Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
[IBC] Insect attack (was: [IBC] Need help with problem)
"James Harris" wrote in message
... Hello All, I have noticed lately on several of my Ficus trees there is a shiny, sticky substance on some of the leaves. It looks a little like someone spilled syrup on the leaf and didn't wipe all of it off. It looks to be slowly spreading to other leaves on the tree. I have been keeping an eye on them and looking for any type of insect. Last night I found a very small bug, which has a hard shiny brown shell. I took it off and killed it. I found only one. It's probably scale. I had the same problem a couple of years ago. Given a little more time, you may discover untold numbers of those small bugs on your tree like I did. On the advice of these fine people here on rec.arts.bonsai, I took them out of my indoor greenhouse, sprayed with a hose to wash-off all the bugs and sticky-stuff, and then sprayed with horticultural oil. You may find that the leaves with the sticky stuff on them develope black spots. Mine did, but they all recovered. We're spreading some potentially misleading information here, folks. The shiny, sticky substance on the Ficus' leaves is most likely honeydew. It is a SYMPTOM that you have any of several sucking insects (critters that stick mouthparts into the bark and suck away the tree's juices). Back to honeydew in a moment. It can be caused by white fly, lace bugs, aphids, and possibly scale (though I have never seen honeydew with scale, my books say it occurs with the varieties called "soft scale"). There may be other insects that make it, too. (?) There are (or seem to be) a gazillion species of each of those insect groups; some pick on specific kinds of plants, others eat around. All are "sucking insects." (Other sucking insects include spider mites, thrips, and the "true bugs -- stink bugs and their ilk. None of these last are associated with honeydew -- that I know of.) The largest producer of honeydew are the immature stages of whiteflies. The problem with honeydew is the formation of sooty mold -- a black fungus that grows in and on the honeydew. It is mostly ugly, but it can be the carrier of viruses or bacterial diseases. It also attracts ants, which don't in and of themselves hurt plants, but which tend to "herd" honeydew-producing insects, concentrating them so they can produce more honeydew. It is easily washed off leaves with soapy water (perhaps the same soap spray you use on the sucking insects that cause the problem). White fly, lace bugs and aphids can be controlled with a soap spray (Carl's recipe or a concoction you can buy at a garden center), a light horticultural oil, also available commercially (but keep your trees away from full sun for several days -- just in case), or a pyrethrum spray, which is MY current preference. There are several on the market. The pyrethrum spray is the only one which will do anything to adult scale -- and even it isn't too effective, at least not against the hard scales which hide under a waxy coating. I dunno about the other scale. The best solution for scale is "hand" picking and squishing. Aphids, too, for that matter (mostly messy squishing). White fly can be controlled with yellow sticky traps, ugly little squares of sticky yellow paper that you scatter around. Anyway . . . just wanted to indicate that it may NOT be scale, especially if there is a significant amount of honeydew present. ALL of these are much worse on trees kept indoors. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry David Thoreau - Walden ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Evergreen Gardenworks++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Help! Need insect ID on pines and hemlocks. | Gardening | |||
Grass/Crabgrass - need plan of attack | Gardening | |||
new juniper - stressed - need help with plan of attack | Bonsai | |||
[IBC] new juniper - stressed - need help with plan of attack | Bonsai | |||
Dracaena marginata (indoor) - White insect attack | Gardening |