I realize gardening is not all beautiful. There will be time that we face the failure. Some are due to our ignorance and some because of pest. It's strange that pest seems to know which plant we concentrate less.
Aglaonema is my favorite colourful houseplant. It's quiet easy growing plant and strive well even though we neglect them. I just water them and fertilize 2-3 months once and it's so happy with it. I like them...... beside me the mealy bug love them! It's constantly attacked by this pest all year around. Look at my poor Aglaonema plant. I just realize today morning that mealy bug already attack them quiet badly....sigh....
What is mealy bug? Here I found some information on it ( from wiki). I have a killing mission today! I mean kill the pest.....
Mealybugs are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the sexes have distinct morphological differences. Females are nymphal, exhibit reduced morphology, and are wingless, though unlike many female scale insects, they often retain legs and can move. The females do not change completely and are likely to be neotenic (exhibiting nymphal characteristics). Males are winged and do change completely during their lives. Since mealybugs (as well as all other Hemiptera) are hemimetabolous insects, they do not undergo complete metamorphosis in the true sense of the word, i.e. there are no clear larval, pupal and adult stages, and the wings do not develop internally. However, male mealybugs do exhibit a radical change during their life cycle, changing from wingless, ovoid nymphs to "wasp-like" flying adults.
Mealybug females feed on plant sap, normally in roots or other crevices. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery wax layer (therefore the name mealybug) used for protection while they suck the plant juices. The males on the other hand, are short-lived as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Male citrus mealy bugs fly to the females and resemble fluffy gnats.
Some species of mealybug lay their eggs in the same waxy layer used for protection in quantities of 50–100; other species are born directly from the female.
The most serious pests are mealybugs that feed on citrus; other species damage sugarcane, grapes, pineapple (Jahn et al. 2003), coffee trees, cassava, ferns, cacti, gardenias, papaya, Mulberry, sunflower and orchids. Mealybugs only tend to be serious pests in the presence of ants because the ants protect them from predators and parasites. Mealybugs also infest some species of carnivorous plant such as Sarracenia (pitcher plants), in such cases it is difficult to eradicate them without repeated applications of insecticide such as diazinon. Small infestations may not inflict significant damage. In larger amounts though, they can induce leaf drop.
Fossil specimens of Acropyga genus ants have been recovered from the Burdigalian stage Dominican amber deposits and several individuals are preserved carrying the extinct mealybug genus Electromyrmococcus.[3] These fossils represent the oldest recorded record of the symbiosis between mealybugs and Acropyga species ants.[3]
Aglaonema is my favorite colourful houseplant. It's quiet easy growing plant and strive well even though we neglect them. I just water them and fertilize 2-3 months once and it's so happy with it. I like them...... beside me the mealy bug love them! It's constantly attacked by this pest all year around. Look at my poor Aglaonema plant. I just realize today morning that mealy bug already attack them quiet badly....sigh....
Mealybugs are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the sexes have distinct morphological differences. Females are nymphal, exhibit reduced morphology, and are wingless, though unlike many female scale insects, they often retain legs and can move. The females do not change completely and are likely to be neotenic (exhibiting nymphal characteristics). Males are winged and do change completely during their lives. Since mealybugs (as well as all other Hemiptera) are hemimetabolous insects, they do not undergo complete metamorphosis in the true sense of the word, i.e. there are no clear larval, pupal and adult stages, and the wings do not develop internally. However, male mealybugs do exhibit a radical change during their life cycle, changing from wingless, ovoid nymphs to "wasp-like" flying adults.
Mealybug females feed on plant sap, normally in roots or other crevices. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery wax layer (therefore the name mealybug) used for protection while they suck the plant juices. The males on the other hand, are short-lived as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Male citrus mealy bugs fly to the females and resemble fluffy gnats.
Some species of mealybug lay their eggs in the same waxy layer used for protection in quantities of 50–100; other species are born directly from the female.
The most serious pests are mealybugs that feed on citrus; other species damage sugarcane, grapes, pineapple (Jahn et al. 2003), coffee trees, cassava, ferns, cacti, gardenias, papaya, Mulberry, sunflower and orchids. Mealybugs only tend to be serious pests in the presence of ants because the ants protect them from predators and parasites. Mealybugs also infest some species of carnivorous plant such as Sarracenia (pitcher plants), in such cases it is difficult to eradicate them without repeated applications of insecticide such as diazinon. Small infestations may not inflict significant damage. In larger amounts though, they can induce leaf drop.
Fossil specimens of Acropyga genus ants have been recovered from the Burdigalian stage Dominican amber deposits and several individuals are preserved carrying the extinct mealybug genus Electromyrmococcus.[3] These fossils represent the oldest recorded record of the symbiosis between mealybugs and Acropyga species ants.[3]
Mealy bugs are a nuisance - I usually attack them with an old toothbrush. But that can only work if the stems that they have attched to are fairly strong and rigid.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame to have them on your plants. They are such destructive little buggers.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I have found some of these indoors and outdoors...pesty little insects. I hope you will be able to save the plant. They don't like alcohol...I mix a little alcohol with lots of water in a spray bottle, and it gets rid of them.
ReplyDeleteMealybug is a serious problem in Malaysia, probably due to our wet and humid climate. It is a frustrating process spraying pesticides (organic or not) to eradicate them as we need to repeat the process again and again. It happened to my fave Aglaonema too. I spray the whole plant with a jet of water to wash away the mealy bugs. Keep the planting area well ventilated as moist conditions attract more mealy bugs.
ReplyDeleteSue: Use toothbrush? I never thought of it! ;)
ReplyDeleteSunray: I hate them....
Sage: Alcohol? Good solution! ;)
Autumn Belle: Same goes here. Thsi time around, I sprayed pesticide....;(
I have heard that dish washing soap helps, too. What a nuisance they are!
ReplyDeleteSorry to note about the mealy bug.
ReplyDeleteI often get them time to time and always use pesticide to control them.
And yes - they are always brought by ants.