TODAY'S FARM POST IS ALL ABOUT MEALY BUGS

Good morning everyone, hope your night was awesome? Today's topic on farm is all about Mealybugs.

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WHAT ARE MEALBUGS?

They are insects that comes from the family of Coccoidea and the scientific name is Pseudoccidae. They are found in moist and warm climates. Mealybugs are very serious pests of orchids and next to scale insect are probably the most difficult to control pests of orchids in homes and greenhouses. They are pests that sucks plant and they are a problem in greenhouses, gardens and indoor plants. They are soft-bodied,no wings and they often appear as white cottony masses on the leaves,stems and fruit of plants. When they want to feed,they insert their long sucking mouthparts that is called stylets into plants and drawing sap out of the tissue. There are approximately 275 species of mealybugs that is known to occur throughout the United States.

The adult male of mealybugs are one over ten to one over four inches long and are soft,oval distinctly segmented insects that are usually covered with a white or gray mealy wax. The young crawlers are called nymphs and they are light yellow and free of wax. They are always active but they move little once they found a suitable feeding place. The adult females poured out 300-600 eggs within an excreted, waxy cottony appearing max mostly found on the underside of leaves. The hatching occurs within 1-3 weeks and then the yellow nymphs that are active begin to move under the plant looking for feeding site that they will settle on. The female nymphs pass through three stages (instars) with a generation taking as little as one month, and that depends on temperature. The male nymphs pass through five instars.

Mealybugs occurs in all parts of the world and they naturally exist only in warmer parts and are introduced into greenhouses and other buildings in cooler countries. Mealybugs are sexually dimorphic,the females comes as nymphs, showing reduced morphology and they have no wings,although like many other female insects,they often retain and can move their legs. The males are smaller and they have wings. Because mealybugs are hemimetabolous insects,they do not go through complete metamorphosis in the true sense of the world.

The male mealybugs experience a radical change during their life cycle,they changed from wingless,ovoid nymphs to wasp-like flying adults. The female mealybugs feed on plant sap,normally in roots or other crevices and in a few cases the bottoms of stored fruit.

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HOW LONG CAN MEALYBUGS LIVE WITHOUT A PLANT?

Some have found out that the female mealybugs lived on watered pot without a plant for an average of 10 to 19 days,with the instars while still producing them for up to 45 days afterward.

Can they survive winter? Yes they can but on a low winter temperature. They also spread quickly on plants and it is advisable to move plant away when you noticed mealybugs so that they won't affect other plants. Mealybugs can be found on potatoes, fruit crops,ornamental plants,citrus plants and tropical plants.

WHAT CAUSES MEALYBUGS?

• Bringing new plants home

• When using potting soil that is contaminated

• Putting outside houseplants during the summer

• When you bring in fresh flowers,fruit or vegetables from the garden

• Ants also brings in mealybugs to a houseplant so that they can feed off of the honeydew residue that is produced by bugs

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GETTING RID OF MEALYBUGS

• Inspect your plants regularly

• Blast the bugs off with a strong stream of water and should be repeated on a daily basis until they are gone

• Spray a mixture of dishwashing liquid and water. This step coats the mealybugs and suffocates them

• Use insecticidal soap,apply to the infested plants and the immediate surrounding area

• Use mealybugs predators to chase them away.

Mealybugs predators are;

• Lady birds
• Lace wings
• Hover flies
• Wasps

Thanks for reading