Mealy on Aeranthes

[PuiPuiMolcar]

Anyone know if aeranthes can handle the cold outdoor, at 40F nights?

unfortunately I found the mealy host and it's this orchid. I hate mealy and I need to make it difficult for them to return as much as I can. Knowing them not liking the cold, it will make my job easy to discourage them from coming back. And now i have to treat my entire indoor collection too sigh.

[Roberta]

I don't think I would recommend this one for outside. I looked it up, half of its parentage can grow cool, the other half warm growing. Plants can push the temperature range somewhat if acclimated, but now in winter (even southern California winter) it would be too much of a shock. Spring, summer, fall it will be OK outside, but not now. Isolate if you can, and treat it. If this plant is the source of the infestation, you will need to give it particular attention. I can't see for certain, but that medium looks too dense and wet to keep Aeranthes happy. Repotting into a more open medium (large bark maybe) could help the general health of the plant, and also remove some of the hiding place of the bugs,

I corrected the typo in the thread header.

[Leafmite]

Someone in my Orchid Society said that she got rid of these by spraying her plants once a week with isopropyl alcohol so I tried it when I put my plants outside for the summer and they were gone after two weeks. Now I am trying this on my banana tree (indoors). I made certain I spray so that the alcohol runs into all the nooks and crannies.

In the past, I have sprayed Safers, Neem Oil, and soapy water without much success. Olive oil, sitting on a plant overnight is very effective but needs to be completely removed the next morning (not easy).

Good luck!

[Ray]

You MUST do a thorough treatment:

1. Buy a pesticide labeled for mealy bugs.
2. Spray the exposed tissues of all plants to dripping.
3. Drench the potting media as a well. Mealies can populate root systems, too.
4. Repeat two additional times at one-week intervals.

[estación seca]

I would use alcohol spray for control until warm weather returns. Then I would submerge the entire plant and pot in just slightly soapy water for 6-8 hours. Drain and rinse.