Hi Neomea, Yes it is systemic. I however do not use this product on anything that attracts honey bees. As with all systemics it can effect the bees. Next to my shadehouse is a tree that attacts thousands of honey bees and has not affected the bees at all. I prefer the granular product as I feel it gives me more control on where the product is dispensed than a sprayed product. If I must use a liquid product I use the dip method. Here is a link that might be useful: Merit

Don't panic!! Anyone growing a large number of plants has to deal with this stuff. It's a RPB (royal pain in the butt), but you can handle it. If you haven't gotten it yet, go get some Bayer's Tree and Shrub. They have it at Lowe's, HD. Mix it two tablespoons to a gallon of water and water it into the soil. If the soil is real dry, I water with some plain water, then immediately after, water with the BATS. Be sure to collect the drainoff and dispose of it someplace where no kids or pets will interact with it, and best not to flush it into the sewer system (which eventually comes back to our water supply - uck!) It will kill all root mealies, scale, and about anything else that threatens your plants' health. If you have a lot of plants, it's not a bad idea to treat them all semi-annually. Just take them in stride. Don't let them "bug" you (no pun intended...) Bugs are just doing their job. As I tell spiders when I find them... "Stay out of my environment and you can surely die of old age. But enter my comfort zone and you're TOAST!!" Denise in Omaha

I had to mail order the Bayer Advanced from the US. Ontario has the same laws but I was fighting a loosing battle with those bugs so I had to figure out a way to get something strong enough to kill them for good. The main ingredient is imidacloprid which is something you want to use very carefully because it is linked to the death of honey bees. Treating plants that are not in flower poses little threat to the pollinating insects. There are several options if you look on Ebay, search for systemic insecticide. These products don't set the plants back and the one I have even contains fertilizers. You have to take personal safety precautions, don't get it on your skin and be careful when using and cleaning up after. I mix a gallon at a time so that it is easy to work with but you can also get time release granules that can be added to the top of the potting mix right in a plants pot. I can't remember what Hoya that would have been, maybe the red flowered form of Hoya acuta? My plant is getting huge but it has not flowered yet, grows very well though. I am glad to hear everything is doing well. Mike

It depends a LOT on how/where you grow your plants. From my own hard-learned lessons, a few things make a plant susceptible to mealies: -very open soil mixes -watering less than 3x per month -bottom watering -low fertilizer -severe underpotting/root restriction -very low humidity Things I have found greatly help combat mealies: -adding sand topping to the soil, adding diatomaceous earth flakes to soil -vigorous and VERY thorough top watering (spray all surfaces of the plant and flush the pot) -very good ventilation -1% hydrogen peroxide treatment of all plant surfaces occasioanlly (I spray this from a squirt bottle) The past two years I have done these things while growing my plants indoors and have found 11 mealy bugs the entire time. I haven't lost any plants to them either, and only one out of about 100 plants showed any signs of an infestation (it had 4 mealy bugs on the leaves but none in the soil or plant crevices).