The Mealybug is a soft, white, flattened insect that looks a lot like Flattened Rice. The insect is not exactly our native species, it is an African insect. They eat the leaves of different types of fruit plants like grapes, lemons, jackfruits etc. They make fine holes in the leaves and bark of trees and suck the sap from it.
The body of the mealybug is divided into different parts and is usually covered with wax. Some species also have long filaments on their bodies.
An interesting aspect of millibugs is that they have the wings of male insects and they can fly. The bodies of male insects are red and the wings are black. The male insects are beautiful to look at, but the female insects are strange to look at. In other words, the insects that we see in the trees like Flattened Rice are the female millibags. The female millibags are white and have no wings. So they are not able to fly. They are also quite large in size.
Millibugs usually form colonies. It can be seen that many millibugs are stuck together in a leaf or bark of a tree. Their reproduction is very fast. The adult female mealybug is capable of laying more than 100-200 eggs. They usually lay eggs in a period of 10 to 20 days. The eggs are wrapped in cotton-like bags and attached to the tops of the leaves or to the skin of the fruit.
It is difficult to control millibugs with just pesticides. However, since millibugs are slow-moving, they are thought to be spread by human-used materials. So garden utensils must be thoroughly cleaned. If a millibug is found on any plant in the garden, it should be removed immediately so that other plants are not infected. In many places other insects are also used to control millibugs. Such as Lady Beetle, Spider etc.
However, controlling millibugs in chemical application is a very difficult matter. This is because the waxy substance in the body of the mealybug prevents the pesticide from entering the body. Therefore, the application of pesticides does not yield any results. However, the use of soapy water to suppress millibugs has yielded quite good results. It is thought that the infestation of insects may be reduced if it rains or sprinkles a lot of water. Carbosulfan or Confidor spray also gives some effective solution in this case.
The millibug does not harm humans but does damage crops. So this pest, or is regarded as harmful insects. Therefore, it is possible to protect the tree from the attack of this insect if adequate care is taken and the plants are taken care of.