Is my Astro okay?

Subject: Is my Astro okay? Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:25 pm

Hi,
Now that I have a confirmed mealy bug outbreak on my mamm it has been sent on a holiday far away from my plants -

but I noticed this white cobweb like stuff that looks like it should be part of the wool from the astro, but I suspect its a bug too?

Any advice appreciated.

Heres a link to my photo - the gallery thing doesn't seem to be working here?

cheers,
Calycium

Subject: Re: Is my Astro okay? Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:47 pm

Hmm its a bit hard to tell but It looks like mite web to me. have a good close look, use a magnifying glass if you can.
They start to build up in between the ribs and in the very centre of the cacti. Small amounts look like tiny white white dots, medium like
a white sheet covering and heaps start to turn an orangey colour.

Not all mites are bad and even if it is red spider mite they don't tend to attack astros like they do lophs. I have had the webs on some of my pereskiopsis grafted
lophs for ages and they didn't harm the cacti for several months. I'm not sure if they wait till they build up numbers or what.
Remember they are microscopic and quite hard to see.

Here is one of my Lophs that had a bad attack a while ago. It has fully recovered.

Subject: Re: Is my Astro okay? Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:00 pm

Wow! What an awesome collection of lophs. So sad to see them with the discolouration. At least you didn't lose them and they will no doubt flower.

Bought some Malathion, and will give them a dose tomorrow night after work.

Subject: Re: Is my Astro okay? Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:35 pm

Gave my ario's a dose of malthalon, and cleaned them up - they look good. Hoping that I don't see any more spread of white webs now.

Thanks all for the posts to help out.