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Mealybugs ( Pseudococcus longispinus ) are a type of unarmoured scale insect .
They are soft - bodied , and unlike their armored cousins , they keep their legs ( rather than misplace them and anchoring them in one place ) and move about a bit to tip .
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Mealybugs are so - call because of the powdery white wax they develop to protect themselves against predators and the component .
This wax also serves to protect them against some pesticide . [ source ]
Mealybugs Vary from Place to Place
Multiple species of mealybugs be worldwide . All can be determine in moist , humid options , which is why houseplants are such a target for them .
If you getmealybugs on cactus , it may be an meter reading you are keeping your cacti a bit too moist .
Cactus plants and succulents do not like humid configurations . Overwatered cacti become attenuated and are open toinfestation of mealybugsand fungal , bacterial , and viral infections .
All Species of Mealybugs Reproduce Rapidly
The mealybug that bother cactus and other works are all juveniles or female . Male mealy bug look like minuscule wasps .
They have wings and fly from place to place to breed , but they do not eat plant . In fact , they do not have mouths . They hold up a very inadequate prison term , and their sole purpose is mating .
Some female mealybugs lay eggs . Others raise live nymphs .
All distaff and juvenile mealybugs have penetrate mouthparts , which they use to suck the juice out of houseplants , succulent , and cacti .
If they are not stopped , they will reproduce chop-chop and belt down the horde plant life .
A mature distaff mealybug produces between 300 and 600 eggs or nymphs in its short lifetime .
Even though female mealybugs only survive a couplet of months , they spawn all year round , so generations overlap . This make it very difficult to carry off an plague completely .
What Damage Do Mealy Bugs on Cactus Do?
Several dissimilar species of mealybug attack cacti . They damage the plant by nurse out the plant life sap or juices . This causes distorted shape of the cactus and can induce death .
As distaff mealybugs on cacti work steadily to destroy the flora , they may also put down eggs in a mass of downlike ashen fuzz .
Alternately , they may produce live nymph . Whether they think of from eggs or are deliver live , the nymphs will creep fairly quickly over the cactus in hunt of feast places . They may make their elbow room to plant nearby .
When the nymphs begin feeding , they also produce waxy white filaments that grow to cut across and protect their lenient dead body .
At this decimal point , they can still walk and move about slowly , but they do n’t be given to digress far from their eating places . You ’ll see them congregated in crevices on the cactus .
Mealybugs Attract Ants
In addition to harm because of alimentation , mealybugs can damage cactus by spreading honeydew .
This is excess gelt , which they excrete as a sticky substance that coats the plant and may even drip to surface beneath it .
A coating of honeydew can become a coat ofsooty moldor fungus that block the sun and relieve oneself it unimaginable for the industrial plant to conduct photosynthesis .
Another problem with sweet , sticky honeydew melon is that it pull ants . Ifants hear a colony of aphidsor mealybugs produce honeydew melon , they may gather around them to protect and “ farm ” them for this dependable food source . [ seed ]
6 Simple Ways To Get Rid Of Mealybugs On Cactus
Here are various slipway on how to get rid of mealybugs on cactus :
#1 – H2O
If you incur that a inflexible industrial plant or cactus is heavily infested with mealy bug , begin by blasting the pest with a strong atomiser of water . This will knock adults and nymph off the plant and may even knock off orchis .
Cactus and succulents that tend to drop farewell or plantlets might not react well to this sort of aggressive treatment , but those that do n’t can profit from it .
Mealy bug on cactus can and often do conceal in the ground ( root mealybugs)and nook and crannies on heap , so you ’ll want to take steps that will eradicate them completely .
When you use the pee blast method on a cactus , it ’s a honest theme to unpot the flora , wash off it thoroughly ( including roots ) , and then repot it in a new or sterilized lot using an entirely fresh , unexampled , aggressively enfeeble cactus mix .
#2 – Rubbing Alcohol
Most multitude have a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the medicine cabinet , and this cheap , simple chemical is a very powerful tool against mealybugs .
you’re able to apply it to individual cactus bug using a cotton swab , cotton fiber orchis , or soft textile . you’re able to also spray it right near the centre of the rosette or penny-pinching to the stem using a spray bottleful .
Standard , 70 % Isopropyl Alcohol applied at full strength will not hurt your cactus , butAlcohol will diffuse mealybugs ’ fluffy protection on contactand cause their swift death .
Just recollect that one program program is very unbelievable to be enough . Alcohol has no residual effects . It work on contact , so you should apply it once or double a workweek until you are sure all mealy bug have been impacted .
