The Landscape Alert

An Outreach of the Center for Urban Agriculture - www.gaurbanag.org

Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Found in Forsyth County

Pink hibiscus mealybug is a very destructive insect pest of hibiscus and 300 other plants. Pink hibiscus mealybug is native to Southeast Asia but is now well established in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. See these websites for photos and information on the pink hibiscus mealybug’s life cycle and management

Photos and pest management information.

Links for more information.

Pink hibiscus mealybug was recently found north of Atlanta in suburban Forsyth County. An alert home gardener was curious about a difficult to control mealybug infestation on a tropical hibiscus in her landscape. She brought a sample to her County Extension office, which shared her suspicion that these might be pink hibiscus mealybug. Electronic images were relayed to the UGA Homeowner IPM Insect Diagnostic Clinic in Griffin. The ID technician concurred with the initial ID. University of Florida entomologists, who have worked extensively with this pest, quickly confirmed the specimens were indeed the pink hibiscus mealybug.

The offending pink hibiscus mealybugs likely came to north Georgia as a very low level infestation on tropical hibiscus from south Florida. Initially pink hibiscus mealybug injury may be hard to see but they reproduce rapidly with probably 5 to 6 generations a year in north Georgia. As populations grow, injury becomes strikingly evident. Infested plants are severely stunted and malformed, as if treated with an herbicide. The disfigured foliage is often covered with sticky liquid waste from the mealybug feeding, which supports growth of a black sooty mold fungus.

Pink hibiscus mealybugs are pinkish in color, and look similar to other Georgia mealybugs. The pink hibiscus mealybug has relatively little of the white wax that adorns the bodies of mealybugs. Infestations will often be noticeable from afar due to the numerous snow white egg sacs which look much like clusters of small q-tips on stems and foliage.

At this point we do not know if pink hibiscus mealybug will be able to survive winters in Atlanta or north Georgia. Pink hibiscus mealybug is a truly nasty pest, one that gardeners, landscape professionals and nurseries hope can be eradicated from Georgia.

Tommy Irvin, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture said “We can’t afford to have this imported pest damaging two of our major crops, peanuts and cotton; nor can we afford the potential losses to our horticulture industry as well as the damage it can inflict in home gardens,” “I encourage everyone to contact their county Extension office if they see one of these mealybugs and for nurseries and garden centers to contact our Plant Protection Office here at the Department of Agriculture if they see any. We must all work to keep this pest from becoming established in Georgia.”

What can be done?

• The most important response is to have all suspected mealybug infestations checked by the local County Extension office, or in the case of nurseries, by a Georgia Department of Agriculture plant inspector - (800) 282-5852.
• Cut samples of infested plants, being sure to get the white egg sacks and small pink mealybugs. Because immature mealybugs move on wind currents, it is important to place suspected infestations into sealed plastic bags for transport. Movement of samples in the back of open trucks would be especially ill advised.
• Plant destruction and replacement is often the best approach with pink hibiscus mealybug infesting plants in the home landscape. Cutting and double bagging or, where feasible, burning infested plant material is very often more efficient than fighting with difficult to clean up pests.

Please share this information with others in the landscape industry. For more information:

Call your local Extension Agent at (800) ASK-UGA1 or locate your local Extension Office

Georgia Department of Agriculture Plant Protection Division at (800) 282-5852

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