White coating on the trunks of indoor plants. Mealybug: how to fight on indoor plants. Brown edges of leaves
Most problems with this plant are caused by improper care; myrtle diseases most often manifest themselves in the drying out and falling of leaves, and less often in the appearance of spots on them.
IMPORTANT: Myrtle needs frequent but moderate watering and fertilization every summer, regardless of its .
If your myrtle leaves have turned black or the ends of the shoots, then the reason is excessive watering: by constantly flooding the flower, you do not allow the roots to receive oxygen, which leads to their rotting.
This, in turn, has a bad effect on the health of the plant crown.
There are two possible solutions: loosen the soil and water the flower less often, or replant it in drier soil (with a lower content of moisture-intensive components).
ATTENTION! The water in the pan should not stagnate under any circumstances.
If the leaves begin to turn yellow, This means that the myrtle is either overdried as a result of improper watering or dry air, or is in too much sun.
REFERENCE: It feels best on an east or west window. An overdried plant can be revived by providing it frequent watering. If the reason is still dry air, if possible, move the flower away from the battery and spray it daily with a spray bottle.
What to do if leaves fall off?
If your myrtle suddenly begins to lose leaves, this often happens with, pay attention to the water with which you water it. Settled water is best suited for irrigation, since it no longer contains chlorine, which harms the condition of the leaves. Also, falling leaves may be the result of overdrying; move it to a cooler place.
ATTENTION! Myrtle reacts sharply to dry soil, do not forget to water the plant regularly.
If it started to crumble immediately after purchase, then the reason is the stress experienced by the plant due to a change in conditions. Provide the flower with sufficient air humidity.
REFERENCE: Small young plants can be kept under polyethylene until the condition of the crown improves.
The health of the plant can deteriorate sharply after transplantation, since this is stress for the flower. Provide him with the maximum proper care, and he will soon recover.
IMPORTANT: Myrtle is evergreen and has no seasonal leaf loss. Therefore, answering the question why myrtle leaves fall off, look for the reason in improper care or insect pests (described in detail below).
What to do if the foliage has dried out?
Plant demanding watering: The soil in the pot should be slightly moist all the time, otherwise the leaves will dry out and curl.
However, the plant needs to be watered daily. in the autumn-winter period, the frequency of watering can be reduced(unless, of course, the flower is in a hot place). The problem of dry air can be solved by daily spraying, in heating season You can put a container of water on the battery.
ATTENTION: For watering and spraying you should Use only settled water.
Drying can also be caused by excessive feeding; in this case, it is necessary to replant the flower in new land, washing the roots. This is a risky procedure, but it is the one that can save the plant from death.
Diseases and pests in the photo: 
Impact of temperature
Heat and cold are equally dangerous and can lead to drying out and death of the plant if resuscitation measures are not taken.
As mentioned earlier, for heat and dry air myrtle sheds leaves- what to do to help the plant? You can water and spray the plant daily with a spray bottle; in extreme cases, you can put a plastic bag on the flower to preserve moisture.
It is resistant to air fluctuations and withstands drafts; in addition, in winter it is recommended to keep it in a cool place.
Freezing myrtle is more difficult than drying it. However, such a disaster can happen if you leave the flower near an open window or on the balcony in frosty weather. The reaction to the cold will not be long in coming: most of the leaves will dry out literally within a day.
So what to do if the myrtle dries out? There is a chance to save the plant if the roots have not frozen. The first aid algorithm for a frozen person is as follows: cut off all dried branches, spray living branches with a biostimulant (for example, Epin) and cover with polyethylene.
Pests
It happens that the care is correct, the temperature and humidity are normal, but the plant suffers. What to do if the myrtle has dried up or dropped all its leaves? In the dense crown of a house plant Many small pests love to settle in.
Myrtle of any kind, and both, are affected by the same insect pests that harm other indoor plants. These are aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, thrips, whiteflies and spider mites.
Aphid settles in colonies on back side leaves and feeds on their juice, which causes the leaves to curl and dry out. You can get rid of aphids by spraying the plants with a special insecticide (for example, Aktara). Before spraying, remove insects from the leaves by washing the flower in the shower with the crown down. 
Shchitovka, like aphids, they suck sap from plants. Characteristic signs Infestation with scale insects - the appearance of a sticky coating on leaves and shoots. If you find scale insects on a flower, you need to remove them with a cloth or soft toothbrush dipped in a soap solution, and then treat the plant with an insecticide (Actellik is recommended). 
