WWW.QWERKIROB.NET
  • Thoughts & Musings
  • Pholog
  • QwerkiPix

Finding Mealybugs: A Bit of a Rant

10/10/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
I was enjoying a quiet evening at home this evening watching The Middle on TV and preparing to watch my new favorite show, This is Us when I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water (and maybe another spoonful of that delicious Pumpkin Ice Cream from Stater Bros), when my eye caught sight of something whitish, powdery-like on the coleus branch I was rooting in a glass by the kitchen window.  "No!", I cried, "Mealybugs!  Mealybugs in the house, in the kitchen, the coleus!"  How could this be, I wondered.  Actually, I cussed, spewing the F-bomb, (yes, I know some choice words...and have been known to use them).  Dammit, I thought.  In the house?  I immediately grabbed the faucet hose and held the branch under running water and when I was sure I had washed every last one down into the garbage disposal, turned it on and ground them up like some madman in a Stephen King movie.  Then I threw the poor almost-ready to plant coleus branch out the kitchen door. 

Okay, this may seem a bit over the top.  I admit I was probably not as crazed as described above, but I have to say I was very mad.  "Why?  Why are these mealybugs everywhere all of a sudden?" I asked the no one in room.  No answer came from that same no one.  

For a couple weeks I have been fighting a battle against the mealybugs who keep invading my six-foot red hibiscus out front.  I had already killed my double-yellow in the backyard with soapy water.  (I didn't rinse it off quickly enough...maybe I didn't not at all...okay, I didn't know I should).  It was amazing how quickly it lost all its leaves and became a bare branch bush.  I am hoping it might still come back.  Hope springs eternal, they say.  And I think the same thing happened a few years ago.  Some fools never learn.

So getting back to the red one out front, I have tried the soap thing, this time rinsing it off...to no avail.  I got a environmentally safe for humans and pets insecticide that seemed to work sort of.  So now I go out with the hose, turn the nozzle to "Jet" and blast the suckers into oblivion.  They seem to be on the wane.  It seems to me there are fewer and fewer each time I wash the bush.  But geeze, it makes me mad.  

I have talked to neighbors who also have been finding mealybugs in their hibiscus.  So many theories and advice up the ying-yang, but I won't list them here.  I guess my point is I am just so over insects from hell who prey on something like my lovely hibiscus.  I've got enough to contend with.  And there it is: the real issue here.  Mealybugs are really just one of those things that come into your life to test you; along with all the other big and little frustrations and challenges like clogged freeways and hurricanes, expired credit cards that force you to update all your automatic payments and earthquakes, pine needles in your mulch and fires in the canyon.  Frustrations, challenges, pains in the derriere, and heartbreak.   All of it muddled up in tangled Christmas light fashion for you to sort out.  And deal with.

And ultimately, it all relative and all how you deal with it.  And that's my tale for this blog post.  I will now take a deep breath, maybe sigh, and then carry on.  Because that's what you do.  Mealybugs or no mealybugs.  

2 Comments
Debbie Brooks
10/11/2017 07:29:57 am

That “F” bomb really does the trick. I find myself in the same situation lately. I feel frustrated and helpless in a lot of ways, so it get mad at otter things. We all need an outlet. LO.L. KILL THOSE MEALYBUGS

XXOO

Reply
bridget
10/11/2017 07:44:28 pm

Way to turn a frustration into a parable!! Kudos

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Rob McMurray,
    Muser  

    I think of myself as a Muser Extraordinaire.  :)
    I am also a Writer, photographer and garden designer.  Friend, poet, paternal companion to my animal companions. And surely more.  This is my blog and my website where I share my musings and thoughts with anyone who cares to read them.

    My Facebook Page

    Archives

    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    June 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    All Materials Copyright by Rob McMurray QwerkiRob

Contact Me

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
  • Thoughts & Musings
  • Pholog
  • QwerkiPix