Recognize and fight mealybugs
The animals, also known as mealybugs, reach a length of one to five millimeters. Their bodies are covered with white, woolly hair, which makes the animals look like tiny cotton balls.
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Symptoms of infestation
- Initially small, later merging white spots on the fronds.
- The leaves turn yellow and dry up.
- The lice secrete honeydew, which can subsequently cause an infestation with sooty fungus (red-brown spots).
Combat
Immediately isolate the palm to prevent the pests from spreading. Object Neem oil containing pesticides that must act directly on the lice. Furthermore, the insect pests can be fought very well with plant protection sticks which are stuck into the ground. The active ingredients get directly into the leaves via the sap flow, the mealybugs take them up and die. In the winter garden you can contain the lice plague well with the larvae of the Australian ladybird.
Cause gall mites
These often settle on the yucca palm, more rarely on real palm trees. With a size of 0.2 millimeters, the little animals are so small that they can bare eye are hardly recognizable.
Symptoms of infestation
The pests leave a whitish coating on the leaves, which is strongly reminiscent of powdery mildew. The sucking activity creates tiny hairs that give this impression.
Combat
The specialist trade has various sprays available which, if used correctly, cause the animals to die quickly. In any case, not only spray the upper side of the leaf, but also the underside of the leaf and the leaf axils, as the pests like to hide here.
Tips
Pest infestation often lets through good care impede. Spray the palm daily with lukewarm, lime-free water. Mix some seaweed juice into the splashing water once a week. This strengthens and strengthens the plant.