Mealybugs are prominent in places with warmer climates, and love the snug environment in most homes. Like many other houseplant pests, they feed by drawing sap out of the plant tissue. They also tend to favour new growth, with some species attacking the roots as well. At low levels of population, they might not inflict significant damage. However, you need to keep a close eye on them before they swell into large numbers.
How to Identify signs of a Mealy bug Infestation?
If you take a close look and come across a white cottony clump on the leaves, stems or flowers of your plants, it’s most likely to be a mealybug colony.The only mealybugs that dwell on plants are the females. They are distinctly segmented and have long sucking mouthparts. But they’re still really small; look out for signs of sooty fungus growth on the plants.
Feeding on plant juices results in a sweet and slimy secretion called honeydew. So you may notice industrious ant communities making their way onto your plants as well!
What damage is caused by Mealybugs?
These annoying white bugs pierce their way into leaves and stems, removing the plant’s essential fluids. Gradually, it leads to the yellowing and wilting of leaves in foliage plants. You may also witness reduced plant vigour and stunted growth in young ones. In flowering plants, they can cause discolouration of petals and new buds to prematurely fall off. If the infestation becomes severe, the honeydew produced by the bugs will aid the development of harmful sooty moulds. That’s another storehouse of pest trouble!
How to get rid of Mealy Bugs?
1. Wash the pests away with a steady stream of water. Make sure you remove any suspicious white mass attached to the leaves or stems.
2. Put on some garden gloves and wipe off the pests using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. Repeat this treatment until they’re completely gone.
For stronger infestations, we recommend the following measures to restore normalcy in your garden:
Let beneficial insects rescue you from your misery! Unleash lady beetles, lacewings and mealybug destroyers on them and watch the pest population dwindle drastically!
Use a safe insecticidal soap or natural oil such as neem on the affected parts. This will deter the growth of sooty moulds and discourage future infestations. Plus it’s a non-toxic solution, so it won’t drive away the beneficial insects!
Prune leaves, branches or any other heavily damaged areas and immediately trash them. Consider destroying the plant before the mealybugs spread to other plants in your home.
Which plants are vulnerable to mealybugs?
Mealybugs are a nuisance for indoor as well as outdoor houseplants. They’re known to feast on a variety of annuals, vines, flowers, and even larger foliage plants. If you have any of the following green or colourful buddies at home, you’ll need to be a little extra cautious.
- African violets
- Aglaonema
- Schefflera or the Umbrella plant
- Cactus and Succulents
- Pothos plants
- Ferns
- Palms
- Philodendrons
(This is not an exhaustive list since mealybugs are versatile pests and tend to attack a wide host of plants)
Keep growing your plant (and pest) knowledge
Mealybugs don’t necessarily mean impending disaster for your plants, but you’ll always want to avoid a full-blown outbreak. Combating mealybugs can often turn out to be a painstaking process for you (and your plants). Rather, imbibe healthy practices and hone your defenses to keep them away for good!
Being a plant parent comes with its own set of joys and responsibilities. While plants ensure that your home looks and feels fresher and brighter, you must also ensure that they are protected from such invasive pests.
3 comments
Such helpful posts! It helps brush up the basics for seasoned plant parents and make the new plant parents familiar with such disastrous attacks on the plants!!!
Thanks for this post, my aglonema is bought from your site, it was perfectly healthy, recently been attached by mealy bugs and leaves are drying up:(
Thank you soo much, these blogs and posts are really helpful..