Mealybug It is clearly visible on plants and can be identified by the white fluffy coating on the leaves and branches. Detected pests must be removed, and the plant itself must be watered with Aktara. 
IMPORTANT: Insecticide preparations are very toxic; strictly follow the concentration indicated in the instructions.
Trips- a small insect, the presence of which can be determined by light spots on the upper side of the leaves and dark dots on the back. Thrips harm not only the leaves, but also the buds, so if you want myrtle to please you abundant flowering, you need to get rid of thrips as soon as possible. The folk method is to water the plant with an infusion of garlic or tobacco dust, but more effective way— treatment with “Aktellik”. 
Whitefly looks like a small moth, settles in colonies on inside leaves and feeds on plant sap, like an aphid.
Whitefly larvae are covered with a coating through which chemicals do not penetrate, making it difficult to combat this pest. Adults are removed from the leaves by hand, then the flower is thoroughly wiped with soapy water. After this, the plant must be treated with Actellik.
Spider mite forms a cobweb on the shoots of myrtle, you can get rid of it by thoroughly wiping the leaves and branches and spraying the flower with an infusion of tobacco dust or the same “Aktellik”.
So, it is affected by many insect pests, but fortunately, you can get rid of all of them using systemic insecticides. The main cause of disease indoor myrtle- neglect of watering and spraying.
Also in our article you learned about how to care, how to replant, what to do if the myrtle dries out, why the leaves of the plant fall off? Follow the rules of care, and myrtle will feel great.
Interesting information about decorative indoor trees:
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Unfortunately, indoor plants can also get sick. All plants, if not maintained correctly, are susceptible to various pests and diseases. One of the most common ailments is white coating, which affects leaves, flowers and even soil.
Powdery mildew - what is it?
White plaque is a fungal disease called powdery mildew. Powdery mildew on indoor plants plaque from fungal spores. After the defeat, the plant soon becomes lethargic, the leaves dry out, and the flower buds fall off. This happens because the fungus sucks out all the useful and vital substances from the plant.
The main cause of the disease is humid air, incorrect temperature, drafts and overwatering of the soil.
This type of disease is contagious and can be easily confused with another disease. If white plaque is detected, treatment should be started immediately. If treated incorrectly or untimely, unfortunately, the plant dies.
Cause of powdery mildew
- If it's cool outside, about 12 - 15 degrees, rainy season, high humidity. Street conditions do not affect indoor plants as much as they do on plants located on the balcony. Therefore, in bad weather, balcony plants should be moved to a warmer place.
- If the soil is oversaturated with nitrogen
- Lots of vegetation in the pot and little space
- Improper care, not timely watering. If the plant is often watered and the earthen lump does not have time to dry out, or vice versa, the earth constantly dries out, and then it is watered abundantly
Because this disease is portable, it is very easy to infect other plants:
We create the right care
To get rid of white plaque, it is necessary to provide comprehensive care for the diseased plant. First you need to understand the agricultural technology of cultivation:
Provide the plant with proper care, otherwise powdery mildew will become your regular visitor. Now let's move on to treating the disease.
Treatment of white plaque
To get rid of white plaque forever, it is necessary to provide the plant with proper treatment:
Treatment with chemicals
cure house plant easiest way with chemicals. They actively stop the growth of fungi, having a detrimental effect on it. And the plant is helped in the form of protection and treatment.
There are a lot of chemicals today, some of them are: Topaz, Previkur, Fundazol and many others.
Folk remedies against powdery mildew
note that folk remedies unable to cure the advanced stage of the disease. Such measures are carried out as prophylaxis or to treat the initial stages of the disease:
With the right approach to treatment, as well as timely measures, it is possible to win powdery mildew and cure your favorite plant.
Pay attention to the video
Mealybug- This is a whole group of insects that are a close relative. Since the species of scale insects are very similar and the methods of controlling them are the same, I will not dwell on the description of the species, but will talk about the pest in general.
Almost all types of plants are susceptible to this, but most often it appears on plants with dense and fleshy leaves - ficus, orchids, etc.
A distinctive feature of this pest is the presence of white cotton-like secretions in which the female lays eggs. Usually, scale insects settle in the axils of leaves and on young shoots. However, if the plant is heavily infested, the pest may cover all parts of the plant. Damage to the root collar of the plant and the roots themselves can be very unpleasant.
The female mealybug does not have wings, it is flesh-colored, from 3 to 5 mm in length, oval in shape with bristles along the edges. The body is covered with white wax, which makes the insect invulnerable to many chemicals. Males have wings, but live only a couple of days and have no mouthparts. So they pose no danger.