Related : How To Get Rid Of Mealybugs On Succulents
light Mealybugs on Cactus Treatment
#3 – Make a Neem Oil Solution
Neem Oil contain anatural insecticide for plantscalled Azadirachtin , which does have a residuary force . One app will last about a calendar week .
you could buy Neem Oil concentrate for garden use at your local garden center or online .
Read and come after packaging instruction carefully to make a dilute result to spray on your plant life and usage as a dirt drench to manage with mealybugs in the stain .
Generally speak , the dilution is about an ounce of Neem Oil concentrate per gallon of water .
Remove your cactus from direct sun when you apply this ware mixture because the oil can magnify the Dominicus ’s electron beam and cause burning .
nursery and windowsill assemblages are especially vulnerable to the critters . you could eradicate mealybug temporarily , but they are difficult to eradicate completely , especially in big pigeonholing of plant .
If you are treating outdoor cacti , Neem Oil is a expert choice because it wo n’t negatively impact good insects .
This is especially true if you use the product at gloaming so that it can dry overnight before bees , butterflies , and rude vulture insects become fighting .
4. Use Soapy Water
soap check vegetable petroleum or animal fat can be integrate with water to produce a atomiser that break down mealybugs ’ fuzzy defenses and smothers them . This is an effective , environmentally friendly , erstwhile - fashioned result .
take dish soap or organic soaps like Dr. Bronner ’s Liquid Castile Soap to make your spraying . Do n’t use detergent because they do not hold in crude .
As with Neem Oil nebuliser , you’re able to makesoapy irrigate spraywith just a modest amount of goop . Start off with about a tablespoonful per gal of water . See how that work .
If it does n’t seem to impact the tiny cactus bug much , increase the teaspoonful amount at a prison term until you tally a good mix .
Insecticidal liquid ecstasy solutions are not as long - lasting as a Neem Oil root but are even less detrimental to beneficial louse . alfresco , utilise at dusk to preclude sunshine damage . You may need to reapply every couple of Clarence Day .
place - treat a small part of your cactus before spray the full plant . Some cacti are raw to max and water solutions.z
5. Invite Beneficial Insects to Help You
If your cactus is a houseplant , you may not desire to invite ladybugs or other instinctive marauder into your home to eat your mealybugs , but if you have a large sunroom or similar apparatus , that may work all right for you .
If your cactus survive outside , it will benefit from the presence of regular ladybugs or the extremely specialized Mealybug Ladybird ( Cryptolaemus montrouzieri ) , which makes a remarkably poor study of Mealybugs . [ source ]
Mealybug Ladybirds are shaped like even ladybug , but they are somewhat smaller . They are also not as showy .
Instead of red-faced wings with black-market polka superman , they just have spare dark-brown wing and a modest tan head . In other words , they are all business ! They can be buy at garden essence or online .
6. Use a Mild Permethrin Solution
For the most part , mealybug can be well distribute with using the method described above .
If the situation nonplus forth from you and you have a heavy plague to get by with , you may need to mix up a mild solution of permethrin spraying to do by your cactus .
Permethrin will harm beneficial insect , but it is not devastating . Like Neem Oil , you should apply it at dusk to debar negatively impacting good hemipteron .
On the flip side , if your mealybug plague has pull in ants , permethrin will kill them along with the mealy bug .
In fact , permethrin is effective against a wide variety of pesterer , include the most common pests like root mealy germ , gnat , and scale worm . It work by paralyse their neural systems . [ germ ]
Permethrin spray has a long - lasting residual effect and is effective if apply monthly . Mix up a wakeful solution of about one teaspoonful of 10 % concentrate per quart of weewee . Spray your cactus munificently .
How To Control These White Bugs on Cactus?
Clearly , there are many different fashion to deal with mealy bug in cactus , but prevention is the best method of control .
Prevent mealy bug plague by quarantining all unexampled plant life for at least 2 workweek before introducing them to your collection .
embark on out with a good blast of water system and repotting new plants into fresh ground and clean containers is also helpful .
It ’s a in force mind to examine your cactus frequently , even if you do n’t think mealybugs are present . Vigilance is an fantabulous defense against mealybugs .
If you catch the plague early on , you may easily murder them manually and wash them off with piddle , but you ’ll still call for to keep a tightlipped optic on your cactus to do away with any second - contemporaries stragglers that might turn up .
Just a few mealy bug can be eliminated by wiping them off with a damp fabric and/or impregnate them with rub alcoholic drink . you’re able to either spray it on or touch the little offender with a cotton swob soaked in Alcohol .
If your infested cactus is part of a collection , analyze all of your plant for mealybugs . It wo n’t hurt to treat them all , even if they do n’t seem to be infested .
come apart any infested plants from the balance , wipe down all surface with goop and water , and then rub Alcohol .
