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tarheel10_gw

Fake lemongrass?

tarheel10
10 years ago

Hi,
I recently ordered a lemongrass plant. When it arrived, I broke off a bit and smelled it; it smelled like citronella. So I planted it.

Today (about a week and a half post-planting) I went out to water it and found four Two-Lined Spittlebugs feasting on the plant. The internet tells me that Spittlebugs eat various types of grass, but I've never seen them in the yard or in any other of my plants. They seem to just eat the lemongrass.

So it seems like there are two possibilities. Either lemongrass's pest-repelling power has been greatly exaggerated (it seems to be ATTRACTING pests in this case), or I've been sold fake lemongrass.

I'm leaning toward the second option, because I can't find a single mention online of Spittlebugs being a problem for lemongrass, whereas I have no idea how to tell lemongrass from some other type of aromatic grass.

Does anyone know a surefire way to tell whether lemongrass is real?

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