How to deal with mealybug on indoor plants - the best remedies

Hello! Last month I attended a rather interesting event: a large-scale exhibition of indoor plants was held in the city.

Huge halls were lined with various colors. Just eyes flew from the variety.

But at one of the stands I noticed a flower with a powdery bloom: there was a worm in full swing. I don’t even know how the organizers were able to allow this. I immediately turned their attention to this problem. Want to learn how to deal with a mealybug on indoor plants? I’ll tell you about effective methods.

How to deal with mealybug on indoor plants: expert advice

Do you, as flower growers, face truly tangible danger? It is not an aphid or a spider mite. The most serious threat to your house plants is precisely the mealybug on indoor plants.

The thing is that mealy worms do not stop until they completely empty the plant, so they usually leave a herbarium after themselves. What to do in this case?

General characteristics of the parasite

Mealybug - a fairly large insect, akin to the insect scale. Its appearance is almost immediately noticeable, in addition, an adult reaches 8 mm in length. If we talk about the body structure, then in males of this species it is more developed, while in females it looks more like an oval-shaped larva than an adult representative of a mealybug.

Female eggs are mainly laid in special bags located in the axils of the leaves. The presence of this pest is noticeable already if only because on the shoots of your plant a sticky white wax coating forms.

How exactly do mealybugs wield on leaves and shoots of indoor flowers? They actively use their mouthparts to pierce the surface of a leaf or bud, and then simply suck the juices out of them. Moreover, they are capable of doing this long enough for the plant to begin to dry out.

Young people can cause special harm, as they are extremely mobile and require serious “food”. As for the sexually mature males, their mouth apparatus atrophies over time, and they stop drinking vegetable juices.

Mealybugs are widespread throughout the world: there are about 1600 species. However, suitable climatic conditions for them are the tropics. These insects can feed on various crops, both fruit and technical, decorative or greenhouse. Their preferences depend on the habitats of the parasites and their species characteristics.

Signs of plant damage by a pest

If it is not so easy to notice small ticks on indoor plants, then the mealybug is found almost immediately after its appearance on the flower. However, there are a number of key characteristics by which you can make sure that your plant is at risk or already infected with annoying parasites:

• the flower almost stops growing. All this happens because literally all the juices are drunk from it, therefore, a flower can fully develop, on the leaves and shoots of which dangerous pests are fixed, can no longer. In addition, it seems to be covered with white shroud or snow. In this case, you can be sure that the mealybug is already actively eating your home plant;
• leaves and petals fall from an indoor flower. For example, worms appeared on a dracaena. In this case, the leaves of the plant are covered with a sticky substance that gives them yellowness. But this is only the initial period. Everything will end with the gradual withering away and falling of leaves;
• shoots are deformed. It also occurs under the influence of pests. Not only shoots, but also flowers are changing their shape, and this is the first signal that the situation with worms is aggravating;
• the manifestations of the vital activity of these parasites largely depends on the type of plants. For example, if a mealybug settles and develops on a money tree, white fluffy lumps appear in places where branches grow. In the future, they will turn into whole fungal growths.

As soon as you encounter a mealybug on indoor plants, immediately start acting. The effectiveness depends on how effective the measures you take will depend.

Preventive actions

It is quite difficult to completely get rid of the mealybug. The best option is precisely prevention. Such measures, of course, are not always necessary, but recommended if you want to maintain the integrity of your indoor colors. What must be done to prevent the threat of mealybugs on plants?

Do not be afraid to remove dried or permanently dried parts of the plant, they often attract all kinds of pests, exuding at first an imperceptible, but very characteristic smell of rot.

Try to maintain a sufficient level of humidity by regularly moistening the soil of plants, as well as spraying them (however, only if the moisture on the leaves does no harm to your flowers).

If you still notice several specimens of insect pests on the flower, do not immediately buy store-based products. To begin, treat the stems and leaves with a concentrated soap solution. A mixture of tobacco and garlic is suitable for periodic application. It repels a variety of pests, including mealybugs.

Effective Fighting Methods

If your flowers are significantly affected by such a dangerous parasite as a mealybug, how to deal with it effectively on indoor plants?

It is entirely possible that store insecticides can give a tangible result. But firstly, they are of high cost, and secondly, they are not recommended to be used too often.

That is, if you want to heal your plant from parasites in the early stages or understand that there is no visible threat yet, you should not once again saturate your home flowers with chemicals. Use effective home methods, for example:

The fight against the flour worm can be quite effective even with the use of improvised means.

Insecticides as an aid

Chemicals with combined effects (for example, Confidor) are the best solution for those who have been fighting worms for quite some time, but have not received tangible results.

