Florey,
Thanks for sharing your view/experiments!!!!!!
Please keep us posted?

Here is a link that might be useful: My website

What a great forum!

Organized info on clivia has been hard to come by, now here it is, with a friendly shepherd too.
I wanted to avoid systemics in the house, I was sorely tempted, but wasn't getting a definate , yeah, that absolutely works.

Hi Dries,
Thanks for the welcome. It was lovely to see your beautiful plants in flower. What wonderful links you have. One, on pests, was at U Conn. Its funny to go thousands of miles to the land of the clivia, in pictures, then be redirected back home [~50 mi] to a page I hadn't seen! I've been on various plant pages at the U Conn site, just not that one. Who knew that there were over 100,000 fungi? Glad that there's Neen oil!

I lost: one that I'd had for 4 years -a light orange one with larger flowers that had been remaindered, and a small one from Logee's that I'd had for 3 years. The survivor is a yellow one.

I'm extra glad that the clivia that I've had since ~ 1970 wasn't near the mealy bugs. I'ts a cross between an old friend and family member.

I'm a little scared, because I've had to take the sentinal scenteds downstairs for more sun.

Florey, that's really interesting! Thanks for the very detailed discussion!
-kate.

Thanks for the encouraging word Kate. You have some nice posts around GW, and some really nice plant pics.
Good luck with the terrible ice storm, am beaming you little prayers and best wishes.
Florey

I had a problem with mealies & they are almost gone. I treated with alcohol, blasted them with water, & kept the leaves apart with q-tips. The main thing that helped was blasting between the leaves with water & keeping the plant ventilated.

AH! Almost, there's the trouble. The other stuff, alcohol, vinegar, even neem, would reduce the bugs, to ALMOST nothing. they would seem to be gone ... Then, as soon as I didn't check for a couple of weeks, they'd be back and the plant would be losing leaves again. Some concentrations were harsh, and the plants didnt like them, so go a little easy with the strength.

The Lemon , Pine and Dean's delight, were the most effective scenteds, I'm not so sure about my strawberry, and other less pungent ones, not absolutely sure about the true rose either.

Caution, unless your plant has been acclimated to being outside for a couple of weeks, don't get water in between the leaves, especially in the crown. Thalassa Crusso, used to put the fear of God into warning people against that. She said repeatedly that getting water in the crown, rots a Clivia, indoors. She was on public TV, years ago, and the sound of her voice is still memorable on that subject [saying never, never, never,].

They can put up with a lot outside, even in a pot, that they can't take, inside. It probably has a lot to do with humidity, and hydration of the plant tissues when it's outside.

Sure glad your southern California weather isn't cold like it's been here. :-> florey

Thanks for your tips, florey. It takes more skill to grow these plants indoors. I would have probably killed mine now if it had not been for my hot & dry climate water dries quickly. I used 70% ethyl alcohol, which the plants tolerated. I am not suggesting such a strong concentration to others  I think I just got away with it because the plants were hardy.
Since you are using neem & are skilled at indoor growing, maybe you could consider using a baby neem tree in your experiments.
The scented geraniums I have tend to like more sun than the clivias, but I will try your idea also & see how it works.

Hi Baci, The neem tree idea, sounds really cool. I have jungley longings, but little space. That is a really intruiging idea. The neem oil, I usually use outside. So I'll wait for the next really warm day that I have time to haul a bunch of pots outside, and fuss with warming the neem. That's a bit of a project, so neem use is usually May to August. A neem tree, hmm...
I couldn't figure out why my stuff in the window didn't have mealies, like my neighbor's big stuff, right there, on the floor did. The scenteds seemed to do the trick, meanwhile, the other 2 clivia were upstairs, wasting away. The aha! moment hadn't happened yet, to save them, and they gave up. They hated the fairly strong doses they got of the alcohol, and the vinegar, in their already weakened state. The concetrations I used were stronger than those that I recommended. I used 70 or 90 on the alcohol and may have uped the vinegar concentration to to over 3/4. Just a little vinegar, say, 1/5 is just as effective and doesn't seem to bother the plants.
Most of my experiments, start with other people's successes with a similar problem in a different situation. They're kind of variations on a theme. Various forums here on GW, have great ideas.

