Something’s amiss!

 

Something’s amiss!

While the garden goes on happily looking after itself, something’s amiss in the conservatory. Several of the plants have white patches on their leaves. It’s the clivias that are really severely affected. I have been spraying them with something that’s supposed to do away with little pests, but it hasn’t been effective, so in desperation I’ve cut the leaves right down to the soil.

I’m aware that the plants may not survive and that would be a shame, as they all stem from one plant I gave my mother about thirty years ago. It only flowered once for her, but after she died, I brought it back to our house and it thrived, flowering every year, sometimes twice a year. Naturally, the flowers remind me of her.

Mealybugs on clivia

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I’ve tracked the little beasties down online and identified them as mealybugs. The best control for them is the Australian mealybug ladybird (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) but the current temperature in the conservatory is only 13˚C (55.4˚F) It needs to be at least 16˚C for the ladybirds to start feeding and they are most effective at higher temperatures, between 20-25˚C. If the temperature falls below 9˚C they stop feeding altogether, so it would be a little risky to introduce them now.

                    Mealybug ladybird (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) 
                                    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In UK, mealybug ladybirds, also known as mealybug destroyers, are usually used only in greenhouses, but have been remarkably successful in controlling infestations in citrus orchards across the world.