MEALY BUGS
Mealy bugs infest a wide range of foliage plants. They are soft-bodied insects that have piercing-sucking mouthparts. The mealy bug produces while feeding a sticky honeydew that coats the foliage of the plant. This honeydew then provides a medium for which black sooty mold will feed on. They like warmer temperatures and will reproduce better under thsese conditions. Some species will have 100 to 300 eggs in one sac. Several species of the bugs do their most damage below the soil which eat root hairs and root tissue. These species do their damage before detection usually. The most serious pests are mealybugs that feed on citrus; other species damage sugarcane, grapes, pineapple, coffee trees, ferns, and orchids. Mealybugs also infect some species of carnivorous plant such as pitcher plants. Kill insect pests with vegetable oil, not petroleum or chemicals-click here
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