mass Mealy bug treatment for a greenhouse full of plants

[kadnil]

I have a small hobby greenhouse and it is infected with mealy bugs. It started last year and I treated the infected plants with a systemic pesticide you mix into the soil. It didn't work. I thought I'd gotten them off the affected plants, but suddenly everybody had them, including the original. I'm moving the plants out for spring and plan on spraying them, but I'm not sure if I can get in every nook and cranny. Moving the plants, I've noticed the pest on the pots as well. WHAT A MESS !
I know I should just throw them all away and start over, and I have with some, the ones I have left I've had for many years and they are meaningful to me and don't want to do that with them. Besides treating them, if the pests are on the pots, they are undoubtedly in the nooks and crannies of the greenhouse as well. How do I treat the greenhouse so the plants don't get reinfected this fall when they plants go back in for the winter. It is a wood framed house with wood shelfs. Any and all suggestions will be SO appriciated. I am in SE Kansas

 

[Chuck]

I have a small hobby greenhouse and it is infected with mealy bugs. It started last year and I treated the infected plants with a systemic pesticide you mix into the soil. It didn't work. I thought I'd gotten them off the affected plants, but suddenly everybody had them, including the original. I'm moving the plants out for spring and plan on spraying them, but I'm not sure if I can get in every nook and cranny. Moving the plants, I've noticed the pest on the pots as well. WHAT A MESS !
I know I should just throw them all away and start over, and I have with some, the ones I have left I've had for many years and they are meaningful to me and don't want to do that with them. Besides treating them, if the pests are on the pots, they are undoubtedly in the nooks and crannies of the greenhouse as well. How do I treat the greenhouse so the plants don't get reinfected this fall when they plants go back in for the winter. It is a wood framed house with wood shelfs. Any and all suggestions will be SO appriciated. I am in SE Kansas

On a really bad infestation of mealybugs you should spray everything with Neem Oil. This will do two things. It will kill the eggs and many of the adults. You should also at the same time make a soil drench of the Neem and drench all of your plants. Then in 7 - 10 days you should spray a spinosad based insecticide. This will kill any left over adults. Then spray spinosad every 10 days until no more evidence of the bugs are seen. Be sure to spray both sides of the leaves and all of the limbs and trunk of the plant. Mealybugs are a type of scale insect and smothering the eggs is the only sure fire way of eliminating them. Spinosad doesn't do much for the eggs but it is death on adults.

 

[NigelJ]

You could try and get hold of Cryptolaemus a mealy bug eating ladybird. In the UK we can buy it online, not sure about US though.