Do You Have Mealybugs?

Do you see white or light yellow spots along the center stem of your leaf? Do you see a curled or deformed leaf? If you start to see any of these signs, you have to turn the leaf over and look for the small cotton balls along the center vein of the deformed leaf. Check all of the nearby leaves if you find any mealybugs.

Light infestation is just a few small white spots of cotton looking insects.

A bad infestation can cover the entire back side of the leaf and even some on the front.

If you find these under your leaf, you need to get them off as fast as you can. A few of them can be mashed between your fingers or rubbed with alcohol. If there are more leaves infested, you can spray with an insecticidal soap (like Neem) or mix any good insecticide (Malathion, Bayer Powerforce, Seven liquid or even Dormant oil spray). You should mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of a good dishwashing soap in all of the above sprays except for the Dormant oil. This process should be repeated every 7 to 10 days to end the cycle.

If you have a bad infestation then you will have to defoliate the entire plant and then spray each branch to kill the eggs. Be sure to put all of the leaves in a plastic bag and seal the bag well when it is full.

If you find  mealybugs on your plant, good luck with this process to get rid of them.