Just a few days ago, my Hummingbird Sage was beautiful with no blight of any type. This morning I noticed these little light blemishes on almost every leaf. Other plants in my garden have had similar recently. I don't know if these photos will show it clearly enough. Any suggestions on what to try would be appreciated.
Can you rub it off, do you see any webbing?
It looks like whitefly or spider mites. Shake the plant and see if there is a cloud of white little gnat sized flies. Look at the underside of the leaves for them.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7401.html
For the mites, you might see some miniscule spiders drop from the plant surface if you shake the plant. You might see small webbing at the crotches between the main stem and the branches.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7405.html
Then there are mites you can't see so bring a sample to your extension center and let them look under a microscope.
It is important to check for these pests when you visit a nursery. They often infect greenhouses and as you say, they spread to other plants quickly with a broad range of hosts.
I'm think spider mites too but we've had soooo much rain that mildew could be a problem. I've seen webbing covering the entire plant.
DNP-you may want to post this on the Texas forum, given the crazy amount of rain we've had somebody else may also have the problem.
That could be. If it is powdery mildew, you would be able to wipe some of the white off but the pattern as I can tell by the photos, looks like a sucking insect. You mention other plants in the garden are affected. What are the other plants?
