I know this question has probably been asked more times than most of you care to answer, but I am having a problem with some kind of parasite (maybe more than one) on the stems of my dwarf Water Lotus plants. Can they be treated with Neem soap? Or would that harm the plants since the pesticide soap will drip/run down into the pots the lotus are in. Looks like I have a infestation of something sucking the life out of some of the beautiful leaves! Help!
One of the parasites looks like Barnacle Scale (Ceroplastes cirripediformis):
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4697/
And it looks like I also have something maybe called water lily aphids:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4896/
I would really appreciate any helpful suggestions for treating this awful infestation!
THANKS SO MUCH!!! :-)
I've never encounterd the scale but have done battle with the aphids on water lilys in the pond. First I tried a garlic based organic spray that was non toxic to fisc etc. It worked but they would come back over time and the spray stunk to high heaven.
Finally in desperation I climbed into the pond and sunk the lilys to the lowest part of the pond until they were completely totally submerged. I swished the leaves under water to help knock off the bugs and left the plants submerged for about for about 3 minutes. The bugs floated to the top of the water. It killed about 99% of them. I repeated this once more in about three days and that was it. No more aphids. Kind of drastic as I'm not fond of getting in the pond but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Funny, I had thought of that. But I don't have a pond. I grow water plants in pots. But I know that if I submerged them, the bugs would float off and drown.
Any other ideas since I can't do that?
Maybe an old barrell or garbage can? Or are they too large for that? Since these are in pots and you don't have fish and insecticidal soap would work. The link below has some real soild info on how they work.
http://www.livingwithbugs.com/soap.html
Aaaaaaccccccckkkkkkkk Becky!!! That is GROSS, DISGUSTING and ICKY!!! I hope whatever it is you get RID of it QUICK!!! LOL
I second the idea of getting something deeper like a garbage can and completely submerging the plants. That sounds like it has worked for others and is the "greenest" solution although anything short of Agent Orange would be acceptable for a mess like that! (JUST teasing you Becky!)
snapple45 - Unfortunately, the pots and the Lotus are just too big to pick up and dunk anywhere.
I was wondering about the insecticidal soap because I do not have any fish living in those pots. It is just a Lotus in each pot. I think that is why the one Lotus is smaller and not blooming. Those insects are doing a lot of damage to it! I shall try the soap and see if that doesn't eliminate the bugs! Thank you for the link!
Pat - :-P~~~~~~~ LOL!
Too big to pick up? or nothing big enough to submerge in??? Do your neighbors have a pool??? =P
LOL! I don't think my neighbors would appreciate all those bugs and dirt and yuck in their pool ... even if I could pick the pots up. LOL! They are way too heavy! I have some insecticidal soap so will spray them tomorrow and see if that doesn't help. I was just worried about how the soap would affect the plants since they are growing in water (and dirt). I'll stick some more fertilizer pellets in the dirt afterwards to give them a jump start. I really wanted to see blooms on both of them this year!
Here are some buds on the larger and healthier one.
And this is what it looks like further away. I just love these plants!!!!
In two weeks you'll have healthy plants again. Insecticidal soaps do work. Fertilizing is a good idea.
Thanks snapple45!
