Mealybug Insect Pest of Citrus Trees or Ornamental Plants

Mealybugs are tiny sucking piercing insects related to whiteflies, scale and aphids that literally suck the life out of your plants, trees, palms and shrubs. In South Florida, Miami Dade and around the world.

Mealy bugs can be found in hundreds of species of plants including agriculture, and fruit trees. With about 275 species of mealybug species the United States

Mealybugs are soft bodied grayish white because of the waxy cotton like coating covering their bodies, they cause damage to plants and fruit trees by sucking on the leaves and stems. When populations are great they can couse defoliation and die back in the plant.

Mealybug is a common pest of citrus in greenhouses and groves in Florida. Citrus mealybug have been found on at least 27 other host plant.

Infestations can be very quick and prolific because mealybug females can lay 300 to 600 eggs in her lifetime with an an average of 29 eggs per day. Depending temperatures an egg can hatch after 6 to 10 days to several weeks depending on the season.

If you have mealybugs on citrus or other fruit trees that have mealy bug we recommend you do not use systemic insecticides or pyrethroids sprays and these can contaminate fruit we recommend a natural organic spray of Insecticidal Soap Concentrate or EcoVia on a weekly basis for 3 weeks in order to break the life cycle from egg larva and adults. And then as part of an Integrated Pest Management program with frequent inspections and treating at the first sign.

On ornamentals you may also use a natural soap or oil spray service as in the above fruit or vegetable spray.

If the pest problem is persistent and you can achieve control then we recommend a systemic root drench treatment, depending on how many shrubs you have this may take several hours to perform correctly but you can achieve a long term control of between 9 moth to 1 year.