Mealy bugs are the most serious and problematic pests of grapes in India. Nymphs and adults suck sap from the  tender shoots resulting in crinkling and stunting of the new shoots. They excrete honey on leaves and berries and  sooty mold develops on the honey. Mealy bug infected bunches are unfit for marketing. Yield losses can be up to 50  percent due to mealy bug damage.

Mealy bugs are hard-to-kill insects and the package of practices for their control in India is as follows:

• Avoid spraying broad-spectrum insecticides particularly synthetic pyrethroids.


• Spray only Dichlorvas at 0.1 percent mixed with Neem oil 0.2 Percent or Tridemorph at 0.1 percent.


• Release cryptolaemus montrozieri beetles at 8,000-10,000 per hectare when the berries start softening. It is better to release a mixed population of grubs and adults rather than only adults.