Today, in order to properly grow indoor plants, you need to study the parasites that can harm them and, as a result, lead to irreversible processes. The mealybug is a dangerous pest. This parasite is very active. Its body is covered with a powdery white coating; the insect may have wax plates along the edges. The body length can be from 0.5 to 12 mm. Males have wings, on their stomach they have a whole bunch and two tail threads. One female parasite can lay up to 2,000 eggs on a plant. After moving, it leaves behind a cotton-like discharge of white color. Mealybug can be 7 different species. How to deal with this pest? This will be discussed in this review.
How to understand that a plant is affected by a pest?
You can usually see the mealybug on petioles, stems and leaf axils. Often, plants affected by this parasite are covered with down. When the eggs hatch into larvae, they will crawl onculture and suck the juice from the leaves.
Signs of infection
This issue must be taken seriously in order to avoid negative consequences in time. How to understand that a mealybug struck a green culture? Photos of infected plants allow you to highlight obvious signs. First, the leaves wilt and wither. Subsequently, they may atrophy. A white coating with lumps appears on the leaves themselves. The females look like small mosquitoes. In addition, sticky mucus will be present on all parts of the plant. This is the so-called honey rose. Any of the signs described above indicates the appearance of such an unpleasant pest as a mealybug. Not a single flower is immune from infection. But most often pests affect cycads, amaryllis, citrus and palm plants. Infection of violets and orchids is also possible. The problem is also characteristic of azalea. Usually the pest starts on young shoots.
Which plants are affected by the mealybug?
Different crops are attacked by different types of worms. So, for example, tangerine, citron, orange and grapefruit are susceptible to citrus mealybug. In length, the body of females is approximately 4 mm. It has a light pink color and is covered with a whitish coating. 15 days after birth, females can already lay eggs. The life span of females is approximately 3 months. Males are beige in color and have transparent wings. They live for about 2-4 days.
Grapes are attacked by the summer mealybug. Females havewide oval body of pinkish color. On the insect there is a whitish coating, similar to powder. Males are quite rare.
The bristly bug attacks adeniums, succulents, amaryllis, orchids, azaleas, asparagus, violets, palms, cacti, camellias, fuchsias, oleanders, anthuriums, philodendrons, monstera, kalanchoe and hibiscus. Body length in females can reach up to 3.5 mm. As for the shades, it varies between pink and orange. The body of the pest is covered with a whitish coating on top. The seaside worm is also often found. In length, the body of the female is from 3 to 4 mm. The insect has a pinkish-gray color. Males may have wings. The yellowish larvae move fairly quickly.
What is the danger?
What is the mealybug terrible for plants? Crops affected by this pest stop growing. Shoots can be deformed, and the fruits and ovaries fall off. Females secrete honeydew during their lives, which can grow soot fungus.
Indoor bug on house plants: how to fight
This is a rather difficult process. Many owners of home greenhouses are faced with such an unpleasant pest as a mealybug. How to deal with this parasite? Chemical preparations are best suited for destruction.
You can spray indoor plants with the following preparations:
- "Aktellik";
- "Thiophos";
- "Nurellom-D";
- "Vertimecom";
- "Fitoverm";
- "Phosalone";
- "Karbofos";
- "Phosbetis".
After treatment, you must wait a week and re-spray again. Fitoverm is considered the safest for humans. To prepare the solution, it is necessary to pour 2 ml of the composition into a glass of water and mix. The next treatment should be done in a week. For greater efficiency, you can add dishwashing liquid to the composition. Due to this, the insecticide will stick to the insects. The roots of the culture absorb the solution of these chemicals. As a result, the parasites die.
How to get rid of a mealybug using folk remedies?
It's very easy to make. The fight against mealybugs can also be carried out using homemade tools. Wet a cotton swab or soft brush with soapy water, wipe the plant with it, trying to clean off white plaque and parasites. Then rinse the flower in the shower. Pay special attention to the bottom of the foliage. Next, you need to treat the plant with a solution of green soap. It will take about 10-15 g per liter of water. Such spraying should be carried out three times at weekly intervals. Instead of soap, you can use garlic juice, tobacco infusion, onion juice or cyclamen decoction. Also, calendula tincture and alcohol are more effective. It is useful to spray the flower with an infusion of orange or tangerine peels.
