Friend or foe?

[Fiishergurl]

Found these on my eggplant this morning. Friend or foe?





Ginny

[Starlight]

Foe! Looks like Mealy bugs. They sometimes hard to squish as they jump. I found putting gloves on and sneaking up on them from the front makes it easier to kill them.

[Fiishergurl]

They almost look more like mealy bug destroyer larvae than mealy bugs based on the pictures in this link below...

http://www.plantsolutionsnj.com/meal...-or-mealybugs/

Ginny

[ginger2778]

Ginny, I think it us the destroyer larvae. The size of a mealybug is about 1/10 of an inch, the MBDL is about 1/5 of an inch. Your comparison website shows a long thin tail on the mealybug, not on the MBDlarvae, and those ridges on the MBDlarvae are not present on a mealybug.

[Fiishergurl]

So the next question is.... if I have Mealy Bug Destroyer Larvae, do I also have Mealy Bugs? I guess I better go look at the plant again.

Thanks!
Ginny

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

So the next question is.... if I have Mealy Bug Destroyer Larvae, do I also have Mealy Bugs? I guess I better go look at the plant again.

Thanks!
Ginny

That's a fair question, but if you do, looks like nature is fixing the problem for you, right?

[Worth1]

Too bad poor Spidy isn't around to help.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...,d.b2w&cad=rja

[Fiishergurl]

I squished him ok?.... poor Spidy.

Ginny

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

I squished him ok?.... poor Spidy.

Ginny

Worth

[Fiishergurl]

Theres 2 bugs here. Kind of looks like one is eating the other.

Ginny