20 March 2008
Mealy nest
Posted by Stuart under: Pests & Diseases .
This year, mealy bugs seem to be having a field day in my greenhouse.
I keep a fairly close eye on my plants, and have good eyesight, so can usually spot the beginnings of trouble. However, this time round I completely missed a trick.
Yesterday I came to repot my Mammillaria duwei, which formed a clump of four heads before three of them dried up after getting scorched a good few years ago. I decided that it was time to remove these long-dead offsets and tidy the plant up.
When I did, I was amazed by the number of mealy bugs hiding in the cracks. It was absolutely heaving with the little blighters; not only that but when I pulled the spines apart on the main head, it became clear that the plant was absolutely infested and didn’t look like it was likely to recover from the mauling it had received after spending months being their dinner.
So, it’s gone in the bin. I normally try and save plants, no matter how scarred they are, but I doubted very much this one was going to make it. It’s a timely reminder to remove hiding-places made from dead tissue from plants whenever possible.
Never mind - it’ll be time for watering with a systemic soon.