Symptoms of Damage
Mealy bugs typically colonize all tender parts of the plant, such as the bases of spear leaves, spadices, inflorescences, and beneath the perianth of nuts.They infest unopened heart leaves and inflorescences, feeding on plant sap. This leads to yellowing and drying up of leaves.Consequently, leaves become stunted, suppressed, deformed, and appear crinkled.These symptoms are often mistaken for leaf rot.Infected inflorescences are malformed and may fail to open properly. Even if they do, they may not produce nuts.Mealy bugs specifically target the areas under the perianth lobes of tender nuts. Infested nuts that harbor gravid mealy bugs remain on the spadix, acting as a source for further spread of the infestation.
1.Stunted leaves
2.Crinkeld leaves
Identification of the Pest
Nymph: Nymphs are flat, oval and yellow. Older nymphs of some species are covered with fluffy, white wax.
Adult: The males are yellowish in color whereas the females are longer and narrow and white in color.
Management:
Cultural Method:
Remove leaflets harbouring these insects and destroy them.
Chemical Method:
Spray any one of the following; Malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/lt, Dimethoate 30 EC @1 ml/lt, Methyl demeton 25 EC @1 ml/lt, Phosphamidon 40 SL @1.25 ml/lt, Methomyl 25 EC @2 ml/lit, 3% Neem oil