In addition, if such pests not only settle on the surface of the plant (leaves, shoots and stems), but also surround its root system, only store-bought preparations will help you.

Remember that repeated treatment with such drugs is a mandatory procedure for you, since no matter how potent the remedy is, it cannot destroy the eggs and larvae of mealybugs. Spend a significant fight against such pests, and the result will not be long in coming.

How to deal with mealybug on indoor plants

Mealy mealybug from the family of semi-rigid winged scaly-shaped insects covered with mealy wax secretion from above the family of mealybugs.

They are distributed throughout the world, except for the polar regions, and are one of the most economically important groups of insects known to people, because mealybugs attack many fodder and ornamental plant crops. Most mealybugs belong to the Pseudococcidae family.

Description

Powdery mealybug is a pest with a length of about 3 to 7 mm, affecting indoor plants, are soft-bodied, wingless insects that often appear in the form of white cotton masses on the leaves, stems and fruits of plants. Pests, as a rule, gather in large quantities, forming white, fluffy masses on plants.

They are covered with a whitish "powdery" coating, which helps pests to slow the loss of water from their soft bodies. These pests prefer warm, humid, protected from harsh conditions and the environment of the place of existence.

Different types of mealybugs prefer different ways of eating - some species eat juice under the bark, some of the roots of potted plants, and others eat fruit, flowers, or fruit. Adults are slow insects.

Adult females lay 300-600 eggs in fluffy cotton masses. Egg laying continues for approximately two weeks and the females die soon after egg laying.

Young individuals are born within 1-3 weeks, at the first stage they are not covered, they begin to actively move around the plant in search of food. As soon as young individuals of the mealybug begin to feed on their own, they secrete nectar, which forms the wax coating of their bodies.

Females go through three stages (ages in one generation) until they reach maturity. Reaching pests of puberty is completely dependent on temperature. Eggs by females can be laid separately or in groups, egg clusters, as a rule, are embedded in cocoons of wax threads.

Males go through five ages. They do not feed after the first two ages and exist solely for the fertilization of females. In warm conditions favorable for pests, the continuous and uninterrupted birth of new generations takes place throughout the year.

Factors affecting the appearance and development of the pest

The development of mealybugs is completely dependent on temperature. Temperatures around 25 ° C and high relative humidity in the room are optimal for mealybugs, and their numbers can reach a high peak in spring and autumn.

The damage done may not be great if you find the pest in time, and it does not have time to do much harm to your indoor flowers. However, with a higher number, the mealybug can cause yellowing of the leaves and their twisting, as the plant weakens.

So, it is important to remember that mealybugs can reproduce offspring by laying eggs very quickly under a cotton cover. In recent years, these pests have quickly become resistant to pesticides.

Symptoms of infection

Some gardeners manage to get rid of the mealybug, but in most cases, unfortunately, the plant cannot be saved. In fact, the wax and fluffy coating of the mealybug makes the penetration of insecticides into the insect difficult.

Mealybugs, also for a long time, can be in a state of inert material and become viable when conditions become favorable for them.

How to fight?

What to do if a mealybug wound up on indoor plants? Mealybug is a rather serious and dangerous pest for indoor plants. Of course, it is better not to encounter such a pest as a mealybug at all.

Solutions of these drugs are absorbed by the root system and spread throughout the tissues of the plant. As a result, pests that gnaw or suck out the juice of the plant themselves become poisoned and die. From biological methods, microbiological preparations (fungal, bacterial) can be used, for example, “Lepodocide”.

Methods of dealing with home remedies

Running water. Use a damp soft brush to clean the plant of pests. Then wash it under running water, paying particular attention to the back of the leaves. At the same time, I recommend treating the stems and leaves once a week with tincture of mandarin or orange peels, soapy water, onion or garlic juice and soap.

Soap - alcohol solution. Soap - alcohol solution is prepared as follows: you need to cut one teaspoon of laundry soap and dissolve it in hot water.

The next day, you need to wash the plant with warm water. This treatment is performed every 3-4 days. You can not spray the plant, and periodically dipping a cotton swab into the prepared solution to collect pests, while always changing the cotton swab so as not to spread the worm.

Garlic solution. In the fight against the pest, garlic solution can also help. To do this, take 25-70 grams of garlic and knead it, then pour 1 liter of boiling water and insist for about six hours. Over time, the solution is filtered and sprayed with a plant.

Tincture of calendula. With a brush soaked in tincture, carefully treat the place affected by the pest. Such a procedure should be done in the evening for 2-3 days, the plant during this period should be protected from sunlight. Tincture of citrus peels (orange, mandarin) should be infused for 1-2 days before use.

