I've got a hanging basket with Wave Petunias from a nursery.

I noticed this year that the petunias are sticky--like from sap(one
they are secreting). When I dead head them the dead flowers all stick
to the sap all over my fingers. I don't know if that was always true
of petunia. I don't recall that on last year's wave petunias from
seed.

There are little white things stuck all over the leaves & stems. I
thought they were a really bad infestation of some tiny bug, but none
of them move. Now I realize they are dead bugs stuck to the leaves.
Closer examination and I found the live green ones, less than 1/16 of
an inch long. They cluster with young on the underside of the flowers.
Looks like many, many of them have died in the sticky leaves and
stems.

I don't have my camera this week so I tried scanning a leaf--poor
resolution--but here's as close as I can get.
http://members.aol.com/digitalvinyl66/petuniabugs.jpg

I hadn't heard of any pests for petunias. Anyone familar with this?
The petunias are very full so they may be getting too crowded and
encouraging the bugs.

http://members.aol.com/digitalvinyl6...2004-06-17.jpg


Also the Blue Wave (a purple) have
splashes of white developing on them--as if I spilled bleach on them.
?Any ideas why?

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://members.aol.com/DigitalVinyl66/Garden2004.html

They're just aphids... didn't recall that sticky leaves were a sign of
the buggers. Last year I had black aphids on my Nasturtiums--I recall
them being more rounded last year--unless I mistook those for aphids.

DigitalVinyl wrote:

I've got a hanging basket with Wave Petunias from a nursery.

I noticed this year that the petunias are sticky--like from sap(one
they are secreting). When I dead head them the dead flowers all stick
to the sap all over my fingers. I don't know if that was always true
of petunia. I don't recall that on last year's wave petunias from
seed.

There are little white things stuck all over the leaves & stems. I
thought they were a really bad infestation of some tiny bug, but none
of them move. Now I realize they are dead bugs stuck to the leaves.
Closer examination and I found the live green ones, less than 1/16 of
an inch long. They cluster with young on the underside of the flowers.
Looks like many, many of them have died in the sticky leaves and
stems.

I don't have my camera this week so I tried scanning a leaf--poor
resolution--but here's as close as I can get.
http://members.aol.com/digitalvinyl66/petuniabugs.jpg

I hadn't heard of any pests for petunias. Anyone familar with this?
The petunias are very full so they may be getting too crowded and
encouraging the bugs.

http://members.aol.com/digitalvinyl6...2004-06-17.jpg


Also the Blue Wave (a purple) have
splashes of white developing on them--as if I spilled bleach on them.
?Any ideas why?

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://members.aol.com/DigitalVinyl66/Garden2004.html

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://members.aol.com/DigitalVinyl66/Garden2004.html

I noticed this year that the petunias are sticky--like from sap(one
they are secreting). When I dead head them the dead flowers all stick
to the sap all over my fingers. I don't know if that was always true
of petunia. I don't recall that on last year's wave petunias from
seed.
I'm curious to see what answers you get because I had a similar experience with
my wave petunias, although I don't think it was a heavy aphid infestation. I
had one that just dripped with sap, but it was healthy as hell and kept
producing flowers until November.(and I'm in zone 3)
Dora2

ospam (Bungadora) wrote:

I noticed this year that the petunias are sticky--like from sap(one
they are secreting). When I dead head them the dead flowers all stick
to the sap all over my fingers. I don't know if that was always true
of petunia. I don't recall that on last year's wave petunias from
seed.

I'm curious to see what answers you get because I had a similar experience with
my wave petunias, although I don't think it was a heavy aphid infestation. I
had one that just dripped with sap, but it was healthy as hell and kept
producing flowers until November.(and I'm in zone 3)
Dora2

Mine is also very healthy otherwise. The purple ones are getting so
heavy they are hanging down low. The basket has vanished underneath
them and it is flowering heavily. The leaves are not curling, which is
a sign that the Aphid's secretions into the plant have reached high
levels.

Sticky leaves is a symptom of aphid infestation. The bugs are pretty
tiny and you've got to really look for them. They usually are on the
lowest underside of the flowers on mine. The little corpses stuck to
all the leaves is strange. My ASSUMPTION is they get stuck in the sap,
which is apparently leftover from them sucking too much out of the
plant. Why would a bug cause a sap that it becomes stuck in and die.
Not very Darwin of it.

Here's one article about them...
http://www.treesforyou.org/Planting/...ngs_sticky.htm

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
2nd year gardener
http://members.aol.com/DigitalVinyl66/Garden2004.html

DigitalVinyl


Mine is also very healthy otherwise. The purple ones are getting so
heavy they are hanging down low. The basket has vanished underneath
them and it is flowering heavily. The leaves are not curling, which is
a sign that the Aphid's secretions into the plant have reached high
levels.

Sticky leaves is a symptom of aphid infestation. The bugs are pretty
tiny and you've got to really look for them. They usually are on the
lowest underside of the flowers on mine. The little corpses stuck to
all the leaves is strange. My ASSUMPTION is they get stuck in the sap,
which is apparently leftover from them sucking too much out of the
plant. Why would a bug cause a sap that it becomes stuck in and die.
Not very Darwin of it.

Here's one article about them...

http://www.treesforyou.org/Planting/...ts/aphids_make
_things_sticky.htm

Thanks for the article. I always assumed stickiness was just something that
particular plant did, because unlike you I never saw insects stuck in the sap.
It was in a very hot location, and therefore often went a bit dry, but was
quite healthy until the end even considering it lived through a few frosts. To
tell the truth I stopped watering it. (sigh) I felt like a murderer. I forget
the name of the hybrid. I just wrote down 'double plum vein' in my notes.

Dora