How To Get Rid Of Mealybugs, According To An Expert
12.06.2024 - 21:49
/ southernliving.com
/ Arricca Elin SanSone
Mealybugs can affect all types of crops, ornamentals, and houseplants, including succulents and cacti. Outdoors, mealybugs have natural predators to keep their numbers in check. But indoors in your nice, cozy house, their numbers can increase quickly.
- Alejandro Del-Pozo, PhD, is an assistant professor and extension specialist atVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Unfortunately, these tiny insects are difficult to manage, especially if you don’t catch them early. “Mealybugs are little vampires.,” says Alejandro Del-Pozo, PhD, assistant professor and extension specialist atVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. “They use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on plant cells and eventually can kill the plant.”
Mealybugs have a distinctive appearance. They are elliptical, flattened insects covered with a white, waxy or fuzzy-looking material that serves as protection. Some species also have long filaments that extend from their posterior ends. Mealybugs often are confused with scale, a related pest that also hides under a waxy protective coating. But scale pests don’t move around, and mealybugs do, says Del-Pozo.
How To Get Rid Of Aphids, According To Experts How To Get Rid of Mealybugs
If you’ve identified mealybugs on a houseplant, try these steps for control:
- Isolate the affected plant from your other houseplants.
- Act fast. When you discover an infestation, treat right away. “The bigger mealybugs get, the thicker the waxy coating gets, and the more difficult they are to control,” says Del-Pozo.
- Scrub them off with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. But test a small area on your plant first, and wait 48 hours to ensure the alcohol won’t harm the plant, says Del-Pozo. This method is
The website greengrove.cc is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.