Water spraying. Can help in the war against the mealybug and frequent spraying with a thin stream of water.

To better stick the insecticide to the shell of the pests, you can add a little dishwashing liquid. When treating plants, it is very important to thoroughly moisten the most damaged places.

How to get rid of mealybug?

If you suddenly find white clumps on your indoor plants resembling cotton balls, then this means that they were attacked by a mealybug.

Mealybugs, also called furry lice, are sucking insects that are perfectly visible to the naked eye. Mealybug (Pseudococcidae) is a close relative of the thyroid gland and pseudoscutis.

On indoor plants there are several species of worms. The most dangerous are amaryllis, grape, seaside, cactus, bristly.

Almost all of them look the same - white, furry, with many legs.The body of the female is elongated, oval-round, about 3.5 mm in length, grayish, pinkish or orange. Worms have very well developed legs, so they can easily move from plant to plant.

Worms are very mobile and able to move at almost any age. They have a soft body, devoid of wings, covered with a powdery white wax on top, sometimes with wax plates on the edge. It is this wax coating that reliably protects the worms and their larvae from the effects of any poisons and makes them immune.

In addition to worms sucking juice from plants, they leave behind sweet, sticky secretions - honey dew, on which a sooty fungus quickly sticks - a mold similar to soot.

Mealy mealybug. The body of the female is about 3.5 mm, broadly oval, pink or yellowish, covered with a white powdery coating. This species of worms prefers amaryllis, aralia, gardenia, jasmine, figs, cacti, coffee tree, ferns, heder (ivy), grapes.

Palm mealybug is a very dangerous quarantine pest, but it is very rare. The body of an adult female up to 2.5 mm long is covered with a wax shield in the form of cream-shaped conical spikes.

The mealybug mealybug is quite large and easily visible on the plant. It hides on the underside of leaves, climbs under the bark of citrus fruits, under the bulbous scales. It damages asparagus, begonia, dracaena, lemon, clivia, coleus, dracaena, oleander, palm, pandanus, primrose, cycad, ficus, fuchsia, dieffenbachia.

The mealy mealybug is the most common of all species. The female is elongated-oval, 3-4 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, grayish-pink. Egg bags covered with waxy spider webs look fluffy and have no shape.

Often, egg sacs are located in a hard-to-reach place - in the axils of the leaves, and in plants such as nolin or dracaena, it can be difficult to get them.

Prefers asparagus, cacti, succulents, including nolina (scorpion); camellia, coleus, dieffenbachia, krinum, pelargonium, oleander, laurel, cordilina, cypress, rhododendron, citrus.

There is also a citrus mealybug, which settles not only on the leaves, but also affects the root system. It is found not only on citrus fruits, Mediterranean (oleander, laurel, myrtle), but also on other indoor plants.

The root mealybug, almost the same as the cactus root mealybug, is only slightly larger. Both species prefer cacti and succulents, found on plants of the bromeliad and Euphorbiaceae family.

For these plants, whose root system is very small, root mealybugs are very dangerous. Pests settle on the roots or near the root neck, feed on juice.

Signs of plant damage

The egg laying of the mealybug, the larvae and the pest itself look like lumps of small wax strings or lumps similar to fluff or cotton wool.

Often, the surface of the plant where the bugs live is sticky to the touch due to the copper discharge of the pest.

Leaves become smaller in size, lose their color or turn yellow without time, fall prematurely. And if they don’t die, then traces remain on them - gnawed areas, which then dry out, turn brown, the decorativeness of the leaves is greatly reduced.

Weakened by the mealybug, the plant often rots, being affected by bacterial rot and fungal diseases.

Rootworm colonies can be detected by the characteristic white felt in the soil and on the inside walls of the pot. If your cactus, succulent or euphorbia is sick and does not grow for some reason, take it out of the pot and carefully examine the earthen lump. A mealybug root can be seen by a white cobwebby raid on the roots.

Worm measures

Do not flatter yourself if there are few worms, sometimes the fight against them takes a very long time, and you will have to deal with it with complex measures.

Rubbing the leaves with alcohol or vodka also helps. All these improvised agents weaken the wax coating of the worms, which makes them more vulnerable to pesticides.

Before processing, all visible pests must be removed with a cotton swab or a toothbrush. A cotton swab must be replaced, and the brush thoroughly rinsed and treated with alcohol or detergent so as not to transfer the worm to other parts or to neighboring plants.

After the "mechanical" processing, it is necessary to proceed to the "chemical". To do this, you can use insecticides: a golden spark, phytoverm, actellik, phosphamide, intavir, fufan, metaphos, actaru, karbofos, mospilan.

