mealybugs on Pachypodium
Quick answer
If your Pachypodium has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: Mealybugs are listed as a pest of Pachypodium lamerei (Madagascan palm) and other Pachypodium species in the Apocynaceae family, and on Pachypodium succulentum they appear as white woolly patches among the leaves and on the stem, hiding in the crevices around the spiny caudex crown where the waxy covering protects the plant but also shelters the crawler insects.
Start here:
- 1. Dip a small paintbrush in methylated spirits and paint each white woolly mealybug cluster off the leaves and stem, taking care not to rub off the waxy or mealy bloom that protects the caudex surface, then spray the entire plant with a pyrethrum-based insecticide to reach insects the brush missed.
- 2. After treatment, monitor the plant weekly for reinfection and repeat the pyrethrum-based spray on any new colonies, since mealybugs lodge deep in the spine clusters at the caudex apex where a single wipe rarely reaches every individual.
Why Pachypodium gets mealybugs
Pachypodium
Mealybugs are listed as a pest of Pachypodium lamerei (Madagascan palm) and other Pachypodium species in the Apocynaceae family, and on Pachypodium succulentum they appear as white woolly patches among the leaves and on the stem, hiding in the crevices around the spiny caudex crown where the waxy covering protects the plant but also shelters the crawler insects.
How to reverse mealybugs on Pachypodium
- 1
Dip a small paintbrush in methylated spirits and paint each white woolly mealybug cluster off the leaves and stem, taking care not to rub off the waxy or mealy bloom that protects the caudex surface, then spray the entire plant with a pyrethrum-based insecticide to reach insects the brush missed.
- 2
After treatment, monitor the plant weekly for reinfection and repeat the pyrethrum-based spray on any new colonies, since mealybugs lodge deep in the spine clusters at the caudex apex where a single wipe rarely reaches every individual.
- 3
Isolate the infested Pachypodium from neighbouring succulents while treatment is ongoing, and increase air movement around the caudex crown so the still, humid pockets where mealybugs settle are broken up.
Keep mealybugs off this Pachypodium
Inspect leaf axils and the spines around the caudex crown regularly for fresh white woolly tufts, isolate any new Pachypodium purchase from the main collection while monitoring, and maintain strong airflow around the plant to discourage crawlers settling into the spiny crown.