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Citrus mealybugs

14 years ago

Is there a way to eradicate mealybugs without the chemicals my book suggests? Thank you for your help.

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Comments (7)

frank_zone5_5
14 years ago
alchol and dishwater detergent and a lot of work
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
14 years ago
If we had a little more information, we could (probably) offer some helpful advice. How many plants? Can we assume that they are planted in the ground, in your location? How large are the plants? How bad is the infestation?
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tim: You probably can't eradicate them no matter what you do. And, while I have had some citrus pests, mealy bug isn't one of them. Most citrus pests can be controlled adequately with things like oil sprays. But you will need to become well educated in organic controls. A good place to start would be on the citrus forum. Most posters here aren't growing citrus. The Fruitnut
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I'm glad you guys are talking about this.....my problem with Mealybug has been a comedy of errors. I've even tried importing ladybugs via FedEx, and that didn't quite work out. Here's the deal....I've got TONS of Mealybugs. I've even gone so far as to pick them off the plants, one by one. But they always find the blooms, or the new growth, and a lot of my trees are in sorry shape right now. As far as the alcohol solution....I'll give it another try but it seems to me I tried it several months back with little success. At one point I actually dropped a live Mealybug into a small cup of alcohol just to see if it would die, and it didn't!!! What gives?? I can't believe there's not a commercial spray out there that kills 'em without harming the tree. Right now I'm trying an organic solution that I bought at Lowe's. I'm totally obsessed with ridding these buggers....I'm like the Bill Murray character from Caddyshack, trying to kill all the gophers!
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This is a FACT everyone.. Alchohol killed every single leaf on my "Belmont Gardenia" and it was a weak soution, while my other type gardenias were not affected...Seemed as if this alchohol was absorbed through the leaves within a day in which the leaves turned a deep black, then the branches died back..So I would do a test on a leaf before ever spraying the whole plant with alchohol.. My mother lost her AV from spraying hers with alchohol. But as Rhizzo said, most plants take well to a spray of it, such as all my citrus. And the key is, not to do just one spray, but to keep a schedule of doing it until the little ones that hatch along the way are dead too.. By the way, "spraying" a plant with Alchohol does not kill scale. Been there done that...It is the oils, and sad to say, systemics that do the trick. I don't like sytemics, so I try to rub the ones off I see with a Q-tip and alchohol, and keep spraying with a week solution of neem and soap until they are gone..
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Melissa, yes it's worth it to get your mix ready, even if this particular plant doesn't survive. You can always re-use the mix because the mix is very durable. Money Trees do root very readily, so definitely give it a try as Al suggested. I encourage you to get another plant, though, and you can apply everything you've learned, and enjoy a great experience from day one. Pick up a small, inexpensive Money Tree, plop it into your durable, free-draining mix, water and fertilize, and you will be amazed at how rewarding and easy these trees can be. On a side-note, I don't suggest you take the advice that Anthony is giving. Now is the best time of year to do heavy pruning and re-potting with your Money Trees. In fact, I just chopped my Pachira about a week ago. Notice how it is located in bright shade, just to the edge of where the full sun hits. For transitioning an indoor acclimated plant to the outdoors, this is an optimal location on my property.
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tim45z10
Original Author
14 years ago
Fortunately it is on only one orange tree. The Dwarf Mandarin. It is medium to heavy infestation. I went and blew a lot of them off with a hose.
The trees are in the ground in my yard. I have 5 different orange trees. I also found a few of them on my pomegranite tree also.
demondmh
14 years ago
Will ladybugs touch mealybugs? I have found conflicting information while trying to research this.

I have mealybugs one one tree. Nothing seems to get rid of them.

Lisa
jean001
14 years ago
In SoCal, you're more likely to have woolly whitefly than mealybugs on your outdoor citrus.

Unless, that is, you have the mealybug destroyer, the larva of a lady beetle which eats aphids.

Can you post pictures?
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
14 years ago
Lisa, ladybugs are predators of all kinds of small, soft-bodied insects. They will even devour caterpillars before they get to be too large.
demondmh
14 years ago
I have never heard of wooly whitefly. I'm not sure that is a problem here in Florida.

I will go ahead and order some ladybugs and hope that they conquer the problem. I will let you know if it works.

Lisa

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