I know how you feel. I got some I am going to part with. I need to thin out my collection. I got Hahni margenated, I got one Moonshine I could spare. Some tall Sans. tri.~ Lauretii Silver. Next year I may have some more rarer ones to add to the list.

I am holding off all sans trades until I can guarantee my stock is free from mealies and other pests.
Sorry. I don't want to be responsible for passing along a pest.
Stush

Hey Stush,

I'm not sure how one guarantees this or if that's even possible. Sadly, sometimes this happens. I'm a bit surprised as I've never seen a Sans. w/ insects before.

To hear Norma tell it, Sans. don't get insects, I've seen her mention this several times. Yet, currently at Houseplant Forum on a thread about a Sans. w/ curling leaves, Al (Tapla) mentions Sans. are vulnerable to Thrips. So there's second kind of insect now for Sans., perplexing.

Hey Stush,

I'm not sure how one guarantees this or if that's even possible. Sadly, sometimes this happens. I'm a bit surprised as I've never seen a Sans. w/ insects before.

To hear Norma tell it, Sans. don't get insects, I've seen her mention this several times. Yet, currently at Houseplant Forum on a thread about a Sans. w/ curling leaves, Al (Tapla) mentions Sans. are vulnerable to Thrips. So there's second kind of insect now for Sans., perplexing.

katheryn send me an email and maybe we can work something out. I Have a few I'm willing to part with.
Laura

Laura,
That's very nice of you. Most people here are very generous and most of my plants are freely given to me.

Karen,
Next time I can completely wash the plant and give it a fast spray. It may hurt the plant a little but better than any hiding pest.

I did several times used Bayer on my plants and on all of them when one is suspect of having any problems and I did have a big winter lost this year. First time for me.

Still, I apologize to any one I may have infected.
Stush

I grow my plants outside or on the screen porch. They get plenty of light and heat! They multiply!
I have to say that I've never had an insect problem on any of my sans.

So sorry Stush you are having problems. Growing inside you don't have the best conditions and no predators to keep the bad guys under control. Good luck
Laura

I have never had an insect on a Sansevieria, when I grew them in New York, in Boston, and in four different places in California, indoors, outside, or in a greenhouse. I have had spiders who spun their webs on the plants, which really is not the same as insects on the plants as such, even if spiders were not arachnids.

Sans seem to be relatively bug free but after I started my collection I got some nasty mealies on one that quickly spread to surrounding plants. They would be onl the roots as well as the leaves. I had to discard the worst plants but beside spraying I ended up drenching the soil with the same insecticide which worked well. They were a royal pain though while here! Stush, don't worry, you will get them in the end.

See if any thing is offered on the trade list you may get lucky. I got a lot of mine at the Huntington Gardens, and a lot on Ebay. Trades and plants given to me. Norma

To all,
Thanks for all the sympathy showed. My plants have been pest free for over several months. The ones I have given out have been in an area that didn't show any infestations. I am surprised how some might have got out.
So far, and that is until I see something special. I have all the plants I can handle. In fact, more that I can handle. I am now afraid to give them out now. Maybe next year I will put together a massive give off, including other species.

All my sans if fact is putting out divisions (pups) all over the place. What i lost this winter, I am making up well over triple.

Thanks again for all those who give me what I lost over the winter. You guys are on my list and I will never forget you.

Stush

Although I have never had this happen to Sansevierias,, i have seen mealybugs subsoil on the roots of plants which have been allowed to dry out COMPLETELY and remain dried out for considerable time. altho this has never happened to me on Sansevierias, I have found mealies on the roots of certain plants which had toppled over in the greenhouse and gone without water for a very long time. These were cactus plants. I washed the roots entirely free of soil and dipped them in a mild solution of dish washing liquid, which melts the waxy coating of mealies and kills them. but these were totally dried out plants.

This post was edited by hermine on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 12:54

the original poster seems to be MIA. I hope all is well.

I went MIA because I've been battling mealy on a ZZ plant and a ponytail palm. I've been religiously CLEANING all my houseplants to make sure nothing else is contaminated. UHG. I hate mealy. It's probably a good thing I HAVEN'T come across an sans on my wish list, I might have killed them. Fortunately ZZ's are easy to clean, and my ponytail palm seems resilient enough...

It's so ironic that my post about sans hunting went off topic onto mealy bugs, when that is exactly my problem.

Is it just me or have you noticed that this year the mealies are AWFUL.

Well, maybe I should clarify since I'm the one who got the buggy plant.

I assumed it was mealy, truth be told I didn't look too closely. On reflection I'm thinking it's something else, 'cause it wasn't fuzzy / cottony as I've seen mealies. It was more like grains of rice - maybe 10 or 20 of them, but the quickest glance was all I needed, I looked a 2nd time & tossed the whole thing, pot & all.

Don't know if Stush & others here at Sans. Forum know this about me, but I collect Hoyas & mealies can wipe out a Hoya collection very fast! These bugs were on the nice new growth, the inner most leaf (which I'd seen Hermine refer to as the 'cup', I guess like same as in Bromeliads).

So the merest glance at bugs was enough for me. If it had been one or 2 bugs, maybe I might have thought to treat it, but approx. 10-20 needed immediate disposal! I'm not familiar enough w/ other plant-loving insects to know what it was, just that it was leaving ASAP.

pirate_girl, I used to have an extensive Hoya collection and at one time I believed the plants were placed on this earth as a HEAVEN for mealy bugs. I was almost driven MAD by them. and they got on the succulent forms of stapeliaceae also, things you would never think would be host to mealies. One of the few times I used systemic insecticides in my life.

Stush, I am still happy to report that I have not found a critter yet on any of the plants. I was lucky enough to find a few golden hahnii but I'm holding off on sending them out to be sure that they are pest free. Just thinking that there may be an invasion is disheartening, depressing, and discouraging.
But I'd hate to stop something that I have found to be enjoyable...and they don't ask for much!

This post was edited by Enterotoxigenic00 on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 21:29

Mail them in Try Bob Smoley''s in Florida
he is my favorite San doen't gather bugs, end on conversation. Norma

Keep looking at every place which sells succulents because you simply never know where you will find a new Sansevieria. I found one the other day and I was not even consciously looking.

Keep looking at every place which sells succulents because you simply never know where you will find a new Sansevieria. I found one the other day and I was not even consciously looking.

We got off topic because I wanted to send plants to KatherynIridaceae but was afraid to because of what happened to PG. I too believe mealies don't normally attack sans but when weak or some other ailment, mealies steps in and finish them off. After using an systemic insecticide by Bayer. I've been pest free since April.

when I am growing my landscape plants outdoors under the naked sky, pesticide free as a matter of dedication, there HAVE been pestillences which would single out a certain bamboo, and after using dishwashing liquid and forcible blastings of water, on VERY FEW OCCASIONS, perhaps three times in a decade, i have succumbed and used a Bayer product which is both a fertilizer and a systemic. it degrades to non poisonous in about six weeks. But I do try EVERYTHING ELSE POSSIBLE before using it. and I am pleased to say that I have not had to use this on Sansevierias. Pesticides make farming and ornamental plant cultivation less labour intensive, but I always worry about the side effects of these substances, and they ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING WRONG as a possible side effect.