Posted: 5/6/2026 1:30:42 PM EDT
| After several years of drought, we finally got some good rain. One of my fields isn't doing so well. After consulting people we inspected the field and found the pasture mealybug. Have any of you had this thing and, if so, how did you get rid of it? |
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Any mealybug is difficult to get rid of because it's hard to get through that coating. Some kind of oil helps. I haven't dealt with this particular mealybug pest on this particular crop so will leave it at that. Can't remember if you're trying to go low-impact with pesticides or not, but that makes it even harder. What's your grass crop? |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Crawled around for 15 minutes yesterday and didn't see any. Mom found one moving slow three days after I sprayed, but that was 9 days ago. Texas Dept. of Agriculture biosecurity guy also inspected yesterday and didn't find anything. I set three stakes out at a boundary line to see if the brown is expanding. |
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Originally Posted By Chadnutz: Crawled around for 15 minutes yesterday and didn't see any. Mom found one moving slow three days after I sprayed, but that was 9 days ago. Texas Dept. of Agriculture biosecurity guy also inspected yesterday and didn't find anything. I set three stakes out at a boundary line to see if the brown is expanding. Interested in a follow up if you've seen anything? |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
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Originally Posted By Chadnutz: Still haven't seen any since the slow one my mom saw after I sprayed. Brown has not progressed past the stakes. I wouldn't be able to tell if it went in other directions. Glad you were able to stop it. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
|
Going to provide an update on this plague. I've been wondering why a big chunk of my Tifton 85 field was dying back. I should have known already given the experience at my mom's, but I couldn't find one of the bastards. Yesterday I checked closer to the green area and promptly found one. I sprayed what I could with what I had. During volleyball I was working AI trying to figure out what to do. This is a brief summary of what I learned: Sivanto Prime (not labeled for use in hay or pasture) will only kill adults. The juveniles are what kills the grass. Juveniles suck on the roots and their saliva KILLS the roots. Sivanto does not move from the leaves to the roots. They thrive in dense stands of grass. To control them you must do the following: Cut, shred, or intensively graze the stand to reduce cover. Reduce opportunity for bugs to move from field to field on equipment. Hope for hot dry conditions to dehydrate them, which will only reduce their spread. It will not kill them like army worms. Treat with high phos and low nitrogen fertilizer to encourage root growth and discourage aggressive forage growth....you know...what a hay field is for....all while they continue to kill whatever roots they come in contact with. Try to control fire ants as they actively protect the MB to feed off of its waxy layers. Wait a few years for nature to figure out how to fight back (ladybugs, etc) This blows. Maybe I'll renew my membership tonight so I can post pictures from last year to now.  |