Mealybugs are very small comfy, oval insects that are usually lined with a white or gray waxy fluff. A mealy bug is able 1/10 of an inch long.
Mealybugs suck the juices from citrus, apples, pears, apricots, avocadoes, and grapes along with ornamental and tropical vegetation. Honeydew excreted thru mealybugs is helping the growth of sooty mould fungus.
Female mealybugs have comfy, oval, pinkish our our bodies; males have wings. Nymphs are similar to adults alternatively smaller.
There are a selection of species of mealybugs, most found out inside the southern United States. The longtailed mealybug is positioned all the way through North The us; it has a cottony glance and two long anal filaments.
Female mealybugs lay eggs in a fluffy white mass. The eggs hatch in 10 days and the crawlers then develop for 1 to 2 months. There are many generations of mealybugs every 12 months.
Mealybugs eternally feed in huge, dense colonies which appear as white, sticky lots on leaves, twigs, or fruit. With huge concentrations of mealybugs, sticky honeydew will appear with a gloomy, sooty mould enlargement over it.
Objective Crops: Mealybugs feed on citrus, apples, pears, apricots, avocados, and grapes along with ornamental and tropical vegetation.
Feeding Habits and Harm: Adults and nymphs suck plant juices feeding on all parts of a plant—stems, leaves, and finish end result. Excremental honeydew left thru mealybugs is helping the growth of sooty mould fungus.
Herbal Controls: Spray infested vegetation with stiff float of water or soapy water, or spray with insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap.
Herbal Control Calendar: Here is what you’ll be able to do seasonally to control mealybugs:
- Previous to planting: Remove weeds and plant debris from the garden; mealybugs overwinter as nymphs or eggs in plant debris and beneath tree bark.
- At planting time: Mealybugs thrive in warmth local weather; they’ll no longer be supply early inside the season. Spray infestations with a formidable float of water.
- While plants develop: Spray mealybugs infestations with a formidable spray of water or with insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap. Control ants which farm mealybugs in an effort to harvest their sugary honeydew.
- After harvest: Remove spent vegetation and debris from garden; mealybugs overwinter as nymphs or eggs in plant debris and beneath the bark of trees
Natural Predators: Woman beetles, lacewings, syrphid flies, chalcid wasps, and mealy bug destroyers (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri—to control mealybugs on citrus).
Scientific Name: Family Pseudococcidae; Pesudococcus adonidum (longtailed mealybugs); Planococcus citri (citrus mealybug); Pseudococcus comstocki (Comstock mealybug).
