Having discovered an unexpected "leaf fall", plant owners sin on insufficient watering, lack of nutrients or, conversely, on their oversupply. However, the cause of premature extinction and death of the leaves can be small but insidious pests. A mealybug lurks on the inside of the leaves and in the sinuses, accumulating along the veins - it is easier to suck the juice. From a tiny white insect, fragile young plantlets seriously suffer. It is especially necessary to carefully examine the succulents, azaleas, cacti, citrus fruits, monstera, Kalanchoe and hibiscus.
As soon as you notice the pests themselves, or their discharge, resembling pieces of cotton wool (they are also used by females as an incubator for larvae), immediately begin to act. Otherwise, the colony of aggressors will grow, and the mealybug will become your constant headache. How to get rid of adversity, we will now think together.
Of course, the most radical way is chemical. Poison will survive even a densely populated cluster of insects. In specialized stores you will be offered modern drugs that do not need to be sprayed. A substance dissolved in water gets into the roots of a plant when watering, then it is delivered to the leaves with juices. Worms, having tasted a poisoned lunch, gradually die. Their shrunken carcasses are easily removed from leaves and shoots. To consolidate the results, watering is repeated after two months.
If you are afraid of a possible health hazard (after all, chemistry is not harmless), other methods can be used to ensure that your mealybug leaves your plants. How to deal with it in a biological way? In the allies we attract the natural enemies of our pest. The yellowish-brown parasitic wasp controls the number of “white” colonies not bad. She uses insects and larvae as a living incubator for her own offspring. By laying eggs in their bodies, the wasp is able to nullify a whole generation of worms.
Another serious predator that destroys small dirty tricks is the cryptolemus beetle. He belongs to a large and friendly family of ladybugs. The only bad thing is that this ally does not tolerate low temperatures.
But what if there is no possibility or desire to start any small living creatures, but you were tortured to death by a mealybug? How to get rid of his pernicious presence? It's time to resort to proven folk remedies. It’s nowhere easier: to prepare a concentrated solution of household (the simplest) soap, take a cotton pad or sponge and carefully wash off the insects along with their secretions. It’s good to leave a soapy deposit until the morning, and only then wash each leaf and twig well. The procedure is recommended to be repeated regularly.
Horsetail, garlic, calendula - they are very disliked by the mealybug. How to get rid with the help of these "green pharmacists"? You need to spray them with infusion of plants that you previously freed from pest colonies.
For delicate orchids, a delicate treatment with an emulsion of olive oil is used. It is prepared at home, for which two tablespoons of this oil are added to a liter of water.
Talk a little about prevention. Everyone will agree that it is better to prevent trouble than to tear and throw later, looking for ways out of this situation. Therefore, we monitor the health of our green pets, and subject all “new arrivals” to thorough examination and quarantine to be sure that they are not inhabited by a mealybug. How to get rid of it - we learned, but it is better not to pour the diseased plant into the team until its full recovery. Otherwise, a small parasite immediately gladly populates other plantings.
Keep your plantings clean and drive away ants from them. The latter adore absorbing cotton candy left by the worms, gradually increasing their “milking” herd.