It is assumed that the worm very quickly gets used to one drug and develops immunity. It should also be noted that it is difficult to fight the worm due to its wax coating. If, simply, having discovered the worm on a plant, immediately treated with an insecticide, then it is not always possible to achieve the desired result.

Worms or their larvae (egg sacs) need to be disturbed with a wand, a brush, a rag, to weaken their protection - the wax shell, only then the insecticide can affect them. This complex treatment is carried out every 4-5 days. With rarer processing, no measures help.

When damaged by root worms, the soil is completely changed. Pots are thoroughly washed in hot water with a disinfectant. Plant roots are carefully inspected, washed in running water and completely placed in a solution of any insecticide for 15 minutes.

The plant must be transplanted into fresh, moist soil, carefully watered with water, and after a week - with an insecticide solution. But after that, make it a rule to carefully inspect the plant, so that at the first detection of white lumps, the fight against them is resumed.

At risk are many plants with dense, smooth and hard leaves, like alocasia, aglaonema, dracaena, dieffenbachia, sanseveria, nephrolepis, ficus, carmona small-leaved, citrus, Mediterranean, subtropical plants, cacti, succulents, milkweeds (almost all indoor plants )

Do not water the soil in pots, do not create cold drafts, use sterile soil. Quarantine the newly acquired plants, and only then substitute them to the home collection.

Shaggy lice on indoor plants

Mealy mealybugs (shaggy lice) are soft-bodied insects, with a powdery wax coating of light gray color and wax plates along the edge of the body. Adult insects have an oval-shaped elongated body and reach an average of 3-4 mm in length.

Unlike a tiny spider mite, a mealybug with cotton-like waxy secretions is clearly visible on the surface of a houseplant with the naked eye.

Males have distinct parts of the body - the breast, abdomen with two tail threads, head, wings.But the most dangerous for the plant is the female worm, whose body does not have a pronounced division into departments.

At home, four types of these pests are usually found on potted plants: bristle (P. adonidum), coastal (Pseudococcus maritimus), grape (Planococcus citri), and citrus (P. calceolariae).

‘Shaggy lice’ are very tenacious, reproduce fairly quickly at home, infect large areas on the surface of indoor plants, and it is just as difficult to deal with these insect pests as with scale insects, flower thrips, adult whiteflies and their larvae.

How does it get on a houseplant?

1. a mealybug may appear on your house plants from pest eggs that are brought in a flower pot with unsterilized soil mixtures;
2. soft and light insects are easily carried from place to place by the wind. Therefore, pests often enter the room this way through an open window;
3. but the most common way is moving insects from the affected plant to healthy ones. This can happen if a new flower is placed immediately after acquisition next to other plants.

How to detect a pest on a plant?

What harm is done?

• pests pierce the skin of leaves and stems, actively suck the plant's juices, greatly depleting it;
• eating plant juices, the pest secretes saliva with enzymes that slow down the processes of photosynthesis and metabolism;
• parts of the plant damaged by the worm are deformed, ugly spots appear that reduce the decorative value of the flower;
• on the honey dew secreted by the pest, a soot fungus (black) actively develops
• a depleted plant becomes very susceptible to a wide variety of infectious diseases that can quickly destroy an indoor flower;
• some species of mealybug affect the root system of plants, after which the roots begin to rot.

What prevention methods are most effective?

How to get rid forever?

The easiest way to get rid of pests at the initial stage of infection.As soon as you find signs of the presence of the worm on the plant, make a soap solution (grind a small piece of laundry soap and dilute in 0.5 l of water), and then wipe off the pests with a soft toothbrush along with their cotton-like secretions, dipping in the solution.

Then strain the tincture through several layers of gauze and spray the plant from a spray bottle. Spray 3-4 times with an interval of 5 days.

Another effective folk remedy for controlling a mealybug. Dilute two tablespoons of olive oil in 1 liter of warm water. Spray with this tool the plant 4 times with an interval of 5 days.

A very good remedy for these pests is tincture of horsetail. Sold in pharmacies as a diuretic. Tincture can be diluted with water and sprayed on the plant 3-4 times at weekly intervals.

To control pests, you can use such proven tools as Actara, Fitoverm, Confidant, Vertimek, Mospilan.

What house plants does it hurt?

Most houseplants are affected by these pests. Especially common on rubbery ficuses (Robusta elastic, for example) or Benjamin (Kinki, white De Hantel), on home azalea, on poinsettia (Christmas star), on anthurium, on spathiphyllum, on the Hamedorea palm, on a dwarf lemon tree, on asparagus , on uzambar violets (senpolia), on amaryllis, on clivia and hippeastrum.

