Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Wooly Aphids


You know how in my last blog post I said that I had only one lemon plant that's kinda doing okay? Well, the other day while I was doing my inspection of the plant I noticed these aphids. I'm not sure, but the closest thing that I could find online that looked similar to them were called Wooly Aphids. 

When I first saw them I thought, "No no no no no!" Then I thought, "Hey they look kinda cool."  So I ran into the house and grabbed my camera . . . plus that new monopod that I just got. 

They're actually very tiny . . . maybe 1/4"wide.

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After I was done taking the pictures, I scraped the aphids off.  And then yesterday I went and bought some bug spray and sprayed the plant. 

17 comments:

Leslie's pics said...

ewwww. they're kinda creeeepy!

jalna said...

Like alien life form yah, Les!

Anonymous said...

Have you tried a systemic pest control? My boss told me about a fruit and vegetable liquid pesticide manufactured by Bayer that you use only once a year. I have a dekopon (sumo) orange that I planted from a seed I found several years ago. It was doing great until a couple of months ago when all the new leaves were curling and stunted. There were tiny bugs under all those leaves. I mixed a little of the systemic pesticide with water and now, all the new leaves are normal again! Since it is in a 5 gallon pot, it takes very little, maybe 1 oz?
My boss also buys the regular one for trees and shrubs. He was bringing gorgeous bunches of gardenias to the office with not a single black bug on them.
v

jalna said...

V, I have tried that! I used it when the citrus leaf miner attacked my plant. I couldn't find any of my pesticides the other day . . . maybe Wendell threw them away. I'll get that systemic one next time if this spray doesn't work. Thanks for reminding me! Good luck with your dekopan!!!

Honolulu Aunty said...

Really great pictures, glad you took them, and good you killed them - make, die, dead!
I will look into the systemic pest control - maybe for my flowers but not sure if I want to put it on my veggies or edibles.
Dang bugs. Maybe I need a chicken...

Unknown said...

Lots of people use a mix of dishwashing detergent and water to spray plants (including gardenias) when they're attacked by whatever. We use that in the house to spray flies. Couple of squirts, and the flies are down!!!

jalna said...

LOL "chicken", Aunty. If I had some actual lemons growing, I don't think I'd use the systemic pesticide, but it did work great when I had problems with the citrus leaf miner.

Thanks Lorna! I just happened to trap a fly when I closed a window before I left for work today. When I go home, I'll shoot it with detergent water from the outside.

Kay said...

They are truly interesting looking for sure, but I'll bet they'd send a shiver up Art's spine. We have a lot of lemon trees and if the aphids start coming, it would not be fun.

K and S said...

whoa?! ditto what Lorna said, I use it instead of spray to keep the plants organic :)

jalna said...

First time seeing those weird-looking ones, Kay.

I totally blasted the pesticide on, Kat. So unorganic!

Mark Shelby said...

I don't ever remember seeing those in Hawaii. Those are really weird! Remember when we had the white flies? They said to use a water bottle spray mixture of dish washing soap and water. This, if you did not want to contaminate your crop with poison. I wonder if soap and water would work on these Hairy Mustache Monsters? They are really Creepy! UGH! Good pics as always though! ; )

Susan said...

I had goosebumps and the hairs at the back of my neck were standing when I saw these! Ewwww eww eww

jalna said...

There are still some residual left, Mark. I'm gonna do the dish washing soap method on those.

LOL, Susan!!!

mmiissee said...

Yikes! They look scary and weird. I hope they dont fly.

DNakamaru said...

very weird! but neat!

Mark Shelby said...

Jalna, did you have time to try the soapy water yet? Any results?

jalna said...

First time to see um, Mmissee. They don't fly . . . they're pretty much stuck on the branch.

I agree, Dean!

No, Mark, I didn't try yet. I pretty much eradicated them all. But I'm pretty sure got small babies left. I'll use the soapy water on them when they start to appear.