Mealybugs are a nightmare for the gardeners like you. They have the potential to cause extreme damage to your plant in no matter of time. This is a serious issue and it needs a proper cure and control.
In this article, we have included everything you need to know about getting rid of mealybugs on plants with effective and easy approaches.
If you spot mealybugs on your plants, the first thing you need to consider doing is, isolating the infected plants away from the rest of the healthier plants. Be careful not to allow the spread of bugs!
This way, you can give all your efforts toward the unfortunate infected plants without worrying much about other healthier plants in your garden.
Spraying water is another method you can adopt to remove mealybugs from the infected plants.
If your indoor houseplant has been infested, you may need to bring the plant outside and rinse it properly with clean water, particularly on the underside of the leaves.
Ensure to rinse your plants properly and carefully until they are free from the bugs.
Although manual removal of the mealybugs is difficult to attain, it can become helpful in the condition when the bugs are hiding in difficult-to-reach spots.
You should know that manual removal proves to be effective only for small infestations.
You need to grab a cotton swab and mildly soak it in the alcohol. After that, carefully and gently dab it over the mealybug. Upon contact, the bugs get killed and you can use a soft brush to wipe off remaining pests.
Neem oil has been found to significantly affect the growth of the bugs, eventually killing them once in contact.
How to Apply: Make sure to dilute the neem oil with water and dish soap to prepare a solution and perform a test on a small patch of the plant.
If it doesn’t harm your infected plant further, you can spray the solution every week until all the bugs are eliminated.
A thin layer of horticulture oil over the bugs has been found to deteriorate their respiration, leading to death.
How to Apply: First, you have to dilute the oil and place the solution in a spray bottle. After that, spray it over the stems and undersides of the leaves.
Remember to apply once every week until your plant is free from the mealybugs and voila this also works to get rid of white flies - it's like one stone two birds.
Gardeners around the world mostly prefer using insecticidal soap to get rid of mealybugs on houseplants. Yes, insecticidal soaps if applied properly over the garden pests, can dehydrate and kill them, over time.
How to Apply: For the minor infestation, you can pour out one teaspoon of soap and make a solution out of it by mixing it with the water. After that, you can gently spray the solution over the infected plants.
You can choose to depend on natural predators such as lace bugs, wasps, and beetles to make your garden free from mealybug infestations because mealybugs are food for such predators.
Once the insects are introduced in the garden, it would be best if you maintain the garden environment in their favor by growing the plants that attract these predators.
If you are wondering how to get rid of mealybugs on houseplants, you can take the help of the DIY spray.
How to Apply: DIY spray consists of garlic cloves, onions, and pepper. The paste made by mixing all these ingredients is further mixed with water and dish soap.
Finally, this solution is placed in the spray bottle and applied directly to the mealybugs.
Pruning the damaged parts of the plant is a great help for them to direct their energy toward the necessary sectors. Besides that, pruning is one of the effective methods to control the bug infestation.
If you prune the elements such as damaged or infested leaves of the plant, you ensure the elimination of mealybugs and their eggs from further harming your plant.
Another natural way to deter mealybugs can be achieved through the use of cinnamon. The powder form of cinnamon upon contact with the mealybugs is found to prevent them from further spreading.
How to Apply: The fine powder of cinnamon can be lightly applied over the soil around the base of the infected plant. Further, it has been suggested to reapply after watering or rain. The result might require some period!
Diatomaceous earth is a popular element to deter the mealybugs away from your garden. It can significantly assist in eradicating the mealybugs from your plants.
How to Apply: You can apply this powder to the infected plants, leaves, stems, and surrounding soil, covering all the sides of your garden. Mealybugs upon contact with the powder, get dehydrated and die.
Remember to wear a mask while dealing with the diatomaceous earth, avoiding inhaling fine particles.
Just like getting rid of aphids on plants, sticky traps help control mealybugs by capturing adult insects.
How to Apply: Place yellow or blue sticky traps near affected plants, as these colors attract mealybugs. When the bugs come into contact with the traps, the adhesive ensnares the pest, making escape impossible.
This helps reduce the mealybug population over time.
The strong odor of garlic is also found to repel the mealybugs from your plants. Besides that, the insecticidal properties of garlic may help you to control the population of bugs from your place.
How to Apply: For the garlic spray, you need to crush some of the garlic cloves and mix them with the water and dish soap. Once this potent solution is made, you can spray it directly over the mealybugs and repeat the process every few days.
Getting rid of mealybugs can also be achieved by adopting proper watering techniques. Yes, water is essential to your plants and watering needs to be performed wisely.
If you choose to water your houseplants properly and correctly, not only do you maintain the health of the plants but you also make them robust and disease resistant.
Overhead watering should be highly avoided, keeping in mind to water the plants early in the morning only after a few top inches of the soil is dry.
Ants are one of the major elements that are found to protect mealybugs. This might be because of the honeydew made by the bugs, for the ants to consume.
How to Apply: If you control the population of ants in plants by eliminating the honeydew and regularly cleaning the houseplants, you significantly lower the mealybugs infestation.
Mealybugs are often found to be attracted to plants having high nitrogen levels and abundant juices. More particularly, citrus trees and commercial crops like mangoes are more susceptible to such infestation.
Further, one of the major causes of mealybugs on indoor plants and gardens is if you overcrowd and overfertilize your plants.
Being a soft-bodied insect with a white powdery wax coating, mealybugs have below-mentioned physical attributes:
Some of the common preventive natural strategies that help to get rid of mealybugs on your plants are included below:
If you reduce the feed and water to your plants for some period, you significantly lower the nitrogen content of your plants. This way you can harden the plant’s growth, making it robust and disease-resistant.
The leaves of the plants should be regularly cleaned. Once the foliage is wiped using shine solution and neem oil, you lower the risk of mealybug infestation on your plants.
Yes, depending upon the nature of your plant, you can choose to periodically wash them with the help of clean water.
If your plant can withstand a hard force from the water, you can simply spray hard blasts of water over the plant.
Well, a temperature below 60 degrees Fahrenheit is found to discourage the mealybugs at night.
Thus, to make them inactive, you can choose to lower the nighttime temperature below 60 degrees for the plants that can survive.
