Hello,
I don't even know the name of this plant, but it had some very nice flowers that open during the day. I just noticed that they weren't opening, and when i looked closer i noticed that the plant is covered in this "white fluff". Now it seems to be expanding to other plants in my patio. Anyone knows what this is, and how to treat it?
Thanks!
I sure don't know what that white fluff is??? I'd say cut the infected parts off ASAP.
Can you post some closeups of the white stuff? I suspect it might be mealybugs or something along those lines rather than a fungus.
Looks like runaway mealy bug.
;)
could those be spider webs from spider mites?
When you touch the "fluffy stuff"does a bug fly out? It could be SM but it really doesn't look like it at least to me.
Lisa
I'm still leaning toward mealybugs--when you let them go and they get really bad they will look like that. Can't be sure without a closeup though.
Don't mealy bugs fly away when you touch the fluffy stuff?
I think you might be thinking of whitefly. Mealybugs don't move much so they won't fly anywhere if you touch the plant. (This doesn't look like a whitefly infestation to me)
If the plant is one you want to keep, use diluted Bayer's 3 in 1 systemic.
Otherwise get rid of it gently as to not knock off any critters on other plants.
I'd put in something like a plastic bag and put it in the trash.
Good luck.
;)
ecrane-I'm not thinking of whitefly, but I've noticed that fluffy stuff on shrubs and when I touched it a bug flew out. Oh well...
One dg member who's advice I respect said she was using hairspray to control infestations such as this.
I'm sure it stops any small insect in it's tracks. I would come back after half an hour later and rinse the plant off. I also would wait until plant isn't in direct sun.
;)
I agree with ecrane. It looks like a rampant mealybug (soft bodied scale) infestation
What I was think of but couldn't remember was Spittlebugs or Wholly Aphids.
Mealy bugs and Woolly Aphids are the same critter I think.
;)
Mealybugs and woolly aphids are different critters.
Mealybug: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1553/
Woolly aphid: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4503/
It's not spittlebugs either--I don't think they're usually out & about this time of year (at least around here they're around in spring/early summer), and they don't make huge messes like this. You'll find a little bit of spit on a plant here and there, but you don't wind up with a whole colony of spittlebugs all over a plant like this.
One other possibility here that also resembles mealybugs is cottony cushion scale http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4575/
I think we need a better pic to make a conclusive ID.
The only bugs I have ever seen are the ones called mealybug in those links.
However back 35 years ago in El Paso when mealybugs infected a huge coleus I had. Someone said OMG, you have woolly aphids. I figured they just had different names like so many other things in nature.
I'm glad we got this straightened out as I hate being wrong. LOL
;)
Well, the least I could have done was spelled it correctly Sh.. lol
Just to keep things from getting any more confusing, Cottony cushion scale and mealybugs are the same critter...according to the Entomology Dept at University of Florida.
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/fasulo/woodypest/scales.htm
LOL!!!!
To make things confusing again, UC Davis would disagree...guess the entomologists are as bad as the botanists on agreeing about what's what! They might agree that mealybugs are a type of scale, but UC Davis has mealybugs in a different genus than cottony cushion scale.
Cottony cushion scale: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7410.html
Mealybugs (a few different species): http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r280300711.html
I would tend to side with UC Davis (not just because I live in CA!) based on my experiences with controlling both of them in my greenhouse. Cottony cushion scale is not susceptible to imidacloprid (the systemic insecticide found in such things as Bayer 3-in-1) while mealybugs are. I can say from personal experience that I've had them both (they both seem to enjoy hibiscus in the wintertime in the greenhouse), and one has responded to imidacloprid and one hasn't.
Well,
The infestation spread fast to my star jazmines, and almost decimated my potted plants. I've been battling it for the past week with soapy water and neel oil. Only today i caught a good glimpse of the culprit...
It was indeed mealybugs.
Up until today i hadn't seen them. Maybe they were too buried or covered by their secretions/excretions.
Things were pretty out of control and i started chopping some branches of the jazmines, and that's were i saw them...
Mistery solved i guess....Thanks for all the help
.
Glad you got it figured out! Hope you're able to get them under control.