A mealybug can even appear on prickly cacti and many other domestic succulent species (Schlumbergera zygocactus, Euphorbia euphorbia, Aloe agave or faith).

What is a mealybug and how should it be fought on indoor plants?

To find a mealybug, you need to examine not only the stems or leaves, but also look at the shoots, plant ovaries. Pests can be in large numbers on the fruits, and in their inner part. They will have to be destroyed by a set of measures, which we will describe in detail later in the article.

What does a pest look like?

Mealybug is always easily indicated on the leaves. Pests are recognized by a white coating, similar to coarse flour. When the number of parasites increases, sugar secretions appear on the plants and a soot fungus forms.

The growth retardation of plants is indicated, as parasites suck out juices from it. If the necessary measures are not taken in time, the destruction of the root system is possible.

Worm Control Methods

If infection with these insects has occurred in a mild form and has not yet been started, then it is quite simple to overcome pests.

You need to take a soft brush or cotton swab, dip it in soapy water, and then conduct it on all the infected areas of the plant.

Next, you need to spray the plant 3 times in a row. The interval between procedures is from a week to 10 days.

As the active substance, you can use a solution of green soap (prepared by adding 15 g per 1 liter of water), infusion of tobacco, garlic or cyclamen. You can do it easier by treating the plant with alcohol or using the pharmacy tincture of calendula.

When the lesion is severe, it is first necessary to remove all insects in the manner described above, however, spraying should be performed by special means.

You can choose Calypso, Confidor, Tanrek, Biotlin, Confidant, Fitoverm or Mospilan. Sometimes it is necessary to first try several drugs, as there are types of mealybug, against which not all remedies act.

Folk remedies

Horsetail infusion. This tool works even in fairly advanced cases. You can purchase this drug in a pharmacy. It is sold as a diuretic as well as a blood purifying agent.

Oil spraying. It is necessary to prepare 2 tbsp. l olive oil and place in 1 liter of pure water. The entire composition is applied to the plant. It is recommended to spray it, and not to oil it, remember this.

Garlic infusion. You should take about 5 medium-sized cloves of garlic and dissolve in water, which you need to pour about half a liter. First, the liquid is boiled, while garlic is cut and squeezed.

After this, it is necessary to pour the garlic mixture with boiling water and insist for 4 hours or more. After this, the liquid should be filtered and with a brush to cover the affected leaves.

Chemicals against the parasite

It is advisable to use these funds during the period when new insects only hatch from the egg or recently emerged from the womb of an adult female.

At this time, their surface is not yet fully equipped with a protective wax layer, therefore, it is then that they are the most vulnerable.

When the larvae are already at a fairly high growth stage, it is very difficult to overcome them. There are currently a wide variety of chemical products on the market. The most popular of them are tools in the configuration of sprayers and sprays.

When the drug is distributed throughout the plant, the solution is gradually absorbed and distributed in the internal fluid, that is, the juice of the plant. Insects feed on them, and when the juice is infected, after drinking they are poisoned, keep this in mind.

The greatest effectiveness in getting rid of the mealybug is shown by preparations that, together with biological elements in the composition, include oil. When using such funds, a number of difficulties arise, since together with the poisoning of pests it is impossible to damage the plant itself.

It is necessary to carefully distribute the funds to the immediate places of dislocation of insects, as well as to the surface where they are supposedly hidden.

When sprays are used, precautions are also very important. First you should study the instructions, which indicate the exact distance from the dispenser to the plant when applied. If you do not follow the manufacturer's recommendations, you can severely damage the leaves of the plantation.

Special protective granules are available for sale. Allegorically, they can be designated as sticks for the roots. It should be remembered that in the composition of these elements there are not only protective substances, but also special fertilizers.

Before applying these funds, you need to test their composition. Some plant roots react extremely sharply to the presence of salts in fertilizers, therefore, if negative substances get on them, they can undergo rapid and irreversible destruction.

If the fight against the mealybug has begun, it is necessary to carry out the treatment with chemical preparations for the second, often third time. Failure to do so may result in the formation of more resistant parasites.

In this case, you will have to look for more potent drugs from the group of drugs that have not yet been used. In order to guaranteed get rid of parasites, it is necessary to re-treat the plants in the specified time.

Preventative measures

Plants should be constantly inspected for damage and pests. Especially in need of constant inspection of plants, which are most susceptible to the emergence of parasitic organisms.

These are cacti, ficus, orchids and other similar plantings. Plants are carefully checked during the changing season, remember this.

Regular washing of the plant should be carried out, taking into account dried areas, if they are not to be removed.