mealybugs on Rabbits Foot Fern
Quick answer
If your Rabbits Foot Fern has mealybugs, the most likely cause is: Fern houses — including those housing Rabbit's-foot fern (Davallia tyermannii / fejeensis) — are listed by the classic fern manualist Birkenhead as hosts for a whole guild of sap-sucking pests: scale, thrips, green-fly, black-fly, white-fly and mealy-bug, all of which injure ferns by piercing the fronds and sucking out the sap the plant needs to grow. Mealy-bug in particular is described as a peculiar-looking insect covered with a cotton-wool-like substance that is very difficult to eradicate once it gets a firm footing, and Birkenhead warns that a dry atmosphere actively encourages these pests to multiply.
Start here:
- 1. Isolate the infested Rabbit's-foot fern from any other ferns or houseplants so the mealy-bugs cannot crawl across to a fresh host.
- 2. Pick off visible cotton-wool tufts with a soft brush, a pointed stick, or a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, working carefully so the soft Davallia fronds are not torn.
Why Rabbits Foot Fern gets mealybugs
Rabbits Foot Fern
Fern houses — including those housing Rabbit's-foot fern (Davallia tyermannii / fejeensis) — are listed by the classic fern manualist Birkenhead as hosts for a whole guild of sap-sucking pests: scale, thrips, green-fly, black-fly, white-fly and mealy-bug, all of which injure ferns by piercing the fronds and sucking out the sap the plant needs to grow. Mealy-bug in particular is described as a peculiar-looking insect covered with a cotton-wool-like substance that is very difficult to eradicate once it gets a firm footing, and Birkenhead warns that a dry atmosphere actively encourages these pests to multiply.
How to reverse mealybugs on Rabbits Foot Fern
- 1
Isolate the infested Rabbit's-foot fern from any other ferns or houseplants so the mealy-bugs cannot crawl across to a fresh host.
- 2
Pick off visible cotton-wool tufts with a soft brush, a pointed stick, or a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, working carefully so the soft Davallia fronds are not torn.
- 3
After manual removal, sponge the rhizomes and remaining fronds with warm water carrying a little dissolved soft soap, then rinse with clean tepid water so no residue is left on the fuzzy rhizomes.
- 4
Raise the surrounding humidity by sprinkling the room or staging with water, because the manualist Birkenhead specifically notes that a dry atmosphere is what encourages insect pests to build up on ferns.
Keep mealybugs off this Rabbits Foot Fern
Keep the air around Davallia-type ferns steadily humid by sprinkling paths, walls and staging rather than letting the room run hot and dry, inspect new plants in quarantine before they join the collection, and check the fuzzy rhizomes and undersides of fronds for cotton-wool tufts at every watering so any mealy-bug is caught before it gets a firm footing.