Most ornamental growers are familiar with mealybugs and their nasty habit of ruining the retail value of crops. Both adults and juveniles chew on leaves, causing foliage to become misshapen and yellow. They also foul plants with their honeydew secretions. Starved of chlorophyll, ornamental crops respond by dropping their flowers.
Mealybugs are pests for all seasons. In the South, where winters are warm, they are a year-long problem. In the North, where winters are cold, they become a problem as soon as the weather starts to warm up in spring.
To make matters worse, these pests have a waxy coating that’s like a suit of armor protecting them from many pesticides. In dense crops they can easily survive chemical sprays by hiding underneath the thick canopy. Mealybugs simply re-emerge to do more damage.
Koppert Biocontrols can help. If the pest infestation is already at critical mass an immediate solution is Cryptobug-L, predatory beetles in their larval state. That’s key. Adults can fly away but the larvae can’t fly and they can’t see so they have one job: to eat mealybugs right away. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it. You can watch them clean up a plant in as little as 15 minutes after they are applied, chasing mealybugs into the nooks and crannies of dense crops.
If, down the road, some stray mealybugs wander in, Isarid™ is the way to prevent them from becoming more of a problem. These spores lie in wait and are highly infectious on any mealybugs that get too close. There is no such thing as a harmless mealybug—it’s important to keep pressure on the stragglers.
You’ll know Isarid™ is working when you spot infected mealybugs. They become fuzzier and whiter than normal, as the spores multiply inside their bodies, splitting their exoskeletons and spreading the spores to other victims. A little bit goes a long way. Koppert typically recommends one pound, per acre, per week to effectively control most species of mealybug.
Both of these products are often used in differing amounts throughout the growing season depending on temperature and pest population density. It can be a tricky process of clean-up and suppression. Work with your Koppert consultant to dial in a cost-efficient, highly effective solution tailored to your specific crop, for the long haul.
