I recently discovered a white substance on my queen of the night Cestrum nocturnum. I don’t know what kind of pathogen it is.
Does anyone have any ideas how to deal with this? I would greatly appreciate any help, suggestions, advice.
Location: Tunis
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1 Answer
As far as I can tell from the photo, that is a mealybug infestation - there's a newish one becoming a problem in Tunisia (first reported in 2014) called Phenacoccus madeirensis, common name Cassava mealybug because it primarily affects cassava crops, but among the other plants it infests is Cestrum -that seems to be what you've got on yours. Since its quite an extreme infestation, I recommend you seek out a systemic insecticide which professes to treat mealybug and use that - but try not to spray open flowers and try to spray at dusk, after pollinating insects like bees have stopped working. If you're fertilizing the plant regularly, stop - high nitrogen feeds applied regularly make the plant more attractive to these pests. Alternatively, you can try an insecticidal soap spray to see if that does the job first.
The link below leads to a PDF with information about cassava mealybug - you might be interested to read it, but its mostly scientific info
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Thank you very much for your help and all those precious information. It seems to be a serious. I have already cut the infected branch to avoid the spread. I saw in the article that can be associated with ants invasion (it's my case), many thanks for warning me that can infect Punica granatum too. Very grateful for your help. :D Jul 9, 2016 at 6:35