Eggs? What are they?

I have found hundreds of these on lots of stuff. Let me say first that they are NOT mealie bugs. I think these are egg sacs of some sort, they are full of little yellow "beads" that look like bug eggs encased in this silky/sticky casing. I have searched the plants from top to bottom and found no mealie bugs, no bugs of any kind except for a few soft green scales. What are these and how do I get rid of them? So far they are on Brugmansia, Gliricidia, Cestrum Nocturnum, Hibiscus acetosella and Clitoria ternatea. They are mostly under the leaves but occaisonally on the top of a leaf and rarely on a stem. I've been picking the leaves off and bagging them for the garbage.

Another shot, same leaf.

After tearing open the silky case

I know what these are now, they are scale. Soft bodied, green in color.

did you need or want the name of this scale? i would post it now except it is written on an inside cover of one of my books and i don't know which at the moment. i had these covering alot of my plants in the keys. a county extension man came out and ided it for me along with some others. these things are really nasty, aren't they? let me know and i will hunt it down. debi

Not important for the name, but I'd sure like to know how to kill them! They are horrible and just pop up here and there.

it was making me crazy so i hunted around and found the name. unfortunately, he didn't take samples like he did on some others so i didn't get an official printout from the county. he didn't seem to think it was a big deal and called it "filaphedra" as he was wandering thru the garden. obviously that's not the right spelling and i can't find anything even close. i wrote to someone from the state yesterday to find a correct id.

in answer to your question: once i had them (they started on a neighbor's night-blooming jasmine and travelled over to my yard) i never could really get rid of them. i cut several plants to the ground, but at certain times of the year, middle of hot, hot summer, they would appear again. not near as insidious as some. the white peach scale (i think they've lumped oleander scale with this now) is far more deadly and killed many of my plants. and it's hard to see until it's too late.

i know this isn't any help to you but if i find out what the correct name is i will be able to ask what they recommend for control. in the mean time i am using neem for stuff around here, with mixed results. debi

Going by your 3rd pic, it looks pretty much what I had in the spring.
Here is a link to the forum of the pesty bug that I had.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/526807/

Here's a link for identifications:
HYPERLINK@bugguide.net

Hopes this helps anyone who is looking for the name!

No, the white fuzzy part is not a bug, it never moves. It is an egg sac of some kind. When I tear it apart and look under a microscope, it is full of teeny round pink eggs.

I see holes in your leaves which sort of leads me to believe that what ever critter you have, it is feeding on the leaves. Normally I leave things alone until I can figure out what I have but I don't think I would given what you have described because cutting plants down to the ground and repeatedly removing leaves isn't the answer as you are depriving your plants of their ability to photosynthesize which in the long run is going to destroy them or stress them to the extent that other critters will attack them.

What you have doesn't look like scale to me either for what that's worth.

If it were me, I'd go with wettable/powdered Othene. I am too darn tired to look up the link to a supplier but Pixiedish just bought some and she'll have the link if you want to contact her. I believe the product is either distributed or manufactured by Valent. I'm also too tired to walk out into the garage and look at the label on my container.

This may be the best way for you to go because it is a systemic. The Orthene poses little risk to plants if used according to the labeling and should wipe out both insects and mites that attempt to feed on either the foliage or the roots of your plants. Yes, Orthene will also take care of that wonderful little introduction from China the White Peach Scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona) as well as good old common Aphids too. Orthene will also take care of Mealybug scales (Diaspididae- the armored scales & Coccidae- the soft scales). You need to add a little bit of Dawn dishwashing detergent to break down the outer armor of the Diaspididae.

The Orthene is cheap enough. You might want to consider giving your neighbor a gift of some wettable Orthene. If you choose to go the Orthene route and want to know how I use it, just post here or D-Mail me.

Best wishes to you

I felt guilt and did an Internet search for the Orthene-

http://www.growersupply.com/orthene.html

Well worth its weight in gold in my opinion. This product works much the same way those Hartz flea drops do. The flea feeds on your pet and dies. But, it has to feed. The Orthene will be taken up into the plant and should easily last quite a while to continue killing off the ickies and nasties trying to eat your pretties.

I may have some Orthene. I'll give it a try.
The Merit seems to finally be making a dent in their population.

If you used Merit... hold off for quite a bit. Merit has been pulled from the retail market for several good reasons.

What is the density of the pest on a given plant? If not too dense can't you just clip the leaves off that are infested?

Joseph


This message was edited Nov 19, 2005 8:03 PM

NO, these are infested. I found a night blooming jasmine branch. I think I have the life cycle figured out:
1} little flat grey things
2}little slightly raised dark yellow things
3}fat green scale like creatures that are very juicy when you squish them.
4}the green scale grows white fuzz like covering
5}the white thing lays eggs or turns into something full of eggs
6}after the eggs hatch, the fuzz disappears leaving behind a brown empty scale like shell.

Do you see lady bugs in the garden? They feed on these types of pests. If the plants aren't suffering too much maybe try to attract more of the predator beetles into your garden? I think there are pheromone lures you can use to bring the beneficial insects to your garden, might be worth a try?

We have all kinds of predator bugs in the garden, that's why I'm very careful with pestacides. We have lady bugs, lace wings, praying mantis and wheel bugs. There are just too many of these bugs. I have been cutting off and burning the infested parts most of the summer, but that's not working. I've also gone thru the garden picking off really infested leaves and squishing the bugs and spraying with alcohol or pyrethrum. I finally got out the Merit(imidicloprid), it made a dent in them, but it may not be as effective now because the plants are not in an active growth cycle because it is fall.

Merit is systemic just as Orthene is although Orthene can nail insects and mites that feed on your plants. Any product with Pyrethrum as the active ingredient is going to also nail your beneficial bugs, it's not all that discriminatory. You were a very doting plant Mommy and have done all that you can for right now because as you noted, your plants are no longer actively growing.

Just a thought but you have beaten back some of these little buggers quite well with the Merit. Why not wait until winter is over and use the wettable Orthene and do a soil drench this coming spring? Your plants are stressed and will be vulnerable to other types of infestations so if you are going to go for a product that is systemic, you might want to seriously consider going for one that is going to get both insects and mites as I get this little voice that tells me your plants will be quite susceptible to secondary and tirtiary infections.

Poor you! Try to hang in there and don't think about these hideous little plant munchers for a little bit. Enjoy the up and coming holidays and prepare yourself for battle the end of winter. I suspect you will be victorious even if you don't know what the enemy is.

Thanks. I guess for now I'll just keep squishing them. I think in the spring will be a good clean up time. I will be cutting some of the plants back anyway and can see the infested parts easier.