Mealybugs
Risk near you, next 48h
See whether your local forecast favours this disease right now.
When it strikes
Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
Pick off the worst material, apply the organic option below, and look again after five to seven days. If the spread continued, escalate rather than repeating the same treatment.
Carried by insects
An insect moves it plant to plant, so controlling the carrier matters as much as treating the symptom. Check for the vector before assuming the plants infected each other directly.
It carries over to next season in soil, debris or seed — which is why rotation matters here, not just treatment.
Safe to compost
No pathogen carries over on this material, so it can go on an ordinary heap with the rest of the garden waste.
When and where to look
Scout the planting while temperatures hold between 20°C and 32°C.
The signs that lead here
About
Mealybugs are soft sap-sucking insects coated in white waxy fluff that infest houseplants, citrus, grapes and greenhouse crops, thriving in warm, sheltered conditions year-round indoors.
Symptoms
White cottony masses in leaf axils, on stems and roots; yellowing and stunted growth; sticky honeydew and black sooty mould; ants attending the colonies.
Organic Treatment
Dab colonies with alcohol-dipped cotton, spray insecticidal soap or neem, rinse plants, and release mealybug destroyer ladybirds in greenhouses.
Chemical Treatment
Horticultural oil or systemic insecticide for heavy or root-mealybug infestations on ornamentals.
Prevention
Quarantine and inspect new plants, wipe leaves regularly, avoid over-fertilising, and treat ants that protect the colonies.
Related problems
Mealybugs risk by location
Each location has a month-by-month profile computed from the weather archive: how many hours a year actually meet this disease’s thresholds.