It's Mealtime

Control mealybugs before they make a meal of your veggies

- Diane Norris

Mealybugs are related to scale insects. The male and female are sexually dimorphic, meaning they have a completely different form and structure. Females remain nymph-like their entire lives, are wingless and often retain legs and can move. Males, on the other hand, change from nymphs into winged wasp like adults and are short-lived. They don’t feed at all as adults and have only one job to do in their brief lives: to fertilise the females.

The main species of mealybugs that concern veggie gardeners are long-tailed mealybugs (Pseudococcus longispinus) and citrus mealybugs (Planococcus citri). Organic control methods are similar for both.

FEMME FATALE

It’s the female mealybug that is the garden pest, feeding on plant sap, normally in roots or other openings. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery wax layer (also known as honeydew) that gives protection while they suck the plant juices. Some species lay 50–100 eggs in this waxy layer.