Sorry for the awful pics, I didn't have my camera, so I used my phone.
They are about the same size and shape of a grain of rice with dark spot on the head.
Are these plumeria borers?
Well, I suppose they could be. The larvae kind of meet that description, but I don't think they would be on the leaves if they were borer larvae. I would take a better picture and send it to Dr. Richard Criley at the University of Hawaii for his opinion. I'll find his email address for you. Dmail me so I don't forget.
White flies?
It's at my mom's, I'll try to get a better picture today.
She says they were mostly on the leaves and she sprayed them with a soap solution. When I took those pictures yesterday most of them seemed to be dead.
Yes, they could be whiteflies. It's hard to tell from the pics. If they fly, then they are definitely whiteflies. I have the little ones here -- there are the giant ones too -- and the soap solution does work well on them. They tend to lay eggs in a circular motion so you would see round swirls underneath the leaves.
too big for white flies...try mealy bugs. like white specks of "cotton" on leaves...
I didn't get over to my mom's yesterday, but I'm going over there in a few minutes.
Some things I left out of my first post. They're worms. Not cottony at all that I can remember.
I'll be back :)
Detes correct way too big for whitefly...maybe maggots. Was there anything rotting in the pot?
Davie
This is what a plumie borer looks like. Sorry pic is a little fuzzy.
The last grub shown here looks like a japanese beetle grub
I guess grubs can be somewhat generic in appearance lol!!
It came straight out of a plumie.
Oh theres no disputing from me here
Just an observation on the grubs appearence.
Ive had my share of grubs in plumies, some looked like mealyworms others like yours.
Whatever it is it doesnt belong in a plumie lol!! kIll IT!!!
You know there might be two issues here that are worth investigating. There are the larvae of the borer beetles, which are destructive for sure and eat live tissue, but then there also might be grubs that feed on dead cell tissue or rather tissue that is already dead. Either way, I wouldn't take any chances and would get rid of anything suspicious.
I finally remembered to take my camera with me.
Here is my mom's poor plumeria now :( She thinks her soap treatment defoliated it. But there's new growth on it so all is not lost, I think.
Here's a close up of the grubs. Not much better than the first ones I'm afraid. They're all dead now and just look like dried up husks.
I'm fairly convinced they came out of the soil, the plant itself doesn't look like it's had much if any damage from the bugs.
Not sure what the bugs are. They don't really look like the mealies that I get sometimes.
About the soil, that container has a built in catch tray, which means that drainage is poor and that the plumeria is sitting in soil that stays too wet, which will lead to a plumeria's decline quickly. I would remove the catch tray and make sure that there are several drain holes at the bottom from which water can drain freely. If the whole pot itself is on a mover, make sure that the drain holes are not blocked by the mover. It's possible that the plumeria is rotting, and those grubs are just eating dead tissue. Any plumeria that sits in water for too long will eventually rot.
yeah, still kind of hard to tell. oh well, guess you don't have to worry about them anymore if they are dead.
Thank you all for your help. I'll pass along the info about the pot to her.
I've seen mealy bugs that large, although not on my plumeras. They were on my Spicey jatropa. Mild insecticidal soap defoliage my plants. So I'm very careful using them on my garden.