Home Garden Advice From the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
MGCC's Help Desk Response: Thank you for your request to our Help Desk.
It appears that your pest is a mealybug. Mealybugs (Pseudococcus longispinus) are small, pale insects, related to scales. They are about ⅛ to ¼ inch long and move very sluggishly. The adult females cover themselves and their eggs with a white, waxy material, making them look cottony. Mealybugs are most commonly found on the lower surfaces of leaves and in leaf axils (where the leaf attaches to the stem). They suck plant sap, causing stunted and distorted growth and sometimes plant death.
You will want to immediately separate the affected plants from all your other plants and carefully examine your those plants in case they are also infested to make sure you get rid of the problem!. In some instances, because of the time and effort to rid your plant(s) of mealybugs, you might want to consider destroying and/or disposing of your replaceable plants so that they don't become continuing source of mealybugs.
Here is a link to more information and treatment recommendations for mealybugs:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74174.html
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/INVERT/mealybugs.html
Please let us know if you have any additional questions!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SLH)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).