Hi: I believe the Mealy Bug has infested many of my Hoyas. Little pockets of white cottony piles are discovered between the nooks and crannies of the leaves and stems.I faithfully inspect every leaf, underparts of the pots and wear and discard my plastic gloves!! I'm using Water to ETOH (10:1 parts) on Q-tips , finally drenching the plant at the sink following another drench one week later. My question is this: How do they move about? I don't see anything crawling , flying or flitting about the house? Please help! Appreciatively, Hoyagal
I sympathize: boy, are these suckers (term used literally) persistent and hard to banish!!! From what I read, I gather that females do the damage---the white gick is stuff that they secrete to protect themselves whilst they feed and produce eggs. Females do have legs and can move a bit: adult males fly to the females and fertilize them, and then R.I.P. (All's I gotta say is that this maneuver must be accomplished pretty darned quickly, and/or these males must be pretty darned small! Sure don't observe 'em zooming in for the rendezvous.) Eggs (up to 600!) hatch out every 6 to 14 days, so---as you know, to your sorrow---the cleansing procedure must be repeated...and repeated...Arrgh! Keep at it, hoyagal, and stay strong!
Thanks, togata57! Great info! I don't give up easily so will keep on motoring! Great weather here so will plan to do a massive sweep tomorrow outdoors! New soil and sparkling pots! Appreciatively, Hoyagal
