Looks great. That is awesome it re-bloomed for you.

If the specs were red then you had red spider mites. Most all oils will take care of them. I used to use diluted fish oil and had great luck. I switched to neem because the FE can be rather stinky.

Mike

That's awesome Greg ! I've never seen a pic where it looks like that. Thanks for sharing it with us. Peg

Greg that's a gorgeous plant! Wow I love her both ways! I don't think I have seen Lava Flow that lovely before.

She's on my wish list but I was told by many that with my coastal temps I won't see Lava Flow bloom like yours. I'm tempted to get one anyway and hope that my microclimate is warmer than other coastal locations.

Some beautiful flowers indeed!

Aphids are larger and tend to eat on the tender ends of new growth. They love my roses. The spider mites are worse as they multiply like crazy and usually are on the bottom side of leaves. They suck out the interior of the leaves and will quickly weaken them. They are death on my green bean leaves and will kill the bean plant in a couple weeks if not treated. Supposedly Pro-Tekt will help protect against them piercing and sucking the leaf cells dry.

Thanks for your comments, all. I thought it was neat coloration and worth sharing. NC, I remember Bill commenting that LF never develops much depth of color in coastal Cali. It's a shame for you guys, 'cause it's a lovely one to have--compact growth, beautiful fragrance. Mike: awesome indeed. There's nothing more heartbreaking for us plumie freaks than to watch buds drop. This one dropped a lot. Sucked.

DelWH, I do use ProteKt religiously and am a big believer in its benefits, which are readily apparent (unlike many other products where you have to guess whether it's actually making a difference). I even stopped using neem oil earlier in the season because I had so few pests on my trees, due to the ProteKt, no doubt in my mind. As great a product as it is, however, it won't always prevent every harmful insect from dining on our leaves, and this infestation just slipped under my radar. I guess the blooms distracted me LOL. I still believe, though, that ProteKt can lessen the overall damage that occurs when sucking insects do set up shop.

Thanks also for the control tips. Mike, fish emulsion and I are NOT friends LOL...just...can't...but I like neem. Problem with it and other oils is that we can only use it once a week. I eventually settled on the water and Murphy's oil soap, because I can use it as much as I want, supplemented by neem here and there.

I think these proly are mites, not aphids, but, see my earlier comments...LOL

Take care, y'all.

Greg - those are beautiful flowers! Love the flow of the lava! :)

I can see spots on the leaves with the current flowers. Is that residual effects of your mite problem or just something benign?

Hopefully mine will bloom next year but I'm really counting on summer of 2014. Wow, that sounds like a long time! LOL

Gorgeous blooms!

Spider mites,whiteflies, aphids, they all thrive in our climate and can be a bugger to control. What surprises me is that they all seem to have their territory, the mites are only on the East side of the garden in back, whiteflies in the alley, aphids on the oleanders and hoyas. Mites are the worst, they love the heat and humidity. I do not use any pesticides, with the exception of neem oil and anything I can dump on fire ants, I usually leave the bugs alone unless a plant is just overwhelmed. I do release lady bugs every spring. :)

The leaves in the first pic look a bit anemic, that is one thing I keep an eye on, how does the foliage look? Normal bright green, does a plant with dark leaves suddenly have pale leaves?
Tally HO!

Mona,

Thanks- cool, isn't it? :-) I wonder why they don't show up more often. Those spots are benign, as far as I know. About half of my trees have them, the other half don't. I don't know if they're caused by the sun or what, but I could never connect a pest with one of those spots, not once. I've noticed that in "DIana's List" she notes that certain cultivars are more prone to spots than not.

I would add as a general observation that IMO it's nigh on impossible to get through the long subtropical growing season with flawless foliage--the leaves will take a knock or two.

Beachplant, yah, that foliage was showing the signs in the early pic. Just didn't really register until some damage was done--with 65 trees, I'm scrambling just to keep them watered! But you're absolutely right.

Anyway, thanks, you two--glad you enjoyed the pics.

G

I saw Lava Flow in person today and she is definitely gorgeous!! I also like her soft sweet scent too. So I'm totally going to get one for sure now!! Thank you for posting this Greg.

Always happy to enable, Lynn! Anytime. -G. :-)