Powdery mealybug or felt fleece is a sucking pest that affects many types of plants. This is the common name for insects from the order Koktsid, the closest relatives of garden scale insects.
Pests can be found in the garden on fruit and stone trees, in greenhouses, film shelters, in greenhouses and in apartments on indoor plants.
Mealybug or shaggy louse affects:
- roots at home citrus and violets;
- foliage of dracaena - plates become sticky, fall off;
- on the orchid - buds, blooming leaves;
- money tree - braid the trunk with white fluff.
Monstera, fuchsia, croton, camellia, anthurium, many other types of domestic plants become the habitat and reproduction of worms. Flowers are oppressed, the process of photosynthesis is disrupted.
Description of Mealybug
Worms got their name for white plaque on the body in the form of grains or bristles, it is produced only in adult insects. In the world there are more than two thousand species of worms ranging in size from 500 microns to 12 mm. The habitat of pests is huge, they live in any climatic conditions:
- subtropics;
- tropics;
- temperate latitudes.
Damage to indoor flowers, fruit trees, industrial crops is caused by females and larvae. They suck juices from the roots or the ground part of the plant, interfere with full development, and often lead to death.
Males are harmless, they do not have a mouthpart, in appearance they resemble “powdered” mosquitoes. Females are flat, soft, oval in shape with a distinct head, chest, and abdomen.
Pests, passing plant juice through themselves, secrete honey dew, on which soot fungus spores actively develop. Because of the dew of the worms, ants love them, they carry them to plants, they protect the colony from predatory insects.
In orchards, the insect hibernates in the bark of fruit or stone fruits of trees or in secluded places of the greenhouse. It calmly tolerates temperatures up to -15 ° C. It activates in the spring.
Propagation and development of mealybugs
The species of worms found on indoor plants, in greenhouses, are able to breed without the participation of flying males. In a year, females make from 2 to 4 clutches, in which there are from 300 to 2 thousand eggs. With such fertility, they quickly occupy nearby flowers. 
Mealybug breeding
Mealybugs breed on crops that prefer fertile soil. Females are inactive, move to other places only when the struggle for survival with older offspring begins. They are easy to find by white fluff - loose fibers of the nesting remains.
Egg
The female makes the masonry in a cocoon woven from the discharge - a bag of round or oval shape, attached to the axils of the leaves or between the central veins of the leaf plate. A mesh of fiber repels water well, but allows air to pass through. Eggs are translucent, with gelatinous contents, whitish on the outside. They are rounded or in the form of an ellipse.
Larva
After 5-10 days, almost the entire masonry hardens. Only at low temperatures do some eggs die. Larvae are very mobile, highly survivable. It’s difficult to deal with them. They quickly leave the cocoon, spreading throughout the plant. For playfulness, the larvae are called "tramps," three pairs of legs constantly in motion. Only during molting do individuals freeze. Light young pests drafts transfers to other flowers. They quickly adapt to a new place. Having matured, females lose their activity, legs disappear in some species.
Types of Mealybug
Three types of pests are considered the most tenacious and difficult to exterminate. About each worth mentioning in detail. If they appear in greenhouses or indoor flowers - it is urgent to treat technical and greenhouse crops.
Bristly
Plaque on the body of such a worm forms small growths. Females in the shape of an elongated oval reach 3.5 mm. A body with three pairs of legs is an orange or pinkish tint. Treatment of plants infected with insects is difficult due to the genetic characteristics of the species. Viviparous females live on the lower leaf plates, secluded places of the trunk.
Females quickly form colonies, inhibit the development of plants, and lead him to death. In bulbous cultures, the roots are affected, eating out the central part of the bulb. You can detect bristle worms by drying leaves, drops of honey dew, the development of sooty fungus - it forms dark brown or black spots of various sizes.
Grape
The yellowish-brown or pinkish-cream body of the worm is wide, evenly coated with a powdery waxy coating. Females are fertilized by males, there are few of them, they take off from the plant in any danger.
