Toni, it sounds like yellow jackets that got you. They look similar to honeybees, with their black & yellow stripes & small size. They can sting multiple times & are extremely aggressive. Also, IME, honey bees are pretty laidback like bumble bees. They aren't real fast & kind of just buzz slowly from flower to flower. I can swat them away & they just buzz off contently to the next flower, not paying me a bit of mind. They only time I've seen honey bees get aggressive is when their hive is threatened. (We have a lot of wild hives up here in old trees here) Honey bees can only sting you once & it breaks off their stinger in your skin, they die shortly after. If it was truly honeybee stings, you'd have had to scrape the stingers out of your skin & you can see the stingers. Not yellowjackets or hornets, though. Those little devils can sting & sting & sting. And they will chase you! My hubby & his crazy siblings & cousins have this summertime "game" (I'd say it's kinda like roulette, LOL!) where they spray the yellowjacket nest & knock it down & then run like hell. Crazy, right? I do not participate! Love my crazy in-laws, but that's one thing I consider a little too crazy ;-) I know that dragonflies lay eggs, that's how they reproduce. I have no idea if you could order dragonfly eggs or larvae, but that's something worth looking into. I strongly disagree with the government's spraying for West Nile because it does affect the healthy bug population. And ignorant humans don't realize just how important bugs are to our planet. That spray was also linked to adverse reactions by people with compromised immune systems, elderly & young people, & people with any type of breathing conditions (COPD, ashtma, etc). Simple fact is that it's poison & there are many more environmentally friendly ways to deal with such a problem. Just one of many reasons I converted from a city girl to a country girl when I grew up...I much prefer living up here in the boonies of southern Oklahoma, with its wild natural beauty & undisturbed, well-balanced ecosystem, than in DFW with its smog & concrete & just general yuckness that they subject the population to.

I also have been having a mealy problem with my large jade. I have been doing the rubbing alcohol treatment using a q-tip to kill the bugs one by one, because I've read that some people have damaged their jades with the alcohol mixture (alcohol and water)...not sure how they were using it, but I didn't want to take chances either way). Anyway, I've been doing the q-tip treatment for a few weeks now, every single day. And believe me, EVERY day I find a bunch of new mealies. So for me, it hasn't been working. Also, I've done the alcohol spray on some of my hoyas that have mealies...they are mostly gone but they keep reappearing on new growth - it's so frustrating! I decided to spray Neem Oil (diluted with water of course, and with some dish soap - just as the directions say), and I'm hoping that works. I've heard good things about Neem, and it's 100% natural (just make sure you get a good brand...I have Dyna Gro, I think). I really don't think water alone will do the trick, but I don't have much experience with mealies...it's just hard to believe that water alone would kill them and keep them away. Using natural predators is a good idea too, like you mentioned. Good luck, Gabi

I can attest to the effectiveness of regular ol' rubbing alcohol to eradicate mealies but with a few additional steps. Though this post is long, if you have mealies, it's worth the read. I finally got the whole thing under control and have a new plan in place. Here's what I did. I prepared to re-pot all affected plants and took the opportunity to discard all plastic pots & introduce a grittier mix minus calcined clay. I washed away the old soil & replaced with new mix (gritty as the affected plants were all jades, eccheveria & adenium). Each plant got a new pot or scrubbed out & decontaminated old pot. All terracotta, some glazed if that makes a difference, all plastic pots were discarded. I used Dr. Bronner's soap to scrub out pots, I didn't but you could also go the extra step and dip scrubbed pots in a bleach solution while you're at it. I set up a 'sick bay' & sequestered all of my affected or suspected affected plants in a bright & sunny area with supplemental lighting. Probably not necessary but I wanted to make sure that the plants would be able to have all the energy they could get to help me fight off the buggers. Also, I got some reading glasses & with the extra lighting, I was able to actually *see* the buggers instead of just the tell-tale chalky parts on the trunks. I made sure to keep only the plants I really wanted & tossed the ones I could care less about (ie: kept all the jades & tossed the coleus). I removed most of the leaves on my gollum jades & the large leaf jades, making sure to leave a few large older leafs and a few smaller, new leaves. I used straight alcohol in a spray bottle & hosed every part of the plant. I then followed with a spray of plain water to rinse down the plants, but I don't think it's necessary & have since quit doing that. I then set up a small oscillating desk fan to improve air circulation. I inspected & treated once every 3 days & haven't seen a mealy on any of the plants since I started this 2 weeks ago. The plants are now leafing out again & though they look a bit like 'Pepper' from American Horror, all is finally well. The trick is to continue with alcohol spritz in combination with dotting the actual mealies with q-tip dipped alcohol. In the past, I had only tried to treat using q-tip method. The problem with that is that you only kill the adults, if you continue for a series of days, you will kill the emerging hatchlings too & break the life cycle. Also, replacing the soil & scrubbing out the pots helps cut down on the population of bugs you need to find & treat. In all, I am treating 5 large adenium, 4 younger ones, 4 large jades, a p. afra & various eccheveria that I picked up locally cheap, only to find they were infested & needing treatment. I'm still inspecting every day & keep an alcohol bottle nearby with reading glasses so that I can stay vigilant. I've decreased treatment to once a week now & will likely keep these plants separate from my others until next summer when everyone will share my patio =)

Quinn and Denise...please keep in mind that I'm no expert when it comes to bugs...I've had plants for over 40 years and never experienced "bugs". I'm speaking only of what I've learned from searching the internet (Yahoo...mealy bugs...where they state that Neem will not harm them due to them being "hard-bodied") I'm only speaking from experience from this summer...the Neem and the alcohol, despite many applications, didn't even lessen the mealy bug problem. I had mealy bugs on my Bird's Nest fern, my Stephanotis Jasmine, one Carnosa krimson queen and an entire shelf of African Violets. After many applications, the situation only worsened. I tried BATS on all 4 types listed above...it killed the violets (other than 2 or 3 leaves in the center of each plant), but, it totally restored the other three plants...they're all bursting with new growth. The KQ is absolutely gorgeous again...new pink leaves sprouting everywhere. Mealy bugs cannot be missed on a bird's nest fern...and there's been no evidence of any mealy bugs since...and new growth is sprouting like crazy. Honestly, I started wondering if BATS had a "fertilizer booster" in it!!! LOL I'm sorry if I've offended anyone...I was just hoping my own experience would save someone the trouble and expense of trying other things...which had no help for me at all. I feel so ecstatic over the results of BATS...though it's a poison, it certainly works. I'm nearly finished treating ALL of my plants with BATS, other than my Nepenthes. I pray that the Nepenthes never show signs of mealy bugs..I'm afraid they'd be like the AVs and die...but, I'll use it if I ever notice a single bug on one of them. Klyde, please be "certain" to keep your cockatiels away from any plant treated with BATS...all birds love potting soil...and this chemical would kill them in short order. Move the plants to a room inaccessable to your birds. I've been involved with birds for most of my life, and travel the U.S. and Canada giving seminars on avian care and breeding. I think this treatment is very effective, doesn't need to be repeated for a full year and is no more difficult to treat than "watering" a plant. Again, I apologize profusely if I offended anyone..I'll try to remain quiet. Best wishes, Patrick