hate to ruin these beautiful posts but??????

what is this on the buds of a hibiscus, please...not on the other hibs....and it is not on the back or the front of the leaves.....just on the buds..

Looks like aphids to me--they love my hibiscus too. I'd give them a good strong blast with the hose, that should get rid of most of them (they seem to love hibiscus though, you'll probably have to keep doing this from time to time since they may come back)

Will they spread to all my other plants? I have never seen this bug

You must be lucky if you've never seen aphids! They come in all sorts of colors, I find it hard to believe that you haven't run into one of the other ones by now, but if you haven't then you're really lucky! They will spread to other plants, but they take a fancy to certain ones and not to others, so my experience has been that they will be on the plant they like but never spread to any of the ones around it. Last year I had them all over my hibiscus, it was sitting right next to a Strelitzia, Allamanda, and Mandevilla and there was never one single aphid on any of the other plants even though they were so close that leaves were touching.

I believe you..............I have already separated that one out and put it on the east side of the house, sprayed it down and knocked the buds and flowers off......we will see if that works.....thank you so much!!

I really don't think you need to separate it--they can hop and I think fly as well, so if they liked any of the other plants near where this one was, they'd already be on them. They're not like spider mites where you have to quarantine or else they'll end up on almost everything, they're really quite picky.

thanks, ecrane3......

Aphids...all my Hibiscus get it, aphids LOVE hibiscus buds. I use a hose to spray them off. Murphys Oil Soap mixed with some water and placed in a water bottle with sprayer works good. Do that in the early morning only though. They slide off easily that way. I hate Aphids, can get pretty infested if you let them spread. I need to spray my Hibiscus once a week because of them. You are lucky if you have never seen them. Unfortunately, they are a part of my garden. I'm considering getting ladybugs to ease the spread of them. Ladybugs like to eat the aphids. Good luck getting rid of them.

what do you spray as I am thinking about getting a lot of pretty hibiscus....

I prefer the garden hose approach, and if you want to try ladybugs that's really the only way to go, other methods might hurt the ladybugs too. But if you aren't planning on the ladybugs and want chemicals, insecticidal soap works very well on them, or a little pinch of dish soap in water, or the Murphy's oil soap like Gardenladybug suggested.

LADYBUGS WILL GET RID OF THEM IN A FEW DAYS!!

Anyone know of a good place online that sells ladybugs? I have some in my plants, but they are not enough to rid my plants of aphids.

A lot of garden centers sell them, I think I've even seen them here at places like Home Depot. I'm sure there are mail order places too but you might try looking locally first.

I just received a shipment of lady bugs from here

http://www.growquest.com/ladybugs.htm

very happy and hungry little critters. I clipped off a heavily infested branch of an oleander and put it into the container.. a while later.. no aphids. Let them go in the yard and have happily munching ladybugs on my plants.

Just got them today so did not let all loose yet. Gave them a spray of water and branch full of aphids in each container. I bought enough for several releases and some for my parents yard. They will not all hang around but the ones that do will fill themselves then lay eggs which will produce more aphid eaters.

Tammie

thanks for the website...I am really going to try this............and now I can justify getting some of those awesome hibiscus from Johnsons' Nursery.............I posted pics about a week ago....to die for hibs

i also believe i read somewhere. u take yellow poster board paper cut it into a strip and cover it in vasaline. hang it close to ur plants and the aphids will get stuck to it. evidently they are attracted to the yellow. guess its kind of like homemade fly paper for aphids. I have also used a pestcide for trees/shrubs. its supposed to last a year. mix it, water the shrub and the plant takes it up thru the roots. it kind of makes the plant poisonous to the bugs that like to munch on it. ever since i used that i havent had to much problem with aphids or grasshoppers (they were devouring some of my hib). its not cheap but its well worth the money and it goes a long way. if u need the exact name let me know and ill look.

Yea, i think you are maybe talking about Advanced Bayer's Tree and Shrub...I have that.....thanks

Gessiegail,
Do some search on Ladybug bettles' larvaes. They're odd looking "tiny little aligators" like. So you won't be squirting them while you're waiting for the adult ladybugs' to come along.

yep thats it! bayer tree and shrub. the problem with the lady bugs i have found is they dont stick around to long.

I released lady bugs yesterday and there are still a lot of them around eating aphids... I noticed a lot of the aphids are gone too. The key is to get a few to hang around to lay eggs. Then you have captive aphid eaters until they mature into ladybugs. I can't wait to have them crawling around maintaining the plants. the key is to first spray everything down with a fine mist of water and release them in the evening... they will set up home overnight and be more prone to hang around. They are very thirsty after shipping and need the water. You should see them group around a single water drop. Funny

Tammie