I am planning on treating a few infected plants with Malathon in spring. Mainly for mealies and root mealies, have a small outbreak and really want to get on top of it quickly.

I guess my question is 1: Will Malathon hurt my plants and is it very effective against the targets pests? It states that it kills mealies, might get something systemic like Rogor, but want some feedback on the Malathon first.

In Trout's notes on cultivation he suggests Malathion as one way to treat mealies, I assume that Malathion & Malathon have the same active constituent, I could have searched the web, but would like a bit of feedback from Aussie cacti growers as it's more relevant for me than info coming from the USA.

I should add it is very rare for me to use nasty insecticides, but I want to kill these pests sooner than later before they spread throughout my collection.

Thanks.

Trig,
I threw some onto my plants just before winter about 3 months ago now, - gave them two doses and they have not even blinked. They were Astros and doing fine.
I was a bit reluctant - don't even add fertiliser on my plants so it was a bold move - but mealies got to go!

I have used it before and so long as the plants are actively growing there will be no problem. As cal suggests, I too saw no signs of strain on the plants.

Yeah I say use the chem and kill them off. They can be hard to shake even with it. follow the directions very carefully and I usually apply once more that sugested so a total of 3 times just to be sure. Also don't use then same chem twice in a row. What I mean is use Malathion this season and a different chem next season to prevent the pests becomming tollerant.

Thanks for the advice guys, want to get on top of this small problem before it becomes serious. Root mealies are a big threat to any cacti collector. Was very shocked when I found them, then panicky, then determined to remove them.

Will report back once I have done the course of treatments with results.

Yeah do report back with your findings. I have never had root mealie and your exprience would be value to all members.