The shear mention of soil mealy bugs (a.k.a. Pritchard mealy bugs) to an African violet enthusiast is enough to send them into a panic. Nothing creates such despair as the discovery and diagnosis that their collection is infected with these troublesome pests. Soil mealy bugs are extremely destructive and are very difficult to kill thanks in part to the powdery wax layer (secretion) that covers their bodies.
Optimara Violets®
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This goes for your personal health as well as the health of your violets. Regardless of the source, ALWAYS keep new plants isolated from your primary collection for at least three months. If a problem exists, be it soil mealybugs or something else, it will normally manifest itself within that isolation period. If you've taken the proper precautions and you still find yourself with a mealybug problem, then here are a few suggestions:
If the infestation is limited to a few plants, it is best to discard the affected plants. If the varieties impacted are hard to find you might consider removing a few healthy leaves (or crown in the case of a chimera) and washing them thoroughly in tepid soapy water. Please Note: Mealybugs have been known to lay their eggs on leaf stems and the primary stem of the plant. This "soapy bath" does not guarantee that you've removed them but certainly goes a long way in doing so. It is important to isolate these leaf cuttings (or crown cuttings) just like you'd isolate a newly acquired plant.
A secondary step you can take after giving your cuttings a "soapy bath" is to treat the leaf and crown cuttings in a solution of Admire Pro, per label instructions, which contains the active ingredient Imidacloprid 42.8%. Click here to review this pesticide which is readily available on eBay. You'll note that this pesticide is very expensive ($169/Pint) so you will have to decide what is cheaper...replacing the infected plants or treating them. If you estimate plant replacement at $10.00 each (plants + shipping), your break even point would be approximately 17 plants.
My thoughts on the use of pesticides: I'm not in the practice of personally taking antibiotics to prevent a bacterial infection. As such, I don't dispense pesticides in this manner either. I think we're all aware that overuse of antibiotics or pesticides can and does create resistance strains of diseases (e.g. Tuberculosis; a.k.a. TB) and pests.
If the infestation is limited to a few plants, it is best to discard the affected plants. If the varieties impacted are hard to find you might consider removing a few healthy leaves (or crown in the case of a chimera) and washing them thoroughly in tepid soapy water. Please Note: Mealybugs have been known to lay their eggs on leaf stems and the primary stem of the plant. This "soapy bath" does not guarantee that you've removed them but certainly goes a long way in doing so. It is important to isolate these leaf cuttings (or crown cuttings) just like you'd isolate a newly acquired plant.
A secondary step you can take after giving your cuttings a "soapy bath" is to treat the leaf and crown cuttings in a solution of Admire Pro, per label instructions, which contains the active ingredient Imidacloprid 42.8%. Click here to review this pesticide which is readily available on eBay. You'll note that this pesticide is very expensive ($169/Pint) so you will have to decide what is cheaper...replacing the infected plants or treating them. If you estimate plant replacement at $10.00 each (plants + shipping), your break even point would be approximately 17 plants.
My thoughts on the use of pesticides: I'm not in the practice of personally taking antibiotics to prevent a bacterial infection. As such, I don't dispense pesticides in this manner either. I think we're all aware that overuse of antibiotics or pesticides can and does create resistance strains of diseases (e.g. Tuberculosis; a.k.a. TB) and pests.
Cleanliness is next to godliness. Make sure any area where mealy bugs were found is cleaned thoroughly. If you mat water, I strongly suggest disposing of all matting where mealybugs were found. It is simply too difficult to ensure you've killed 100% of the bugs in the matting. If you wick water in reservoirs, clean (preferable soak) the reservoirs in hot bleach water and rinse thoroughly. I normally use 1 cup bleach to 8 quarts of water.
Remember, if it moves....it ain't perlite!
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