly in protected parts of the plants such as in the crevice where leaves join the stem. You will also find them on leaves, especially young tender ones. The adults are covered in a hairy waxy coating that has a slight pinkish hue. Younger mealy bugs are very mobile, darker, not covered in hairy wax, and can easily move from one plant to another in search of tender leaves and stems where they latch on and start draining fluids from the plant.

Mealy bugs are difficult, but not impossible, to get rid of.

The first thing you should do is isolate and treat the infected plant. You should also isolate the neighboring plants as they may be infected too. Be sure to wipe down any surfaces like window ledges in between the plants to kill any stragglers with insecticidal soap.

To get rid of mealy bugs, be sure to wet all surfaces of the plant including any crevices or cracks in the stems where they may be hiding with insecticidal soap. Be sure to retreat again with insecticidal soap after 3 or 4 days.  One of my biologist friends dabs the mealy bugs he find with a Q-Tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.  This is VERY labor intensive and, he says, has never helped him to completely get rid of the problem completely.  In a recent blog post, I recommended neem oil as an alternative to insecticidal soap. Several people wrote to me to suggest that a combination of insecticidal soap and neem oil works best.  I.e. apply the insecticidal soap, repeat the application a few times and then take the neem oil approach.  The advantage of neem oil is that it stays on the plants and makes them unpalatable to new croppings of mealy bugs or other pests as they hatch. Soap is generally not effective once it has dried up.”

Insecticidal Soap

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/02/treating-mealy-bugs-on-indoor-plants/

One of our readers, Trevor Thomas of Burnaby, British Columbia, recently sent us this text about Neem oil. 

“I was first introduced to Neem oil through the Vancouver Orchid Society as an insect repellent. Neem oil is derived from a tree that grows in India. It is a brown oily substance and from what I know, it is extremely bitter, hence its insect repellent qualities. It is non-toxic which makes it ideal for indoor plants.

Pure or mixed?

You can purchase Neem oil in its pure form and mix this with liquid soap or you can purchase it in a mixed concoction. In the past, when I’ve looked for Neem oil, it was hard to find in its pure form. I have seen it sold and marketed as a spray that you can use to enhance the texture of the leaves on your plants.

Desirable effects

A desirable side effect of Neem oil is that it leaves a shiny waxy texture on the leaves of plants that you spray it on. However, I find it is best suited as an insect repellent. If your plant is infected with mealy bugs or aphids Neem oil may not be your best bet in killing these pests, but once you’ve eradicated the bugs then I would definitely recommend a weekly regimen of Neem oil.”

Neem Oil

Write to us

Let us know when, how and in what form you use Neem oil.  We’d love to hear more on the topic!  Also, you can read or re-read or post from last year:

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/02/neem-oil-for-indoor-plants/

Orchid

Last week, we posted a blog on how to best take care of orchids. Over the next couple of weeks or so, we will be sharing some footnotes to our orchid text, including a tidbit about vanilla and some more photographs of orchids.

Today, we’d like to share the following post with you, written by Michele Collet.

Enjoy!

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-dramatic-and-amazing-sex-life-orchids

Orchid

Orchids

Orchid

Many of our readers have written asking us how to best take care of their orchids.  We consulted a biofloris.com friend named William who is a biologist and works at the Big Barn Garden Centre in Victoria, BC.  William was kind enough to submit 10 key pointers indicated below.

Keep in mind:  most of the commercially available orchids are tree dwellers. They live on branches on trees in the wild. If you try to mimic such conditions and heed these ten pointers carefully, you will find they are easy to grow and will produce flowers regularly.

1.- Don’t put the orchid in direct sunlight, but in a bright room. Direct sunlight will burn the leaves.

2.- The potting medium is bark to mimic the tree branch. The roots need to breathe. So don’t add soil to the bark medium. The orchids get all their nutrients from the slow decomposition of the bark.

3.- Let the medium dry out between waterings but don’t leave the potting medium dry for too long.

4.- Water the orchid by placing the pot in a sink and pouring water through the medium. Make sure you get the aerial roots wet too. Let the water completely drain before putting the pot back on the table or shelf or wherever you keep the orchid. In the wild, water pours down the branch, wets the orchids’ roots and drains away quickly.

Orchid

5.- Some roots will grow out of the pot. Don’t try to bury them. They are aerial roots.

6.- Don’t let the orchids sit in water. If left in standing water, the roots will rot and the plant will die. (that’s why you let the plant drain in the sink as in 4 above). Try not to get water on the leaves or let it sit in the crevice of the leaves either. Again, this causes rot. If you do get water in the crevices, dab it out with a paper towel).

7.- Fertilize the orchid when it is growing. It will usually grow only one thing at a time: a root; a leaf; a flower stock. When you fertilize, water the plant first, then pour the fertilizer solution through. This is because you want to make sure the roots are wet before your fertilize them.

Orchid

8.- Water with room temperature water so as not to shock the plant.

9.- There are specially formulated fertilizers for orchids, although I have had good success with all-purpose fertilizer. If you are growing orchids in bark, you can use a fertilizer with higher nitrogen (typically 30-10-10). Organic fertilizers are available from biofloris.com. If you use regular houseplant fertilizer be sure to dilute the solution by at least half, otherwise you will burn the orchid roots.

10.-  There can be some pests but because orchids are small, you can usually handle the pests in the most environmentally friendly way and that is using a q-tip soaked in alcohol and dabbing each bug off individually. The most frequent ones I have come across are aphids and mealy bugs.

Now for some interesting links:

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.  Here is someone’s list of the world’s 30 most beautiful orchids:

First 15:        

http://gomestic.com/gardening/top-15-worlds-most-beautiful-orchids/

Second 15:  

http://gomestic.com/gardening/the-worlds-most-beautiful-orchids-two/

And here is a photo encyclopedia of orchids, with more than 12,000 species listed. It is user generated.

http://www.orchidspecies.com/]

Orchidaceae, the orchid family, is the world’s second largest family of flowering plants, the first being the asters (sunflowers, daisies, etc). Scroll to the bottom of the following page to see some of the amazing variety that this family produces:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchidaceae