I was moving the plants out of the way so that we could remove a an old broken section of the wall when I noticed this:
Completely shrunken leaves and the plant loose in the pot, meaning that the roots were all gone. There's only one possible conclusion to draw from that - root mealiebugs, a particular type of aphid that are farmed by ants. The ants tunnel into the soil and carry the bugs to the roots because they collect the honeydew exuded by the aphids as they suck on the roots.
Huge and fat and not much left of the roots....
But this aloe is far from dead and has started making new roots so all is not lost.
I removed all the large aphids and sprayed the roots with mercaptathion and repotted the aloe in soil with fresh compost and a dose of imidaclodaprid granules. It is a systemic insecticide so any aphids that hatch out to suck on the roots will die and that should curb the population. It's autumn so I expect to aloe to recover quickly, it's amazing how quickly they bounce back once the sap-suckers are gone from their roots.
First posted here on my blog in WeKu
Very interesting. Ants suck aphids. Aphids eat roots. Ants carry aphids to the roots.
Such a complex circuit in nature.
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Looked so thin at first an hard for a know, but I guess (after seeing others too) the harm on its roots won't affect it much when it lands on a fresh ground.
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Takes a lot to do these guys in.. seems this one was hanging on, waiting to get saved by @nikv :-)
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Aloes are incredibly tough
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Oh...
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Another victim of ant beer.
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They do bounce back quickly once treated, that's the beauty of succulents
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I hope we don’t have these in Thailand!!
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They are everywhere
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