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Mon, Feb 9, 09 at 9:33
| I have two clumps of Fargesia robusta that have some sort of mealy bug, scale or other homopteran insect pest. They form a thick white waxy coating and are reddish when I squish them. I noticed just a few on one plant last year but ants were tending them and they are now all over both plants, probably thanks to the ants. I really, really hate to use pesticides in my garden; is there any hope of effective treatment that doesn't use pesticides, otherwise something with low toxicity? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I don't know what it is that you have but, I think it's aphids cause they secrete a sugary substance and I think that's what killed my phyllostachys nigra, the sugar substance attracts the ants and I could not get rid of it. The plant lost most of it's leaves and I thought it was going to make a comeback. Some of the leaves came back but it later died no shoots ever from this plant. I had the plant for two years, I think it had this when I bought it but not sure I was a newbie then. |
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| I did a bit of research and think what I have is a kind of wax scale. Still trying to figure out what species, and how to control |
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| Scale can be difficult to eliminate. Here's some info I found. Of course if your scale is a different species, this may not apply. With any scale, hit the crawlers. |
Here is a link that might be useful: scale
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| As mentioned at the last link provided if you aren't going to watch for the crawlers and spray those then you are left with hand picking the adults and crushing them. |
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| I took another look and I'm still not entirely certain what it is. It might be a kind of mealy bug but if so it produces a heavy waxy coating. That might just be their winter protection. I hope this didn't come from a nearby Miscanthus, which had a serious mealy bug problem, to the point that I finally just cut it down and kept cutting it until it died (too much trouble to dig it out!). |
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