Mealy Bugs - Life Cycle and Insecticide

Mealy bugs have you ever seen them?

Have you ever looked at one of your houseplants and noticed what looked like cotton or blotches of powder all over the leaves? If so, you’ve seen mealy bugs. Naturally you’ll want to get them under control.

Mealybugs are cottony-looking insects with piercing/sucking mouth parts. This means like plant scale they suck the fluids from leaves and stems, and rob plants of essential nutrients.

Mealybugs excrete large amounts of honeydew, this is excellent “growing soil” for a black fungus called sooty mold. Sooty mold is unattractive, and interferes with photosynthesis, it can also retard the growth of the plant. This can also make floors sticky.

Sooty mold usually weathers away after removing the mealybug.

Ants feed on the honeydew and when ants find ants crawling around your indoor plants or observed making a nice trail from a plant. Take some time to examine your houseplants closely for these sucking pests.

Mealy bugs do well indoors - they love and live very well in warm, dry environments. Damaged plants look withered and may have a sticky sap on the leaves or stems. Mealybugs seem to deposit their eggs where the leaf and stem join. Mealybugs have a life cycle of about 30 days.

As with scale an easy method of control is to apply alcohol with cottons swabs directly on the mealy bug. Wiping down the foliage regularly and helping plants clean will help keep mealy bugs in check.

If a plant becomes severely infested with mealy bugs consider using safe neem to control houseplant pest naturally or insecticidal soap. Both can be found at your local garden center. Always read the label and wear appropriate safety equipment when applying any chemical.