Bugs Bugs and more Bugs !

[Mehera]

What kind of symptoms do you get with mites?

[Piper]

I've no mite experience (luckily), but I will mention the other creepy crawlie that has paid a visit once or twice: mealie bugs! Another eww....

They can do more damage faster than most other critters in my experince. White and feathery, they're almost too small to see individually. If you spot a snow-white surface on a leaf or stem, take a high-res shot with your digital camera and zoom in. If you see legs or antennae, or anything that looks close - NEEM it!!! Neem is effective with mealies as well (the soap is merely used to emulsify the oil in a water-based spray.

It's quite cool that the Dartmouth Greenhouse has gone to a total program of biological pest control, and it's been very effective. Here's a like that describes it:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~grnhouse/pest.shtml

Of couse, I don't think I want to introduce any insects into my home...but it works for them.

Julie

[jtlqh]

Spider mite will leave a lot of pin holes in the leaves, mainly on the underside of the leave, these holes look either brown or silvery. Here is the scare on my phal from the mite damage.

Qing

[wogga]

I heard something really interesting tonight! Apparently, pure grade powdered and diluted caffeine can be used as an effective end to many bugs such as slugs and roaches. it can be very dangerous to lepanthes though, apparently.

this was gathered this evening from a certain gentleman out in california - pretty good source of information.

[bench72]

I've heard the same about coffee grounds... and I use post brew coffee grounds to reduce my snail and slug problems... and since I've been using it... no sign of the darn critters!

oh and no adverse affects on Paphs, Catts, Cymbids, Dends and Angraecums...

[Diane]

I've heard the same about coffee grounds... and I use post brew coffee grounds to reduce my snail and slug problems... and since I've been using it... no sign of the darn critters!

oh and no adverse affects on Paphs, Catts, Cymbids, Dends and Angraecums...

The slugs and snails are all down at the local starbucks....

[Gin]

I save the dregs from the coffe pot in a quart jar and add a teas . of instant to it . I does work on the little bush snails ... Coffee anyone
Mealie bugs are the scum of the bug world ... I got them on my plants several years ago I tried spraying , they would show up again , finally had to dip 300 plants 3 times they wrecked my Cymbids . they were huge plants the little XXX rated creeps were hidden . That was before the days of systemics .. Gin

[Mehera]

I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop...A couple of months ago I found ONE mealie on a phal leaf. Hurried and sprayed it with the Bayer stuff. No sign of more on any plant. But what are the chances of catching the one and only mealie?!

[Piper]

Mealies are sneaky little bastards. They hide in leaf axils, flower bracts, and near impossible places to spot them, let along treat them.

Waaaay back in college we used to play "Rogue," a computerized version of dungeons and dragons, and down in the dungeon you sometimes found a scroll of genocide. If you read the scroll, you could name any one monster and wipe all of them out of the game.

If I found a scroll of genocide today, I'd use it on mealies! Luckily I don't get them often, but they freak me out most since they're so hard to get at and do so much damage so quickly.

What pest would you genocide?

Julie

[Diane]

What pest would you genocide?

Julie

Are corporate executives eligible for nomination???