25 October 2010

MEALY BUGS

I freaked out yesterday and had to throw away an entire clump of Zephyranthes rosea (common name: Rain Lily). When I was going around doing my weekly watering of plants, I discovered the nest of mealy bugs all over the clump of plants. My heart almost failed because knowing mealy bugs very well, I doubt I can eradicate them completely once they set foot on my plants, especially when I prefer not to use any inorganic pesticides on my plants.

The sight of the colony and the crawling mealy bugs were enough to give me nightmares for days to end and I blame myself for not discovering it earlier. And just a while ago, I saw my normally healthy Haemanthus multiflorus (synonym: Scadoxus multiflorus; common name: Blood Lily) with another colony of mealy bugs. This is not a good sign at all. And my hair feels itchy just with my thought of the mealy bugs.

I can only hope that they do not spread to my other plants. Otherwise all hell will break lose.