Plant Problem Diagnosis Key / Pests

Pest

Mealybugs

Pseudococcidae

Soft insects covered in white wax that settle at the base of stems, along veins and on roots. They drip honeydew and are slow to clear once established.

Mealybugs feeding on a hibiscus stem
Mealybugs feeding on a hibiscus stem Photo: Alexlutor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Signs

What favors it

Warm interiors and greenhouses, ants that carry them, and new plants that bring them in.

Prevention

Crops it shows up on

Houseplants; Hemp & cannabis; Roses & ornamentals; Apple, pear & stone fruit.

Often confused with

PestScale insects PestRoot aphids DiseasePowdery mildew

Sources

Why →

Treatment by crop

Cultural, biological and chemical options in the order to use them, and notes written for each crop.

Identification is free. Treatment is on the Home and Pro plans.

Open in the key See plans

Questions in the key that lead here

  1. Look the plant over, leaf undersides included. Are insects, mites, slugs, eggs, webbing or droppings on it?
    Yes, something living or its traces
  2. What is on the plant?
    Bumps or cottony tufts stuck to stems and leaves
  3. What are the bumps like?
    White, cottony or waxy, soft

Not a match? Start the key or describe what you see.

More photos

Citrus mealybugs, close up
Citrus mealybugs, close up Photo: Jeffrey W. Lotz, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

More from university Extension: search Extension pages on mealybugs, or find a plant diagnostic lab through your state's Extension.

Other pests

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