What is this White stuff & where did it come from ???

it is only on 3 yellow bush Daisys Euryops Sonnenachoens
it is in the crotch of every branch on all 3 plants
it is not on any other plant
it is very cottony like, maybe a little spongie
the plants seem healthy

Dick Strever

It looks like mealy bugs. Remove with a Qtip dipped in rubbing alcohol. Be sure you remove all the white stuff. Then keep a careful watch for any returns. These critters are hard to eliminate completely once they get a toehold.

Hate to say it but your infestation of mealies already looks rather heavy and the use of rubbing alcohol on these heavy infestations will be a long tedious battle.
If you don't mind the use of pesticide, use Malathion spray (mix as indicated) every 5 days for 3 applications. Also spray surface of soil as they can hide within it. Heavy infestations can cause stunting of growth and may cause secondary bacterial/viral/mold infections of your plant.
Also search this forum for mealies as there are many threads in here about these critters.

Milan

thanks LL & PC
i thought it was mealy bugs also
i have had mealy bugs elsewhere in the past
but i have never found single creepy crawler on these plants
only the cotton at the branching
but i sprayed safer insectalcidal soap anyway
it seemed to melt the cotton a little making white soapy liquid run down the plants, but didn't do away with it
still not sure what is going on here
i have done more damage to the plant then the ???
by cutting branches off to see closer :-)

thanks again
Dick Strever

I had the same thing on my Esperanza this year. I was told by a Master Gardener in my area that it was Wooly Aphids.

Update

after a google image search, the only thing close was Apple wooly Aphids.
data indicated there also is an Elm wooly.
it does not make sense that what i have is a tree foe.
i eliminated all but one plant, they were no longer looking good
in my garden after the physical damage i had done to them.
the one plant after 2 months looks no different & i moniter closely.?
i plan to eliminate it also soon
i am still not real sure what i had/have

Dick

Does this look like what you have? I finally found out what it was after it had destroyed my Portulaca
Pati

http://www.greengardener.co.uk/mealy.htm

Patischell

i never saw a live critter on the plants only the cotton at the branching
i'm guessing it was woolly aphids & i got rid of them
i have eliminated the plants & replaced them with others
so i still do not know for sure
but thanks for the link

Dick

Glad you got it resolved. I'm doing a daily inspection of all my other plants hoping it hasn't spread. I container garden only so I can isolate pretty easily. Everything is looking tired and sad now because of the heat. I'm really looking forward to new plants in our "spring" in October.
Pati