Mealybugs belong to the insect family "Pseudococcidae", and they're a fragment of the superfamily "Coccoidea", which is also the family of cottony cushion scales, soft scales, and armored scales. Mealybugs are wax-sheltered crawlers that feed on many indoor, outdoor, and garden plants in a warm, humid climate. Mealybugs are found in colonies and damage plants with their stylets. The stylets are piercing mouthpart used to suck sap from the tender shoots and leaves. Mealybugs excrete honeydew on the surface of the leaves that invites black sooty mold and ants. Often the compromised plants' vigor also invites several fungal and bacterial diseases. This results in early leaf dropping, yellowing, and wilting. Mealybugs may be the common garden pest on citrus, grapes, pear, apricots, mango, pomegranate, and indoor potted plants in hot and humid environments in the US.
Citrus mealybugs have originated from southern Europe and the southern United States, Whereas, the vine mealybugs, origin also covers southern Europe besides the Middle East and parts of northern Africa. Some researchers also link vine mealybugs origin with Israel. Citrus mealybugs are the pests of citrus, ornamental plants, and 27 other plant species in Europe since 1813, and they ‘were recognized as invasive pests in the US in 1879. Vine mealybugs appeared in North America in the early 1990s and in Mexico afterward. The invasive mealybug species in Argentina and South Africa match the European specimen and the invasive in North America with the Middle Eastern. At present, both Citrus and Vine Mealybugs are widely distributed in most of the wine and table sugar-producing areas of the southern US besides their presence on most of the garden plants.
Mealybugs are soft-bodied, light pink crawlers those measure between 1/20 to 1/5 of an inch in length. They are segmented and slightly elongated with waxy filaments outspreading from the posterior end. The bodies are covered with ash or white cottony wax in different species. By appearance, they're often doubted for woolly aphids or cottony cushion scales, but they're not. Mealybugs also retain distinct legs to crawl on different plant parts. They always occur in colonies and are often found on unexposed plant parts such as bark crevices, plants' crown, between two fruits, stems near the soil, and beneath tender shoots, stems, and leaves. The adult females remain wingless and similar in shape to nymphs and males.
Life cycles vary in different species, and they're temperature and humidity-dependent as well. An adult female of most species lays 100-200 eggs, and some species up to 600 eggs, covered in cottony sacs over 10 to 20 days. These cottony sacs remain attached to twigs, bark, fruit, or leaves. Egg-laying by Long-tailed mealybugs is exceptional, and they hatch inside the body of a female. Newly-hatched crawlers are motile and lack wax until they start feeding. Nymphs molt three times to become an adult. Depending on species, temperature, and humidity, mealybugs may have up to 6 generations in the southern US. As one generation needs two to months to mature. There may be some generations that overlap.
Mealybugs feed by sticking to plant surfaces where they suck sap using stylets. The sap contains the essential plant nutrients, minerals, and water, and its disruption limits the leaves, fruits, and stems from the growth. Ultimately, yellowing of the leaves may be observed initially, which converts into permanent wilting causing the death of affected plant parts. This usually happens when the infestation is caused by a more number of mealybugs
Ants, aphids, and mealybugs cohabit in a symbiotic relationship. A symbiotic relationship defines where one species existence in the ecosystem is beneficial to the other species and vice versa. For aphids and mealybugs together excrete honeydew on the surfaces of the leaves and other plant parts that ants utilize as food. In return, the ants protect both aphids and mealybugs from external attacks or predators. Sometimes the ants carry mealybugs to the soil where they feed on the roots of some plant species before they pupate. Eventually, the plants' foliage infested with mealybugs turns yellow and shows signs of permanent wilt.
The excessive application of nitrogenous fertilizers attracts mealybugs towards your garden plants beside the favorable conditions like extra moisture and higher temperature. If the preference is slow-release organic fertilizer, it can't help mealybugs to overcrowd your garden.
Despite all preventive measures if mealybugs infestation goes beyond your control, here are the most authentic ways to suppress their population using the biological and organic control methodologies;
Adult Trichogramma wasps are potential candidates for controlling Citrus mealybugs. This phenomenon involves laying Trichogramma eggs within the eggs of mealybugs and other host insects. The wasps' larvae develop on the host embryo and turn the egg black. Trichogramma wasps live only for a week or 10-days but, the overlapping generations feed on the host eggs in the same way. It keeps the citrus mealybugs population pretty checked and never lets them establish your garden plants. Besides, attacking mealybugs, they also target bollworms, budworms, cutworms, and caterpillars of several insect species.
Each square contains about 4000 eggs, and 12000 eggs are available in 3-squares. 3-5 five eggs can have applied per square foot of mealybugs affected area.
Green Lacewing is from a class of predatory insects that efficiently check the population of mealybugs in the garden and never let them dominate on the foliage of the plants. They’re equally effective against the crawlers and sucking insects that damage the foliage of the plants. Green Lacewing is Chrysoperla rufilabris that can be released with Trichogramma, Ladybugs, and Praying Mantis. It is also sometimes possible that your lacewing pack contains a few eggs from the Praying Mantis as both species like similar conditions. 2500-Green Lacewings are enough for 1250 square feet when released in the greenhouse, and they could cover between 2500 to 10000 square feet when released in the garden depending on the number of mealybugs present.
Green Lacewing eggs hatch in around 4 or 5 days, and this remains the best time to release them in the garden.
It's not a new biological strain, with a different formulation technique that could ease both growers and the applicators in greenhouses, commercial farming, and gardens. The Dust Flowable formulation contains 54% of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) with kurstaki strain, where each pound of the product contains 14.5 billion available spores for applying in the field infested with mealybugs. This product is OMRI listed and recommended for application in biological pest control. Bt is a bacterium that releases active toxic proteins, and its ingestion kills mealybugs after 3-days. These proteins are not toxins for humans and mammals as their bodies don't let these proteins activate. The product pack size suits the greenhouses and commercial farming.
Mix 0.16 to 0.32 ounces per gallon of water and spray thoroughly on the foliage of the plants using a drop-down nozzle.
EcoGarden Organic Pesticide contains 70% of Neem oil. Since Azadirachtin is the ingredient that kills pests, its' percentage in the concentrate is 1.2%. Azadirachtin possesses multiple modes of action i.e. an insecticide, miticide, IGR, and feeding deterrent. It could help in managing mealybugs infestation but, total killing is difficult. The cottony sacs on the bodies of mealybugs don't allow the insecticide to penetrate their bodies. Azadirachtin application could work during the initial stages when the nymphs haven't started secreting wax yet.
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The application rates vary between 1 to 2 ounces per gallon of water depending on the severity of infestation.
Garden Insect Spray Contains Spinosad which is a soil-dwelling bacteria that kills the majority of crawlers, sucking, and chewing pests that feed on the foliage of edible plants. It contains 0.5% Spinosad with Spinosyn A and Spinosyn B in the concentrate. Spinosad is a naturally existing bacterium listed by OMRI to apply in organic gardening. It kills mealybugs by initiating restless muscle contraction that leads to paralysis and death.
Mix 2 ounces per gallon of water and apply on the foliage of the plants infested with mealybugs thoroughly.
For mealybugs control, chemicals control is not suggested since they are resistant to most systemic products, if a heavier dose applies, it could harm the environment and put the applicators at risk as well.
Check out our other guides on common garden bugs.
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