Larvae prefer to fasten along the relief veins, it is easier to get to the nutrients. Masonry forms between untwisting young leaves. On the shoots, small fibers in the form of cotton wool are noticeable.
For mass population growth, humidity is required not higher than 75%, temperature within + 22 ... +25 ° С. It is advisable to move the affected domestic plants during the treatment from the mealybug to a cool place, isolate them from the rest of the plants.
Seaside
The most common type of worms looks like a grain of rice flattened from the underside with uneven edges, three pairs of legs and lower hair processes. For laying, the females weave egg bags, fasten them:
- on the underside of leaves;
- in fissures of the cortex;
- at the base of the petiole;
- between the leaves of young shoots.
After the first molt, young females are already able to lay up to 50 eggs during the growth period. Until fully ripened, a mealybug requires up to a month. In the clutch of an adult, there are up to 600 pieces. Larvae quickly spread throughout the plant; on loose soils, they capture the root part.
During suction and molting remain motionless. Honey dew is produced in large volumes - a favorite delicacy of small black ants. When these insects appear on fruit trees or in greenhouses, it is advisable to carry out preventive soap treatment of places where mealybugs can nest.
Signs of damage to plants by mealybug
Signs of pest damage:
- drooping leaves and young shoots;
- small mosquitoes on the windows of greenhouses, greenhouses or apartments;
- powdery white coating on the trunks, fiber "wool";
- sticky substance on top of the sheet plate;
- white oval insects in the soil, detected by transplanting or loosening the soil.
Mealyworm Methods
At the first signs of pests, it is advisable to treat the affected plants, using alternative methods, time-tested. With a large population of insects, "heavy" artillery is launched, pesticides are used. 
Mealyworm control
Heavily affected plants are pre-cleaned with a soft brush. Remove sticky coating, the remains of egg sacs. It is easier to get rid of pests before the colony grows.
Folk remedies
Indoor flowers and greenhouse crops are washed with a soap solution, 15 g of laundry or green soap are dissolved in a liter of water.
Wadding off hard leaves is removed with a soft cloth or sponge.
The garlic tincture is harmless for bees: 5 cloves of medium size pour 0.5 l of boiling water, wrap for 6 hours. Filter, moisten the whole plant well.
Emulsions based on any vegetable oil are an effective mildly effective agent. To 0.5 liters of water add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of oil.
Tincture of horsetail is done in a water bath for 20 minutes. 1 teaspoon of dry raw material is added to a glass of warm water.
The infusion of citrus zest is made at the rate of 15 g of crushed dried crusts (Art. Spoon with a hill) per liter of boiling water. After cooling, the solution is filtered.
Rinsing or spraying with biologically safe solutions is carried out three times, every 5 days. Especially vulnerable are newly hatched larvae. Their mouth organ is affected, they cannot eat, die, fall off from leaves or stems.
Chemicals
According to the reviews of flower growers, at home, from the many preparations used to process horticultural and greenhouse crops, it is best to use Aktara, Fitoverm Forto. Spray flowers twice a month until the plaque completely disappears.
The preparations are made on an oil basis, they linger well on the leaves. The drug is applied to the bottom of each sheet with a spray gun. The working solution is diluted according to the instructions. It is necessary to observe safety measures, use personal protective equipment.
Mr. Dachnik advises: prevention of infection with a mealybug
Difficulties in pest control arise when indoor plants and greenhouse plants are affected.
If regular irrigation is carried out, reducing the regularity of irrigation, increasing air humidity in winter, when central heating is running, the risk of flower damage will be reduced.
When feeding, it is important to observe the measure.
An excess of nitrogen fertilizers has a depressing effect on plants; their natural protective functions are weakened.
It is regularly necessary to introduce the main vital trace elements: potassium, calcium, phosphorus. Plants breathe leaves, it is necessary to remove accumulated dust from them in a timely manner.
It is advisable to keep the flower donated or acquired for the first few weeks in isolation until there is a firm belief that there are no pests on it. With the observance of preventive measures, proper agricultural technology should not be feared for domestic plants. Mealybugs prefer to attack weakened flowers with dusty leaves.
