anyone having problems with bay tree, Laurus nobilis?

13 years ago

I recently learned about a bay tree in Multnomah County (Oregon) with many affected leaves. One side of the leaf is rolled tightly, very small bugs are under the roll, and the tree has lots of sticky honeydew. It's called the bay sucker and has the technical name of Trioza alacris.

As it turns out, this pest is new to the NW and the agricultural departments of both WA & OR want to document where it is.

This link goes to a site -- not in the US -- with good images and text.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=505

If you or anyone you know has the pest, please respond here so that we can help the Agriculture Departments track this pest.

Or contact your own State Department of Agriculture. Send good images of the damage on your tree along with contact information -- name, address, & phone. They may ask for live samples of the affected leaves to verify the creatures' identity.

Here is a link that might be useful: info about the bay sucker

Comment (1)

briergardener_gw
13 years ago
Hm, i did not know that this bug is new to NW. I am having this "guest" in my garden for the third year.
I sprayed my tree with neem oil, did not help. Sprayed with garlic oil, did not help. Now i am using water (jet) and will remove all affected leaves (well, not easy, my tree is higher than i and i hate climbing up). Don't want to use stronger things because i am using leaves for foood.

Not sure why, but my garden gets all "new" in NW things. I got spotted wing drosofilla last year, this bay sucker, what else is new? Maybe it's already in my garden :>

I think my garden is a heaven for good bugs, plenty of flowering dill, pasley and so on, bees are everywhere, no bad sprays, mint and garlic everywhere but bad bugs are laughing and eating what they want. This year i was late to cover black current as i usually do. Every berry got a worm inside. SWD enjoyed my cherries and raspberries. I have full traps of these flies and still more than half of raspberries are bad.

Very soon i will be growing only veggies (competing with slugs of course).
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