Today, in order to properly grow indoor plants, you need to study parasites that can harm them and, as a result, lead to irreversible processes. Mealybug is a dangerous pest. This parasite is very active. Its body is covered with a powdery white coating, wax insects may be present on the edges of the insect. The length of the body 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 thousand eggs on a plant. After movement, she leaves behind a selection of white-colored discharge. 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?
Usually you can see the mealybug on the petioles, stems and sinuses of the leaves. Often plants affected by this parasite are covered with down. When the larvae hatch from the eggs, they will crawl through the culture and suck out the juice from the leaves.
Signs of infection
This issue must be approached seriously in order to avoid negative consequences during. 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. On the leaves themselves appears a white coating with lumps. 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 insured against infection. But most often, pests affect cypress, amaryllis, citrus and palm plants. It is also possible infection of violets and orchids. The problem is also characteristic of azaleas. Usually the pest starts on young shoots.
Which plants are affected by mealybug?
A variety of crops are attacked by various types of worms. So, for example, tangerine, citron, orange and grapefruit are affected by a citrus worm. In length, the body of the females is approximately 4 mm. It has a light pink color and is covered with a whitish coating. Fifteen days after birth, the females can already lay their eggs. The life span of females is approximately 3 months. Males have a beige color and have transparent wings. They live about 2-4 days.
The grapes are attacked by a summer worm. Females have a wide pinkish oval body. The insect has a whitish coating, similar to a powder. Males are quite rare.
The bristle worm attacks adeniums, succulents, amaryllis, orchids, azaleas, asparagus, violets, palm trees, cacti, camellias, fuchsias, oleanders, anthuriums, philodendrons, monsters, kalanchoe and hibiscus. The body length of 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. A seaside mealybug is also common. In length, the female's body is from 3 to 4 mm. The insect has a pinkish-gray color. Males may have wings. Yellowish larvae move rather quickly.
What is the danger?
What is terrible mealybug for plants? Affected by this pest culture ceases to grow. Shoots can be deformed, and the fruits and ovaries fall away. Females during their activity secrete honey dew, on which a sooty fungus can grow .
Indoor Worm on Domestic 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? Chemicals are best suited for destruction.
You can spray indoor plants with the following drugs:
- Actellicus
- "Thiophos";
- Nurell-D;
- Vertimek;
- Fitoverm;
- "Fozalon";
- "Karbofos";
- Fosbetsis.
After treatment, wait a week and re-spray again. The safest for humans is considered Fitoverm. 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, dishwashing liquid can be added to the composition. Due to this, the insecticide will adhere to insects. The roots of the culture absorb a solution of these chemicals. As a result, parasites die.
How to get rid of mealybug using folk remedies?
It is very easy to do. The fight against mealybugs can also be carried out using homemade products. Soak a cotton swab or soft brush with soap and water, wipe the plant with it, trying to clean off white plaque and parasites. Then rinse the flower in the shower. Pay particular attention to the bottom of the foliage. Next, you need to treat the plant with a solution of green soap. A liter of water will take about 10-15 g. Such spraying should be carried out three times with an interval of a week. Instead of soap, you can use garlic juice, tobacco infusion, onion juice or cyclamen broth. Calendula tincture and alcohol are also very effective. It is useful to spray the flower with an infusion of orange peel or tangerine.
Effective ways to combat the parasite
There is another quite effective tool, using which you can remove the mealybug on indoor plants. To do this, grate one teaspoon of soap on the grater. The resulting mixture should be placed in hot water (1 liter), add two tablespoons of vodka and 25 ml of alcohol. After covering something with soil in a pot. With a cotton swab dipped in the resulting solution, collect all the pests, periodically change the swab. The next day, just wash the flower with warm water. After 3-4 hours, the treatment can be repeated.
Here are a few more effective methods using which you can permanently get rid of such a pest as a mealybug.
Detailed description:
- Grind 25-70 g of garlic, pour 1 liter of boiling water, leave for 6 hours. Indoor flower must be treated with a brush with this infusion. This should be done in the evening. After that, for a couple of days, try to protect the plant from sunlight.
- Mix one liter of water with two tablespoons of olive oil. Wipe the whole plant moistened with cotton wool moistened 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, pour and spray the plant with it.
How to get rid of a pest on an orchid
According to experienced gardeners, if a parasite is detected on time, negative consequences can be avoided. Very often a mealybug settles on an orchid. Usually it is a bristly or citrus species. A healthy orchid secretes special substances that repel pests, including mealybugs. The parasite can appear only 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. Ill buds must be discarded. New sprouts should be exfoliated and trimmed by a centimeter. If pests appeared in the middle of the flower, they must be removed with tweezers. Scale should be removed from the pseudobulb. After that, grind laundry soap and fill it with water. With the resulting composition, spray the stems and leaves of the orchid. You just have to treat the culture with any fungicide. The main thing is that chemicals do not get into the soil.
Pest on indoor plants: ways to control
A mealybug can appear on violets for the following reasons:
- the pest has been moved from recently purchased flowers to old houseplants;
- the parasite is carried along with the infected land;
- lack of moisture;
- excess fertilizer with a high nitrogen content.
If you find parasites, then the violet will need to be pulled out of the pot, shaken off the soil, treated with an insecticide and transplanted into fresh soil. A pot for plant transplantation must be doused with boiling water or a bleach solution. All cultures that stood on the windowsill next to the infected flower must also be treated. Shelves and window sills should be wiped and disinfected with chlorine. All these procedures must be carried out with disposable gloves. After this operation, they should be burned. Plants should be sprayed with a solution of Actellica, prepared in a ratio of 2 ml of the composition per 1 liter of water. After a week, it is necessary to re-process. The earth in the pot can be poured with a solution of "Actara", adding 1.4 g of the substance to 2 liters of pure water. With this composition, you can simply sprinkle a violet. Then wait a month and repeat the procedure again. You can also try using Phosphamide. The dissolved substance will enter the plant. As a result, sucking juices, insects will poison and die. To work with poisons, wear a respirator.
Even the most experienced growers sometimes come across a parasite such as mealybug. How to deal with indoor plants with this pest? Indeed, as a result of his activity, flowers can acquire an extremely unsightly appearance. These insects are also popularly called shaggy lice. It is possible to determine that a flower is affected by a parasite by a large amount of white coating on the leaves. Yes, and see the insects themselves with the real and naked eye. At the first sign of a mealybug, it is necessary to act immediately, since it can spread to other plants. Young individuals are very mobile and can easily move between cultures.
Why is it important to treat a plant?
What is so harmful mealybug? How to get rid of this parasite? The fact is that he will suck out all the nutrients from the flower, interfering with its normal development. Females secrete honey dew. As a result, fungal infections may appear. The respiration of the plant is also impaired due to honey dew secreted by insects. All this leads to wilting. This parasite does not give preference to any particular part of the plant. It can appear on buds, and on roots, and on shoots. Therefore, if you notice a mealybug on your indoor plants, then you need to immediately begin to fight it.
Finally
Today, many gardeners are interested in what a mealybug is, and how to deal with this harmful parasite. It is worth considering that this parasite does not appear just like that. Be sure to monitor the condition of plants and soil quality. Before transplanting, any soil for disinfection must be rinsed with hot water. Also, the pest larvae can be transferred from a new flower. Therefore, it is extremely important to regularly inspect plants for the presence of a worm and other insects. You can fight the parasite using special chemicals, as well as using folk recipes. It is also important to provide the plant with the necessary conditions.