Gee, except for mealies and getting water in the leaves, they are hard to kill inside, too. The trick is, to make them happy enough to bloom. I definately defer to the experts on this forum for that. Up north here, they've done it only when they've had a bright [just out of the sun], humid, cool, place.
My clivia get very little filtered morning sun, probably not quite enough. The scented geraniums are mostly away now, in the sunniest window, except for ones being rotated to protect the clivia. Mealies seem to slow down when watering is cut back, too. Right now, I only have a couple of plucked s. ger leaves, tucked between the straps. Two or three times over the winter, it had a light puff, of weak vinegar water, up into the air, over it. There's still no sign of mealie bugs, and it's been months, yay !

Mealies Still gone !!!
This feels so good, especially after losing two last winter.
:>

Thalassa Crusso! Now THAT'S a name i haven't heard in years. Wasn't she great? I still have all of her books. I liked the way she wrote. She was a true plantswoman.

Dave
Milwaukee

Yes, she sure was. There's one of her books in a nearby library, I'll have to get it.
Although I put this link on a red spider thread, it really belongs here.

Found a gratifing link with some interesting data about bug pests and plant oil scents. The research was on red spider mites, [not true insects]. It mentions Limoniol, or lemonene [citrusy ] and geraniol[ pelargonium- geraniumy]. It may say pine- iol , or rose -iol, maybe someone more familiar with the terminology can say. Parsley seeds, coriander, cumin, basil, lemony stuff [incudinglemongrass+] all tested well.

It's nice to see some science that might back up observations, love to see more.

Mealies still gone!
Because of, leaves of scented geraniums, between the straps, and an occasional spritz with water and a little white vinegar, [an inch in my empty windex bottle]. mixed.

Since scented geranums rid mealy, I wonder if the type grown to halt mosquitoes do, too..does anyone know? Citronella....it's in the geranium family..to be honest I don't like its odor, smells too much like bug spray, but if it prevents mealy and other bugs, it might be worth it..
Does anyone know if scented geraniums work w/other plants, too? My clivias never had any type of bugs, cross my fingers, lol, but whenever I try growing Purple Passion, for some reason it attracts mealy. Does anyone know? Thanks, Toni

Toni, I'm trying citronella on my clivia right now. I'll let you know in a few weeks how it goes.

Wow..Where the heck do u get scented geraniums?

I can't get rid of the mealy bugs. It's been over a year now. I don't want to throw this plant away, I've had it for over 15years. My nursery just gave me Neem oil. I've soaked the plant. But because of the structure of the Clivia you just can't get down into the tight leaves at the bottom. HELP!

Dear anne 2008,and mmriveral.

My yellow one did survive! It's Still Clean!!! [One Year!] and has been coming back!

How are you and your plant doing? Mealies are so scarey.
Do you have a lot of visible mealies, or are they mostly in the base, and sneaking out, again and again, after a few weeks? Dying leaves too?

Scenteds, can be used with neem too, and a weak vinegar spray [or,maybe I just needed to hover and fuss].

The neem oil, may have helped a lot. It IS time for another treatment.
Do spray, with a weak solution of white vinegar and water too, about 1/4 or 1/5 vinegar. Just a light puff, a foot overhead, does seem helpful.

Use a strong,~ 50/50 spray, vinegar or alcohol, on the wall, window frames, and window, repeatedly, and wash the curtains. It can't hurt.

I have had really good luck with putting the scented's leaves, between the straps, and setting the little pots by the infected clivia.
You could also tuck a cutting into the pot, I haven't tried that though.
It may kill the bugs, or it may just scare them off, permanently.

A case of root mealies, showed up after the others were gone. I treated that by washing off the roots, and leaving them to air dry, in the dark, for a week. Water, that gets down in the leaves, can rot the plant, so be careful.

You can mail order, scented gers. A local nursery that carries herbs, might have them too. They are 'pelargoniums' really.
If you have a collection of fancy geraniums, know that some scenteds can carry a geranium infection.

Thank God, this works !
Good luck, florey