Effective ways to deal with the parasite
There is another fairly effective tool that can be used to remove mealybugs on houseplants. To do this, grate one teaspoon of soap. The resulting mixture should be placed in hot water (1 liter), add two tablespoons of vodka and 25 ml of alcohol. Then cover the soil in the pot with something. With a cotton swab dipped in the resulting solution, collect all the pests, change the swab periodically. The next day, simply wash the flower with warm water. After 3-4 hours, the treatment can be repeated.
Here are some more effective methods that can be used to permanently get rid of such a pest as a mealybug.
Detailed description:
- Chop 25-70 g of garlic, pour 1 liter of boiling water, leave for 6 hours. An indoor flower must be treated with this infusion with a brush. This should be done in the evening. After that, try to protect the plant from sunlight for a couple of days.
- Mix one liter of water with two tablespoons of olive oil. Wipe the whole plant with a cotton swab dipped in this solution.
- Four tablespoons of dry chopped field horsetail, pour 0.5 liters of boiling water. Leave the mixture for 20 minutes. When the infusion has cooled, water and spray the plant with it.
How to properly get rid of a pest on an orchid
According to experienced flower growers, if you detect the parasite in time, you can avoid negative consequences. Very often the mealybug settles on the orchid. It is usually bristly orcitrus look. A he althy orchid releases special substances that repel pests, including mealybugs. The parasite can only appear on a diseased flower.
What to do if you notice a mealybug on an orchid? How to get rid of a pest? First of all, try to isolate the plant from other individuals. Sick buds must be discarded. New sprouts should be peeled and trimmed to a centimeter. If pests appear in the middle of the flower, they must be removed with tweezers. Scales should be removed from the pseudobulb. After that, grind laundry soap on a grater and fill it with water. Spray the stems and leaves of the orchid with the resulting composition. You will only have to treat the culture with any fungicide. The main thing is that chemicals do not get on the soil.
Pest on indoor plants: ways to fight
Mealybug can appear on violets for the following reasons:
- the pest has been moved from newly purchased flowers to old houseplants;
- parasite moved along with contaminated soil;
- lack of moisture;
- too much high nitrogen fertilizer.
If you find parasites, then the violet will need to be pulled out of the pot, shaken off the soil, treated with insecticide and transplanted into fresh soil. The pot for transplanting the plant must be doused with boiling water or a bleach solution. All cultures that were on the windowsill next to the infected flower must also be processed. Shelves and window sills need to be wiped and disinfected with chlorine. All these proceduresshould be done with disposable gloves. After this operation, they should be burned. Plants should be sprayed with a solution of "Aktellik", prepared in a ratio of 2 ml of the composition per 1 liter of water. A week later, it is necessary to re-treat. The earth in a pot can be watered with Aktara's solution by adding 1.4 g of the substance to 2 liters of pure water. With this composition, you can simply sprinkle the violet. Then wait a month and repeat the procedure again. You can also try to apply Phosphamide. The dissolved substance will enter the plant. As a result, insects sucking juices will be poisoned and die. To work with poisons, you must wear a respirator.
Even the most experienced flower growers sometimes encounter such a parasite as the mealybug. How to deal with this pest on indoor plants? Indeed, as a result of his activity, flowers can acquire an extremely unsightly appearance. These insects are also popularly called hairy lice. You can determine that a flower is affected by a parasite by a large amount of white bloom on the leaves. And to see the insects themselves is real and with the naked eye. At the first sign of a mealybug attack, it is necessary to act immediately, as it can spread to other plants. Juveniles are very mobile and can easily move between crops.
Why is it important to treat a plant?
Why is the mealybug so harmful? How to get rid of this parasite? The fact is that it will suck out all the nutrients from the flower, interfering with its normal development. Females secrete sweet honeydew. As a result, fungal infections may occur. The respiration of the plant is also disturbed due to the honeydew emitted by insects. All this leads to decay. This parasite has no preference for any particular part of the plant. It can appear on the buds, and on the roots, and on the shoots. Therefore, if you notice a mealybug on your houseplants, then you need to immediately start fighting it.
In conclusion
Today, many flower growers are interested in what a mealybug is and how to deal with this harmful parasite. It should be borne in mind that this parasite does not appear just like that. Be sure to monitor the condition of the plants and the quality of the soil. Before transplanting, any soil for disinfection must be doused with hot water. Also, pest larvae can be transferred from a new flower. Therefore, it is extremely important to regularly inspect the plants for the presence of a mealybug and other insects. You can fight the parasite both with the help of special chemicals, and using folk recipes. It is also important to provide the plant with the necessary conditions.
