the summer enemy of your outdoor plants! Here’s how to recognize it.

Under the magnifying glass, ainfestation AND cottony cochineal resembles a grouping of small lice covered by a waxy white substance.

How to eradicate them? Here is the first one below two articles about it!

The cottony cochineal insect feeds on the sap of the plants it has infested: its eggs hide and hatch under a whitish coating.
The appearance is that of harmless mould: in the long run however, if the parasite is not fought, it can seriously compromise the livelihood system of plantcausing first a general collapse and finally death.

All outdoor plants cochineal can cause damage during the summer; in the apartment and in the greenhouse instead, where the infesting power increases, striking especially in autumn and early winter.

Stress problems

As happens with any parasitic diseasein humans as in animals, plants under stress are more exposed to attacks.
Species that have satisfied all their primary needs are less likely to be attacked by parasites, while one diseased plant it is decidedly less resistant.
There are two types of cottony cochineal that cause the most problems: the very widespread greenhouse cottony cochineal and the radical cochineal.

Greenhouse cottony cochineal

When it comes from greenhouses, in most cases cochineal belongs to the cochineal family Dark pseudococci.
Houseplants are the ideal home for these parasites, especially in winter, when they are protected from the cold.

Radical cottony scale insect

As the name suggests, this is the underground variety: the most common is the Rhizoecus falcifer.
It is more difficult to identify problems and insects that affect them roots than leaf infestations; the rooting cottony scale insect is often confused with root aphids, being also covered with one white wax and floury.

Life cycle of the parasite

In its life cycle, the cottony cochineal passes through three different phases: egg, nymph, adult insect. Most insects are female and reproduction occurs by parthenogenesis more than eight times each year.

Females lay clusters of more than 150 eggs which are covered in a waxy puff.
If the environmental temperature is high, say around 28°C, the eggs hatch in a few days and the nymphs move to try to feed.
Once they have found the right place, although they are able to move, they rarely do so.

After about a month the cochineal reaches the adult state.
In a warm environment or greenhouse, the greatest spread of the parasite occurs in late summer and continues until the winter season.

Appearance of the infestation

The adult cottony scale insect resembles a little louse; only 4 mm long, it has a soft pink-grey body covered with a waxy powder and fringed filaments.
Both eggs and adult parasites and nymphs gather in compact groups, and the entire colony often disappears under the wax coating.

It is difficult to spot it on gray-colored plants or, for example, on cactuswhich have pale wooden protuberances. For this reason it is sometimes difficult to recover the beauty of cacti and succulents: if they are hit to the point of being seriously damaged, they must necessarily be burned and replaced with healthy specimens.
Bushy plants instead, such as bougainvillea And citrus fruitsthey usually recover well (provided the attack is overcome and the dead parts pruned).

Possible damages

Both in the nymph state and in the adult stage, Cochineal feeds by sucking the sap of the plant. Little by little the infested specimen weakens, as the attack is not launched only by the insects, but is also aggravated by the smokea sooty mold that forms on substances secreted by the cottony cochineal, the so-called honeydew.
The soot obstructs the stomata of the plant and prevents its breathing, hastening its decay.
Colonies of cottony scale insects gather on every part of the plant: leaves, sprouts, flowers, fruits, stems And rootsthe latter are targets of the radical cochineal.
The favorite points are the axils of the leaf, i.e. the junction points between the leaf and the stem, which due to their shape offer a solid anchorage.

The first symptoms

The first symptom that reveals the presence of greenhouse cottony cochineal insects is the coating of waxy substance.
Often plants that appear merely weak (poor growth, yellowing, falling leaves) if observed more carefully turn out to be the den of a large colony of parasites.
In themselves, sooty mold and general decay can be attributed to different types of infestation (for example whitefly) but often confirm the presence of cottony cochineal.
If none attack is visible but the plant withers, reclines and has dull leaves, it may mean that it has been attacked by the root scale insect.
The only way to discover them is to remove them from the pot and carefully examine the roots.

And once the infestation has been confirmed?
See you next week to find out how to eradicate it!