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make for their declamatory , violin - shaped leaves , thefiddle leaf figis a popular appendage of the Moraceae family and is associate to therubber tree plant varieties .
The deciduous bush is known by two scientific names , Ficus Lyrata(FY - kus ly - RAY - tuh ) andFicus Pandurata(FY - kus pand - yoor - RAY - tuh ) .
Photo Credit: Instagram @glam_plantsmx
Its rounded leaves can grow up to 12 ” inches long and have the ability to keep on water for farseeing menstruation of time than many similar industrial plant .
Unfortunately , this easy - to - care - for plant life is n’t resistant to pests , andgetting rid ofmealybugs on the Fiddle Leaf Libyan Islamic Group is one of the bad .
Fiddle Leaf Fig And Mealybugs
Mealybugs are a eccentric of unarmoured plate insect hailing from the Pseudococcidae family and are know by several nicknames , admit :
They ’re one of the most plebeian pestilence and are notoriously difficult pest to get rid of despite a 30 - 24-hour interval life cycle .
Mealybugs resemble diminutive puffs of cotton and eliminate a powdery , waxy coating that animate their name .
Like Ficus pandurata , mealybugs love lovesome environments , make them especially problematic for tropic plants .
defective of all , adult Mealybug females can put a clutch of 500 egg , normally on plant or barque , allow them to reproduce before you even detect they ’re present quickly .
Once the eggs hatch and turn into larvae , they ’re quite unmanageable to control .
Mealybugs tend to hide on the undersurface of Fiddle leaf fig folio and will outfit their clutches ( and themselves ) into the smallest crevasses present , peculiarly at joints .
Some species will also cover among the roots and in the potting soil , spend a penny it even harder to tell apart , with the first revealing sign commonly being either an alone mealybug or a lead of pismire .
pertain : More oncontrolling Root Mealybugs .
What Damage Do Mealybugs Cause To Fiddle Leaf Figs?
The first and most visible damage a mealybug does is to thrust a flora ’s vein and drink its sap .
Over time , this will cause parting to turn yellow and wilt .
A more pressing trouble comes from the large amount of honeydew melon these pests pass .
Honeydew attracts emmet , which harvest the honeydew for intellectual nourishment and can also attract other gadfly who will take up residence .
The honeydew will alsolead to coal-black mold , which not only looks unattractive but can cause its own band of job .
The numerous lesion leave behind by mealybugs can invite a host of infections your fiddle leaf fig would ordinarily be able-bodied to fight off .
How To Kill Mealybugs On Fiddle Leaf Fig?
gratefully , discovering a mealybug infestation is n’t the end of your dear violin - leaf fig , and there are several room to treat the problem .
Always start by station any infested plants in quarantine , separate them from the new plant life to forbid the problem from spreading to other plants .
Natural Mealy Bug Remedies
Gently bathing the works is one of the easy ways to battle mealybug .
you could apply homemade insecticidal soap to kill the mealybugs . Make certain your indoor Ficus pandurata is protect from direct sunlight .
Once it dry , retell after a couple of days to ensure any newly hatched houri do n’t survive .
Neem vegetable oil insecticide sprayis another not bad solvent , and you may easy coat the leaves using a spraying bottle .
Neem Oil is our favored innate constitutive insecticide . Control aphids , mealybugs , plant life scale of measurement , Japanese Beetles and more . It can also be used as a dirt drench .
70 % pct isopropyl alcoholic drink can be used when you do n’t have access to neem oil and can be used in a number of ways :
Be careful to debar overwatering , as mealybugs will last longer than your houseplant ’s antecedent .
you could also habituate sticky traps to lure and trap mealybugs , especially the winged male one .
If you have an outdoor plant , render draw in Japanese lady mallet and ladybugs , lacewing , or parasitical wasps , as they consider mealybugs and other pests to be a tasty kickshaw .
Chemical Method Of Mealybug Control
If lifelike remedies for your deciduous tree are n’t an option , several pesticide , such as malathion and PyGanic Gardening , are on the market to tackle plebeian fig tree diagram pest like mealybugs .
wait for pyrethrum spray pesticides that contain pyrethrin materials and explicitly state on the manufacturer ’s label that they will work against mealybug .
This will also help control other pests , including spider mites , borers , carpenter worms , earwigs , fungus gnats , and sap mallet .
Most significantly , another way to prevent plague plague is to provide upright line circulation , keep humidness story , and avoid overwatering .
