Hi all,

I noticed the beginnings of a mealy infestation on a hoya I got recently (rooted cutting). I picked off the fuzz (didn't see any actual bugs, just the telltale fuzz) and rushed it and its three neighbors into the kitchen sink, where I sprayed it with a fairly high concentration of Dawn and water on every plant and soil surface. I also removed the tendril that had the fuzz, since it was rotting (which is what clued me in to the mealies in the first place - the rest of the plant is healthy).

So my many questions are:

(1) What will happen to the awesome aerial roots these plants were developing now they've been sprayed with soap - anything? A couple of them were beginning to root in the sphagnum they were sitting in, which I found amazing and encouraging... so will I lose these roots?

(2) Should I take them out of their pots, wash all the soil off the roots, and re-pot?

(3) Should I treat the plants on the shelves that were above and below these plants? There's a barrier between the shelves of not only shelves, but the bottoms of plastic mini-greenhouses.

(4) I'm concerned about cuttings I recently got from Joni that were on the shelf above the "infested one" - they have just started rooting. They all look clean now, and I'm afraid if I treat them with anything at all that they're too fragile right now to survive. Am I right or wrong on that? They all seem pretty robust right now.

(5) I assume I should dump the sphagnum moss that I had the plants sitting on in the mini-greenhouse?

(6) Is dish soap and water alone going to be enough to do it, or should I try a full frontal chemical assault?

(7) Anything else I should know?

Thank you, as always, for your awesome responses! You are quickly turning me from a nervous hoya newbie into a confident hoya parent!

Lesley "OMB"