The female lays up to 2000 eggs in the mealy formation. Moreover, young larvae can move around the plant themselves and, like an adult female, feed by sucking the juice from the plant. In addition, mealybugs secrete a sweetish liquid, which causes the formation on the plant, which further worsens the condition of the plant.
The affected plant suffers from a deficiency nutrients, may lose leaves at the base of which the pest has settled, and begins to wither. Leaves damaged by the pest become deformed. Young plant specimens may die.
In fact, the scale insect, like the scale insect, is one of the most serious pests of indoor plants.
How to deal with a pest
Control measures depend on the degree of damage to the plant. If the mealybug has just appeared, it can be carefully collected from the plant using a cotton swab or napkin soaked in a soap solution. Treat areas where the pest was present with soap or alcohol solution. After this, it is advisable to treat the plant 2-3 times with an interval of 7-10 days with a soap solution (10-15 g liquid soap per 1 liter of water), alcohol solution or pharmaceutical infusion of calendula.
If the damage is significant, it is necessary to use systemic ones. These include “”, “Vertimek”, “Nurell-D”, “Fozalon”, “Fitoverm”, “Fosfamide”, “Metafos”. Of the listed drugs, Metaphos is the strongest, but it is also the most toxic. Fitoverm is the least toxic, but it is usually used in a slightly higher concentration than indicated on the packaging. The plant should be treated 2 times with an interval of 7-10 days.
In any case, the fight against mealybugs is complex and quite lengthy and most often involves the use of chemicals. Therefore, you should carefully monitor your plants and if you find cotton wool-like lumps on the trunk or leaves, immediately begin to combat the pest. In addition, you should carefully inspect all new plants, because this is how this pest most often gets into houseplants.
And this is what a mealybug looks like under a microscope.
Mealybugs are usually very easy to see; most of them can be found below and in the axils of leaves, on petioles and stems. In these places, a discharge resembling cotton wool is visible, containing eggs. Therefore, plants that have been attacked by mealybugs seem to be covered with cotton wool or fluff. Then the larvae hatch from the eggs, they crawl around the crop and suck the juice.
Which plants are most often affected and why are they dangerous?
Citrus crops (grapefruit, citron, tangerine, orange, calamondin) are attacked by the citrus bug. In females, the body is up to 4 mm, it is light pink, covered with a whitish coating. Females lay eggs after 15 days of their life. They live for 3 months. Males are beige in color, have transparent wings, and live 2-4 days.
Grapes are attacked by vine bugs. The female has a wide oval body, it is pinkish or yellowish, and has a white coating that resembles powder. Males are found quite rarely.
These crops are affected by the bristlebug. The female has a body of 3.5 mm, has an orangeish or pinkish tint, and is covered with bloom. There is also a seaside scale insect. The female has a body up to 3-4 mm, it is pinkish-gray, with a snow-white coating. Males are smaller and have wings. The larvae are tiny, yellowish in color, they move quickly, and they have no plaque.
As a result of mealybugs, flowers stop growing; shoots are deformed; foliage, ovaries, fruits fall; the branches dry up. During their activity, females secrete honeydew, and then a sooty fungus appears on it.
How to deal with mealybugs on indoor plants?
To destroy pests from biological drugs Lepidocide is used.
Effective chemicals
Next, spray with a solution of green soap, rubbing 10-15 g in 1 liter of water. Carry out this spraying 3 times, at weekly intervals. Instead of soap, you can use tobacco infusion, garlic juice, onion juice or cyclamen decoction. You can treat the plant with alcohol or calendula tincture. Place tangerine or orange peels in water, leave for 1-2 days, and then sprinkle the crop with infusion.
Grate 1 teaspoon of soap and pour in hot water. Then add water so that the result is 1 liter, then pour in 1 tbsp. a spoonful of alcohol or 2 tbsp. spoons of vodka. Cover the soil in the pot with something, and then soak the cotton wool in an alcohol solution, collect all the pests, change the cotton wool from time to time. The next day, wash the culture warm water. And after 3-4 days, repeat the treatment.
Mash 25-70 g of garlic, pour in 1 liter of boiling water, leave for 6 hours, and then wipe the indoor crop with a brush soaked in the infusion. Do this in the evening. Next, cover the plant from sunlight for 2 days.
Pour in 2 tbsp. spoons of olive oil in 1 liter of water. Wipe the entire plant with the moistened cotton wool.
