Mango mealybug
Mealy bugs are soft-bodied, 3–5 mm long insects covered in white, mealy wax, often clustering on stems, leaves, and fruit panicles. They cause severe damage by sucking sap, creating white cottony egg sacs, and leaving sticky, black sooty mold on the tree.
Problem Category: Fungal disease
Symptoms: The young insects that hatch from the eggs laid in the soil climb up the tree and gather in groups on the young shoots, nuts and pods, sucking the sap and causing damage.
Comments:
Management: To prevent this insect, sprinkle 2.5 kg of neem flour or karanj flour or castor flour, depending on the age of the tree, at the base of the tree and mix it with the soil.
Control: Spray 2 ml of neem oil per liter of water on the affected branches and nuts twice at a distance of 10 days. • In the fall, the soil should be ploughed close to the base of the tree. Or the feet should be dug up and turned over.
