In article ,
landlubber wrote:

Hi, my first time of posting here, and I hope someone can help me.
I live in Spain, and have several established bouganvilleas, one of
which has some nasty little bugs. The plant as a whole looks as though
thick white fluffy paint has been thrown over it, but the stems are
becoming black and it is looking very sick. It is quickly being taken
over by this 'paint' which is in fact masses of very tiny little
white insects.
Help, what is it and what should I do about it, I am trying to cut the
worst of it back, but I think I should be using some chemicals to
eradicate it before it spreads to the rest of the garden. Any ideas
please about what I should be doing.
Regards, Landlubber

I am far far from being an expert. However, IF the bugs in Spain are the
same as in Michigan, the bugs might be mites or aphids. The white paint
are tiny eggs. They hatch and eat eat eat everything. Those bugs are not
just found on one type of plant or tree. Take a good look at all of the
plants or trees and see if they have those tiny white spots starting up.
Also ants just love aphids - the ants will come next.

I have had aphids on my ornamental trees and I used a product by BONIDE
called "All Seasons Spray Oil" it is a petroleum oil that is designed to
smother the eggs. It worked and my trees quickly recovered.

Some of the true experts are found in this newsgroup and are very
helpful. They may have a natural way of stopping the bugs. Also take a
small branch too the local green house for their advice. That is what I
did and found out about the little buggers.

Enjoy Life .... Dan

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Email "dan lehr at comcast dot net". Text only or goes to trash automatically.