Collect horsetail grass, dry it, chop it, pour 4 teaspoons of the grass into 0.5 liters of boiling water. Leave for 20 minutes. Strain the infusion, spray and water the crop with it.
Mealybug on an orchid: treatment
Orchids are mainly attacked by citrus and bristly mealybugs. Female bristly mealybugs are reddish and covered with a whitish coating. Long hairs are visible at the back of their body. Males are grayish and have transparent wings.
Healthy, well-groomed orchids secrete substances that repel a variety of insects, including mealybugs. Therefore, a mealybug appears on an orchid if the plant is sick.
Mealybug, how to fight on indoor plants?
Then grate the dark laundry soap, pour it into the settled water and mix. Next, carefully wipe the foliage and stems of the orchid with the resulting foam. Finally, treat the crop copper sulfate or other fungicide. It is required that fungicides do not get on the ground.
Methods of combating disease on violets
Mealybugs appear on violets for the following reasons:
- movement of pests from newly acquired crops to old ones;
- use of pest-infested soil;
- excessive fertilizing with nitrogen;
- lack of moisture.
Pour boiling water or bleach solution over the flowerpots. Treat all crops standing nearby on the windowsill. In addition, wipe the shelves and window sills with bleach and alcohol. All this must be done while wearing disposable gloves; it is better to then burn them, and then wash your hands with soap. Spray the plants with Actellik, pouring 2 ml into 1 liter of water. Then do the treatment again after a week.
You can water the soil in a flowerpot with Aktara solution, adding 1.4 g to 2 liters clean water. Then sprinkle the violet itself. Then wait 1 month and repeat everything again. Or use Phosfamide, it enters the crop in solution, and then the insects sucking the juices are poisoned and die. To work with pesticides, wear a respirator.
Pest prevention at home
Check carefully regularly indoor flower. The mealybug is afraid high humidity and loves dry soil.
If you suddenly find white lumps on your indoor plants, reminiscent of lumps of cotton wool, then this means that they have been attacked by mealybugs.
Mealybugs, also called hairy lice, are sucking insects that are clearly visible to the naked eye. ( Pseudococcidae) is a close relative of the scale insect and the false scale insect.
IN room conditions The worm can appear together with a plant purchased in a store, with a bouquet or seedlings from greenhouses. Scale insects can get onto indoor plants along with garden soil. Optimal conditions the development of scale insects is considered room temperature air and high humidity.
Several species of scale insects are found on indoor plants. The most dangerous are amaryllis, grape, seaside, cactus, and bristly. Almost all of them look the same - white, furry, with many legs. The body of the female is elongated, oval-round, approximately 3.5 mm in length, grayish, pinkish or orange color. Scale insects have very well developed legs, so they can easily move from plant to plant.
Scale insects are very mobile and are able to move at almost any age. They have a soft body, devoid of wings, covered on top with a powdery waxy coating. white, sometimes with wax plates along the edge. It is this waxy coating that reliably protects scale insects and their larvae from the effects of any poisons and makes them immune.
The larvae turn into an adult insect in 1-1.5 months. Both larvae and adult insects damage plants.
In addition to the fact that mealybugs suck sap from plants, they leave behind a sweet sticky secretion - honeydew, to which sooty fungus - mold similar to soot - quickly adheres.
Based on the nature of the damage, leaf and root bugs are distinguished
Grape mealybug. The body of the female is about 3.5 mm, broadly oval, pink or yellowish in color, covered with a white powdery coating. This type of mealybug prefers amaryllis, aralia, gardenia, jasmine, figs, cacti, coffee tree, ferns, hedera (ivy), grapes.
Palm mealybug is a very dangerous quarantine pest, but is very rare. The body of an adult female is up to 2.5 mm long, covered with a waxy shield in the form of cone-shaped cream-colored spines. It feeds on the sap of indoor plants, located on the underside of the leaf. Damages palms, bananas, aroids, orchids, avocados and other subtropical plants.
Bristle Mealybug a fairly large and easily noticeable insect on the plant. It hides on the underside of leaves, climbs under the bark of citrus fruits, and under the scales of bulbous plants. Damages asparagus, begonia, dracaena, lemon, clivia, coleus, dracaena, oleander, palm, pandanus, primrose, cycad, ficus, fuchsia, dieffenbachia.
