I have sprayed my Podocarpus with a liberal amount of Safer's Trounce to start to deal with its mealybug attack. When I purchased the trounce, the nursery advised that the day after applying the Trounce (outside) I should spray the plant with a good hose spray, presumably to knock off any bugs caught by the first treatment. There is no such recommendation with the Trounce instructions and I am wondering if I should follow the advise. Also, should I leave the Podocarpus outside for a while...or return it to its usual place indoors? Thanks Barrie
Barrie, A strong spray of water is often recommended as an organic control method for mealy bug. By spraying a strong jet of water on the plant some of the insects will be knocked off. This is not always the most effective method in the case of a severe infestation. Safer’s Trounce is a contact pesticide, meaning that it has to come in contact with the insect in order to have an effect. I think that a strong spray of water will help you in your attempt to get rid of the mealy bugs. It will not only knock off the dead insects, but also some of the live insects. I think that the latter is the more valuable effect. To answer your question about keeping the plant outdoors, you may want to consider that repeat applications of Trounce may be necessary to eliminate all of the mealy bugs, depending how severe the infestation. You may want to keep the plant outdoors, isolated from other susceptible plants until the mealy bugs are gone. Be sure to keep the plant out of direct sunlight. Raakel
Raakel: Many thanks for your very helpful reply. I basically did as you indicated and the first treatment plus water spray was great in ridding the plant of the many visible mealybugs. I will do at least one more follow-up treatment...and watch the plant more closely...and close up...in the future. Barrie
Hi Barry and Raakel I gather the podocarpus is being grown as an indoor plant. Firstly, contact insecticide is not very effective on meally bug (long tailed meallybug inparticular). If you have a healthy colony on the podocarpus thenPull the plant from it's pot and check out the rest of the family. Although I am no fan of recomending or using insecticides, I suggest you use "imidacloprid" as a soil drench and as a spray. good luck
Puddleton: Thanks for the additional information. In the event I decide to use an imidacloprid product, how does one generally go about doing a soil drench? Barrie
imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide it's dilution is either watered into the soil or sprayed onto foliage.