MOORE HAVEN -- What happens to the farmers affects everyone in Glades County, Commissioner Jeffrey Patterson told his fellow commissioners at the board’s Aug. 11 meeting.

“This pasture mealy bug is killing Glades County right now,” said Patterson. “That’s why you see all this sugarcane that is brown and dead-looking on the side of the road.

“My worry as a county commissioner is that the harvest is going to be very light this year.

“We have farmers who may not be able to replant next year,” he continued. “That does not affect just that farm. That affects a whole lot of people who are in this room. There’s a lot of us who rely on them doing their job, in order for us to do our jobs.

 “If you’re in agricultural sales, if you own property, if you own a convenience store – whatever you do, you’re going to be touched in some way by it. There’s going to be a lot of belt-tightening with a lot of our constituents, and I think we need to follow suit.”

 Pasture mealybugs

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the pasture mealybug, Heliococcus summervillei Brookes, is a grass specialist insect pest that can severely affect pastures, hayfields, turfgrass and sugarcane. In October 2025, it was first reported in the continental United States in Texas and eventually spread eastward to Louisiana. In May 2026, pasture mealybug was detected in Florida for the first time, infesting fields of limpograss in St. Lucie County. 

As of June 2026, surveys have confirmed the mealybug's presence in Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Indian River, Lee, Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Okeechobee, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, St. Lucie and Sarasota counties. 

Mealybugs have long piercing-sucking mouthparts and may cause plant damage through direct feeding damage and by vectoring plant diseases.

Pasture mealybug can cause severe dieback of pastures and grasses, which poses a major risk to Florida’s pasture grass and sugarcane industries. The most damage has been found on limpograss and sugarcane, but bahiagrass, bermudagrass, crabgrass and other roadside grasses in Florida are also affected. There is a potential for turfgrass to be affected, but pasture mealybug has not yet been found infesting turf in Florida.

Symptoms can appear within a week of infestation and include:

• Yellowing that progresses to red or purple discoloration (primarily yellow in sugarcane and guinea grass)
• Plants that look drought-stressed even after rain
• Overall stunting and poor root development
• Eventual senescence of leaves and death of the grass

Identification

The pasture mealybug is oval shaped and has a fluffy, wool-like appearance with long, straight rods of iridescent opaque wax projecting from the body. Young mealybug nymphs and adult female mealybugs are a creamy white color, then turn pink after mating. Males turn pink ahead of pupation and remain pink in their winged adult form. They can most commonly be found feeding on the underside of grass blades. Adult females then move to the thatch or soil to reproduce. Pasture mealybug is unlikely to be found on non-grass host plants. 

If you suspect that your pasture, turf or sugarcane field is showing signs of a pasture mealybug infestation, submit a sample to DPI’s Entomology section for identification or contact the DPI Helpline at 1-888-397-1517 or DPIHelpline@FDACS.gov.