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hoot of Paradise plants are highly respect for their exotic , large , colorful blossoms . They do not suffer serious problems aside from mealy bug , root rot , or scale . mealy bug are scaly insects with soft body covered with lily-white waxy gunpowder . Mealybugs can spread to other plants .
Using isopropyl or rubbing alcohol are the light style to get disembarrass of mealybug on your bird of paradise plant . Dip cotton swob in scratch alcohol and wipe the blank pulverization off the flora . commix the rubbing alcoholic beverage with dish grievous bodily harm in a spray feeding bottle and spray the flora to prevent plague .
If the infestation is on a gravid scale , I ’d recommend you apply an insect powder to shoot down mealybugs on your bird of paradise plants .
Do birds of paradise plants attract mealybugs?
bird of paradise flora appeal mealybugs because of their soft growth and high nitrogen grade . Mealybugs feed on these plant life by sucking their sap , excreting a gummy fluid called honeydew melon . If the mealy bug impairment is not treated , it can kill your industrial plant . The jet ignominious mold is always a clear indication that mealybugs are feeding on your works .
Signs and symptoms of mealybugs on strelitzia
Here are the principal sign and symptom that your fowl of paradise industrial plant is infested with mealybug :
White fuzz
White patches on thebird of paradiseplant ’s underside is the most obvious preindication of mealybug . The snowy cop might be mealybug egg sacs or hatched mealybug . You ’ll find the glutinous heart on the underside of the leaves , at the bottom of stems , or between cranny .
Stunted growth
Your hiss of paradise plant will have stunt ontogeny because mealy bug suck out all the of the essence fluids in the plant .
Leaves will turn yellow
The bird of paradise leaves will yellow due to enceinte - ordered series infestation , and mealybugs will stimulate the growth of black sooty mold by leaving slime honeydew .
How to get rid of the mealybugs
When mealy bug infest your bird of paradise plant , immediately keep apart the unnatural houseplant . Isolation help prevent the bugs from jump onto a sizeable flora . treat light to moderate mealybug plague is quicker , while gruelling infestation expect more effort .
count withdraw the heavily infested plant entirely and replacing it with a new one . Use these solutions to get rid of mealybugs on shuttlecock of nirvana plants .
Rubbing alcohol
Dip cotton plant orb and swabs in alcohol , then take out all seeable mealybugs . Use the swabs to clean inside the gaps and the testis to clean the leaf . The scratch alcohol will go through the waxy coat and destroy the bugs .
Use neem oil
Neem crude oil is a natural centre produced from the neem tree diagram . It playact as a repellent by affecting the normal feeding abilities of the mealybug on your works . Neem vegetable oil works like insecticidal soap , but it has more benefit , such as being a fungicide .
Neem oil will suffocate pest firmly attached to your plant . However , it may kill other insect good for your raspberry of paradise works , such as ladybird .
Dish soap and water
Dish soap and water is another way to get free of mealybugs .
To use dish max to control and wipe out mealybugs , use lenient water to stretch the soap and quash ironical dish soap . ironical saucer grievous bodily harm has chemical that will harm your plant .
Soapy body of water will asphyxiate and drink down the mealybugs . duplicate that process after every few days if the first software is n’t effective .
Horticultural oil
Horticultural crude oil is a vegetable or petroleum - based insecticide used to suffocate mealybugs and protect your plant . This discourse selection is the best to get rid of mealybug without harming your bird of paradise flora .
Reapply the horticultural oil after about every 2 - 3 weeks for a month to totally kill any mealybug eggs that think of .
Never employ horticultural vegetable oil if the temperature is spicy than 80ºF or cool than 40ºF.
Using ladybirds
you could use the larva of ladybird beetles to feed in on the mealybug and absent them . you may also utilize the tiny parasitic white Anglo-Saxon Protestant , Leptomastix dactylic , alongside the ladybirds to feed on the mealybugs .
Using Isopropyl alcohol
douse a cotton ball in rub alcohol , then wipe it on the mealybug on your plant life to remove and kill them . Test it first on one folio before apply it to the entire works to ensure the alcohol does not burn it . Do not apply more than 70 % of the isopropyl alcohol .
treat the surface on which you are treating your works to avoid any price . Wash your tools and hands thoroughly after work on your plant with mealybugs plague before touching other levelheaded plants .
Prevention tips
Healthy and vigorous bird of paradise plants are less prone to infestation . However , mealybug can overrun salubrious plants . They often attack new plant .
Check your bird of paradise plant life cautiously before plant before fetch them home .
Here are some strategy that help prevent mealybug from infest your bird of paradise plants .
