Agriculture Department

Chesapeake Master Gardener Tips

May 2000

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Chesapeake Office

GOING BUGGY ABOUT BUGS

With the warm weather and lots of rain, everything in the garden is growing; unfortunately, this also includes bugs. And many of them are not pleasant inhabitants in the garden. Our first reaction is to grab the bug spray; any bug spray and blow those bugs away.

BUT BEFORE YOU START SPRAYING, take a deep breath and consider some safety precautions and maybe some alternatives:

• Not all insects are bad insects. There are many good insects, such as Ladybugs, that destroy the bad insects. Also, remember that bees and butterflies are insects, too; insecticides really don't distinguish between the good and the bad. You need to identify the insect, is it bad or good? Do you need to use an insecticide or can you remove the pesky pest without pesticides?

• If you have to use a pesticide, take time to read the label. I know sometimes the print is small and the label information is boring, but the label tells you if the pesticide will work for that pest, how to mix the pesticide, and the safety precautions you need to take before using it among other things. So take the time to read the label. The instructions for diluting the liquid with water should be carefully followed. It is not true that "if a little does a little good, then a lot does a lot of good". You are wasting your money and might be hurting your plant, if you do not follow the directions carefully.

• When you spray, remember that the excess goes into the ground water, if you are spraying in a land area. The excess runoff may go into the storm drainage, which will eventually get into the Bay, rivers and streams. Be very careful about the amount of spraying that you do.

As mentioned earlier, to fight the enemy, you must first know them, so your first step in dealing with the insect pests is to identify them. Since many of these insects are tiny to minute, actual identification may require a microscope (under a microscope, these insects look like something from a science fiction movie.). Most insects are divided into two broad categories by the type of mouthparts they posses; those with mouthparts adapted to chewing and those with mouthparts adapted to sucking. Here are a few of the most common insect pests of the Hampton Roads area that are now invading the landscape.

	Aphids can be identified by sight; they are small soft yellow, yellowish-green, to brown-black bugs that group together on the stem or leaf of a plant. They suck the fluids from buds, leaves and flowers, causing leaf curl, distortion, stunting, discoloration and eventual leaf death.
	Scale, of which there are many kinds, are flat disc-like insects that do not have legs, antennae, or eyes. They look like "bumps" and can be different colors or wax-like and found on the stem or leaf of a plant. These also feed by sucking sap from the plant. Because of the waxy shell formed by these insects, application for control is only effective when the young are active.
	Mites (southern red and two spotted spider mites) are extremely small, 1/64 to 1/32 inch in length. One way to identify mites is to place a sheet of white paper beneath the branch of a shrub or plant; tap the branch; if spots the size of pin pricks appear and then move, mites are present. They suck the fluid from leaves that result in stippling.
	Lacebugs are another sucking insect, most often associated with azaleas. The azalea leaves will have a yellow to silver dusty look. The lacebugs cause stippling on the upper leaf surface and black fecal spots on the under side. The leaves will eventually yellow and dieback may occur.
	Leaf miners are insects that, in the larva stage, mine between the upper and lower surface of the leaf, leaving visible blisters or mine tunnels on the leaf surface. Usually leaf miners cause minor cosmetic damage and are not a concern requiring pest control.
	Insects such as cabbageworms, armyworms, grasshoppers and fall webworms all pests that feed by chewing of the external parts of a plant. But don't forget that all caterpillars are not pests; some become butterflies. You should identify the caterpillar before you plan a pest control strategy. Sometimes by the time you notice the caterpillars, they have moved into another stage of development and are no longer a pest of your garden or landscape.
	The Japanese Beetles haven't appeared, as yet. It is too late to put down milky spore for the spring; that should wait until September. Remember, however, when you kill the Japanese Beetle grubs, you will also be killing earthworms.

While these are not all the pests in the Hampton Roads area, they certainly are common ones. But no insecticide is the "silver bullet" for all pests at one application. Identify the pest, then look for the appropriate method of control. If you choose an insecticide make sure you follow the instructions on the container as to when and how often for application.

May 2000, Jean Holton, Master Gardener, and Lynnette J. Swanson, Associate Extension Agent for Environmental Horticulture, Chesapeake