Identification Symptoms

  • Mealy bugs colonize on all tender plant parts
  • Mealy bugs infest the unopened heart leaf and inflorescence.
  • It feed plant sap leads to yellowing of leaves and drying up.
  • The leaves become highly stunted, suppressed, deformed and crinkled.
  • It is often confused with the leaf rot symptoms.
  • The affected inflorescences are malformed and do not open. Even if they open, they do not bear nuts.
  • Button mealy bugs colonize under the perianth lobes of tender nuts.
  • Infested nuts harbouring gravid mealy bugs remain on the spadix, which serve as inoculum for further spread.