yesterday while watering for the last time this season I discovered quite a lot of plants covered in mealy bugs, I had treated plants in that part of my collection for mealy infestation before but the systemic I used didn't work..
the infestation was so bad that I had no choice but to cut up the ones that could be rescued and dispose of the others..
this I had to toss at the moment I took pictures
these are the ones I still needed to salvage or toss at that point
a lot of them looked like this
these are the ones I then had salvaged
With apologies to the late Professor C. D. Darlington the following misquotation springs to
mind ‘cactus taxonomy is the pursuit of the impossible by the incompetent’ - Fearn & Pearcy, Rebutia (1981)
I HATE Bugs on my plants! I don't make it home too often and when I do, about all I get time to do is spray for bugs! Last year it was Spidermites, this year it's Scale! SO Aggravating! I've lost a few plants already. I've gone home and found some plants SO covered they were just Grey from so many bugs! But not being there to spray every 7 days just seems to produce super bugs
I wasn't raised a Cactolic but converted to Cactolicism later in life
Mealies are a nasty, insidious pest. Sorry they chose your plants to host them, but glad you found them in time to prevent even more loss. Look at it this way: it gives you a very good reason to go out and buy some more.
Catch a falling star--but don't try it with a cactus!
Sorry you're having this trouble. Mealies seem endemic here in L.A., too.
Lately some creature (rat, squirrel or bird) is nibbling perfect, lovely cacti in my yard (Mamm herrerae, M huitzlopochtlii, Eryosyce odieri, E occulta, E napina, Copiapoa hypogaea, etc)... enough to deface them. And then to add injury to this insult, the bite sometimes gets infected and starts killing the entire stem of the poor little cactus. Waaaagh.
thanks guys, I'm indeed lucky I noticed this, most of the damage was on the side facing away from the sun!
the biggest lesson learned is that from now on I won't buy any plants from the regular plant stores and the ones I buy at meetings will be thoroughly checked
after all, that must be how mealies got there in the first place
it gives you a very good reason to go out and buy some more
exactly my thoughts!
With apologies to the late Professor C. D. Darlington the following misquotation springs to
mind ‘cactus taxonomy is the pursuit of the impossible by the incompetent’ - Fearn & Pearcy, Rebutia (1981)
I have had problems with mealy bugs in the past also ( who hasn't?) First off, I believe mealies prefer cacti in cool shady locations and or any humid greenhouse, so I keep my collection as warm, dry and sunny as possible so as to drive them underground. Next, I took care of them with Bayer Advanced 12 month ornamental insecticide watered into the soil, which wiped them out as far as I can tell. Next was the rats and mice. I bought an electronic rat trap at the hardware store which kills all rodents who dare to enter. Peanut butter seems barely more tasty than conophytums so they will usually go for the trap first.
I've had good results with the systemics too. Some genus seem more succeptible than other (IE Ferocactus). I find that ants farm mealies, so an important part in preventing mealies is preventing ants.
It's the biggest problem when mealies crop up in winter because the plants can't be watered. Plants that shrink over the winter also leave a gap around their stem that invites mealies to move to their roots.
There's been some rodent damage this year too - but mostly that's limited to small seedlings. Their worst offence was eating a 2yo Aztekium hintonii graft. I got 2 mice with a trap, then the trap disappeared (rat?), they've been eating away the some poison too. I also have lizards that I don't want to kill, so I'm hesitant to try sticky traps or electric traps.
A deer ate halfway through the side of a Trichocereus bridgesii (like a beaver!), and kicked a grafted Echinocereus polycephalus off it's Myrtillocactus stock so it could take a bite out of the top of the stock... I cut the graft in half, half went back on the Myrtillocactus and half on the Trichocereus. With a bit of luck I'll have two grafts instead of one.
I use ant powder to prevent farming and that helps a bit. I've used a bayer insecticide containing diacloporyd to no avail, before that I used one containing imidacloporyd which worked much better, unfortunately they don't sell it any more.
I would like to be able to purchase bayer tree and shrub but you can't get that here.
I still have quite some plants in quarantine and hope the toxic will work at some point...
A deer ate halfway through the side of a Trichocereus bridgesii
fortunately I don't have those kinds of pests
With apologies to the late Professor C. D. Darlington the following misquotation springs to
mind ‘cactus taxonomy is the pursuit of the impossible by the incompetent’ - Fearn & Pearcy, Rebutia (1981)
Call me crazy, but I like having ants around. Why just the other week ants showed me what plants had root mealy bugs. And when I see a couple of ants on a plant without nectaries I know I need to take a closer look, usually I'll spot a bug I need to squish.
That is not a nice discovery...sorry to hear that!
I wasn't raised a Cactolic but converted to Cactolicism later in life 