Primorye mealybug- the most common of all types. The female is elongated-oval, 3-4 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, grayish-pink in color. The egg sacs, covered with waxy cobwebby secretions, look fluffy and have no shape. Often the egg sacs are located in hard to reach place- in the axils of the leaves, and in plants such as nolina or dracaena, they can be problematic to get. Prefers asparagus, cacti, succulents, including nolina (bocarney); camellia, coleus, dieffenbachia, crinum, pelargonium, oleander, laurel, cordyline, cypress, rhododendron, citrus.
There are more citrus mealybug, which settles not only on the leaves, but also affects the root system. It is found not only on citrus and Mediterranean fruits (oleander, laurel, myrtle), but also on other indoor plants.
Root mealybug, almost the same as cactus root worm, just a little larger. Both species prefer cacti and succulents and are found on plants of the Bromeliad and Euphorbiaceae families. For these plants, root system which are very small, root mealybugs are very dangerous. Pests settle on the roots or near the root collar and feed on sap.
Signs of plant damage by mealybug
Mealybug oviposition, larvae and the pest itself look like lumps of small waxy threads or lumps similar to fluff or cotton wool.
Often, the surfaces of the plant where the scale insects live become sticky to the touch due to the honey secretions of the pest.
The affected plant is stunted in growth, they have an unhealthy appearance, the stem is often bent, becomes deformed, and sometimes dries out.
Leaves become smaller in size, lose color or turn yellow without time, and fall off prematurely. And if they do not die, then traces remain on them - gnawed areas, which then dry out, turn brown, and the decorative value of the leaves is greatly reduced.
A plant weakened by mealybugs often rots, becoming susceptible to bacterial rot and fungal diseases.
Colonies of root scale insects can be identified by the characteristic white felt in the soil and on the inner walls of the pot. If your cactus, succulent or milkweed is sick and does not grow for some unknown reason, remove it from the pot and carefully inspect the earthen ball. Root mealybugs can be seen by a white, cobwebby coating on the roots.
Measures to combat the mealybug
Don’t be fooled by the fact that if there are only a few scale insects, sometimes fighting them takes a very long time, and you will have to deal with them using complex measures.
If white lumps are found, you need to wipe or wash the plant in a soap-alcohol solution (one teaspoon of finely chopped laundry soap dissolve in 1 liter of hot water, add 2 tablespoons of vodka), you can use a solution of dishwashing liquid. Rubbing the leaves with alcohol or vodka also helps. All these available means weaken the waxy coating of scale insects, which makes them more vulnerable to pesticides. Before treatment, all visible pests must be removed with a cotton swab or toothbrush. The cotton swab must be changed, and the brush must be thoroughly washed and treated with alcohol or detergent so as not to transfer the scale insect to other parts or neighboring plants.
After the “mechanical” treatment, it is imperative to proceed to the “chemical” treatment. To do this, you can use insecticides: golden spark, fitoverm, actellik, phosphamide, intavir, fufan, metafos, actaru, karbofos, mospilan. In addition to spraying with the same solution, you need to spill the soil in the pot. Such treatments will have to be repeated more than once; it is best to change the drug each time. It is assumed that the bug very quickly gets used to one drug and develops immunity. It should also be noted that it is difficult to fight the scale insect due to its waxy coating. If you just find a bug on a plant and immediately treat it with an insecticide, then it is not always possible to achieve desired result. The insects or their larvae (egg sacs) need to be disturbed - with a stick, brush, cotton wool, and their protection - the wax shell - is weakened, only then the insecticide can act on them. This complex treatment is carried out every 4-5 days. With less frequent processing, no measures help.
And even knowing all this, I had to fight the scale insect for six months. I thought I would never get rid of it.
If damaged by root worms, the soil is completely changed. The pots are washed thoroughly in hot water with disinfectant. The roots of the plants are carefully examined, washed in running water and completely place it in a solution of any insecticide for 15 minutes.
The plant needs to be transplanted into fresh, damp soil, carefully watered with water, and after a week - with an insecticide solution. But even after this, make it a rule to carefully examine the plant so that at the first discovery of white lumps, you can resume the fight against them.
At risk are many plants with dense, smooth and hard leaves, such as alocasia, aglaonema, dracaena, dieffenbachia, sansievery, nephrolepis, ficus, carmona parvifolia, citrus fruits, Mediterranean, subtropical plants, cacti, succulents, euphorbias (almost all indoor plants ). Do not over-moisten the soil in pots, do not create cold drafts, use sterile soil. Quarantine newly acquired plants and only then add them to your home collection.
When writing the article, materials from the site otsvetax.ru, ru.wikipedia.org, and the magazine Home Flowers 8/2009 were used - an article by N. Galynskaya about the mealybug.
