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hibiscus909

getting buggy

9 years ago

I like to check my plants for pests at night, as well as daytime.

Found a slug closing in on a lime flower, easily picked him off. But in doing so, I brushed the foliage and a bunch of white stuff flew off. I rarely see whiteflies outside, so I was surprised. They were easier to see at night with the light.

I am also surprised to keep finding katydids on the citrus. Again, a light brush of the leaves is an easy way to find them, but then they fly off and you can't smoosh them.

I also found this weird stuff on undersides of leaves. I figured it was an egg mass, but very strange looking. Like a row of threads with a white dot. Well, tonight I caught the culprit: lacewings! I've got quite a few leaves with the egg masses.

Unfortunately, the whiteflies are so prolific that I need to spray with something...plus, I probably have a fungal issue on the leaves. Water sprays do not control whitefly, and probably just spreads the fungi around.

Per John's recent comments about neem, I did some digging, and have found documentation that neem does have sub-lethal effect on lacewings :( Despite what the product labels state.

So what else can I use for pest and fungal control?


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