Mealy bugs on Fukien Teas

erubeck

I do some volounteer work at a nursery and care for the bonsai. Recently we have had about a dozen Fukien Tea trees infested with mealy bugs. Things we have tried so far are:

1. Removing them with alcohol and Qtips which is very time consuming and they came back.

2. Thinning the branches so they are not so dense and spraying with neem oil. They were back in a week or two.

3. Today we sprayed the trees from underneath with a strong water spray which removed almost all the bugs. We then let the trees dry and then sprayed them again with neem oil. We will see how this goes.

Has anyone encountered the problem and, if so, what are your thoughts and suggestions?

Ed

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Earl

I got hit by what I call Spittle Bugs this year. I'm guessing that's really a mealy bug. And they have been hard to get rid of, too. I think they are gone only to see them back in a couple weeks. They must be very tenacious. They seemed to go from one tree to another and I kept finding them in still another! I have used four sprayings of Neem Oil so far and I haven't seen them in awhile but who knows. The darn things even got into a couple of my prize cacti...some big ones and the branches just plain fell off where they nested!

While I like Neem Oil, I do know it basically just lays on the leaves and branches. Any washing off when spraying with water takes the spray right off. Also, I knows its effectiveness is only a few days so I guess with a severe infestation, it's going to take a bunch of sprayings. At least "they" say there is little harm to repeated sprayings...

Earl

erubeck

Thanks Earl.

I suspect you are right with the repeated applications of neem oil. I will try that as well and report the results back on this thread.

Moni

I would also try Insecticidal Soap. But whatever you use, more than one spraying is usually necessary.
Moni

erubeck

Moni,

Have you tried insecticidal soap on fukien teas? Are they tolerant of the soap? If so, this may be another weapon in the arsenal.