HELP!!! CACTI BEING EATEN

[medicinedan]

little white bugs all over friends cactuses, making cacti all white and fluffy and then they die. What can I do???????????????

[naja naja]

Mealy bug!!!, hardware store pesticides, read back and get one that kills mealy bug. Pick all visual ones off. Quaranteen healthy plants.

Edited December 24, 2006 by naja naja

[occidentalis]

confidor does the trick and isn't too toic for humans.

[medicinedan]

Onto it, thanx dudes. They are really destructive, they must be stopped.

[KanJe]

Actually this is happening to my cactus, particularly to to the new pups.

Is there any way to stop this with out using toxic chemicals?

[occidentalis]

If they aren't on the roots, but just on the aerial parts of the plant, you can just scrape them off. But if you have lots then you can be sure they are on the roots. Nontoxic methods of control have been discussed before. One that I have heard of is to sit your plant in water containing detergent. The detergent supposedly breaks the waxy cuticle of the insects and they drown. Torsten reckoned the plant would drown first. You'd have to do it at least twice to take care of eggs. I haven't tried it. Perhaps I will try it with one of my less special plants if they ever get root mealies.

If you are worried about toxicity because you are considering future consumption of the plant where legal, Confidor is sold to use on edible plants. There is a witholding period, the longest of which is two weeks. Cacti being succulents tend to hold on to water for a long time so there is a possibility that the pesticide could be retained in the plant, but I think if you wait six or twelve months you should be safe.