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All of my houseplants have turned brown on the tips. I also have little gnats flying around them. I have sprayed and no results. What could this be caused by?

Even though brown tips can indicate dry indoor air, it sounds as if you have been overwatering your plants and brown tips and fungus gnats are the result. Fungus gnats are tiny black flying insects that looks like mosquitoes and are more of an annoyance. They lay their eggs in the soil which turn into 1/4″ larvae that thrive on fungi and decaying roots. After they pupate, they emerge from the soil as tiny flying gnats. They like consistent moist soil and are an indicator that the soil has been too wet.

Control fungus gnats
Because the larvae need moist soil to reproduce, let the soil dry out between waterings. Products such as BT (israelensis) sold as Gnatrol, Knock-Out Gnats will also take care of the larval stage. Use the mixture (BT & water) as a soil drench-follow label directions. Be aware the stuff smells bad. You may have to apply more than once. To get rid of the adult flying insects, use yellow or blue sticky cards that gnats are attracted to.

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Iris borer (Macronoctua onusta) is a pinkish caterpillar with rows of black spots on their sides. When full grown, it is about 2 inches long. The larvae emerge from the ground in April or early May when iris leaves are about 4-6 inches tall. They enter the leaves through tiny pinholes and burrow their way down to the rhizome. By midsummer they eat their way through the rhizome leaving only the outside shell and then return to the soil to pupate. In August-October, iris borer emerges as a night-flying moth with brown front wings and yellow-brown hind wings and a wing span of 2 inches. The moths will then lay creamy white eggs which later turn lavender on foliage or debris which will winterover and start a new lifecycle the following spring.

Early signs of iris borer are disfigured foliage with irregular tunnels in the lower section of the leaf and chewed leaf edges that appear in early spring. Leaves may also have water soaked streaks.

Bacterial soft rot
One of the major problems that iris borer introduces to the leaves and rhizomes is bacterial soft rot (Pecotobacterium carotovorum). Rhizomes become soft, mushy and have an offensive odor. The leaf tips are withered and leaves have long brown streaks or appear water soaked. Bacterial rot can also be introduced through careless cultivation. Crowded, shaded growing conditions can make the plant susceptible to infection. More info on iris..

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Aphids (Homoptera Aphididae) also known as plant lice are tiny (1/8″) soft bodied, oval to pear shape insects that come in green, pink, red, brown, black or dusty gray. The woolly apple aphid has a fluffy white cottony coating that closely resembles a mealybug. They congregate in groups and feed on the plant juices of young leaves, succulent tip growth and flower buds causing curling, stunted and distorted leaves. Infested leaves can wilt in bright sunlight and turn yellow/brown. The whole plant can turn pale yellow and stop growing. For infestation, the check new growth, stems and underside of leaves. Root aphids attack plant roots and display similar symptoms.
Aphids excrete honeydew which attracts ants and is the perfect medium for black, sooty mold fungus. In addition, they can also transmit incurable viral diseases. Most damage occurs when temperatures are 65-80 degrees.

They develop from an egg to adult but give birth to mature insects and reproduce rapidly.
Each adult aphid can produce 80 offspring within a week. Some mature adults have wings and fly infecting other plants.

Aphid control: A strong water spray will wash them off the plant, repeat at least 3 times. If that doesn’t work use insecticidal soap every 3-5 days for two weeks.
A stronger alternative is pyrethrum/ alcohol spray: combine 1 TBS alcohol to 1 pint of pyrethrum. The solution should have direct contact with the aphids to be effective. Other chemical remedies are available. Be sure to follow label directions for safe application on specific plants.

Natural enemies such as ladybugs, parasitic wasps, syphrid fly larvae and lacewing larvae are biological controls that feed on aphids. They reduce the population and can eliminate the need for treatment when present. Aphids are also susceptible to fungal disease in humid weather. Look for reddish or brown, shriveled dead aphids

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Can spider mites kill or harm my houseplant? How often/long should I treat the plant for?

The symptoms for spider mite infestation are tiny dots or stippling that causes a bronze, grayish mottled look. Eventually the leaves will start to turn yellow/brown along the veins and drop. The foliage starts to wilt and general health of the plant declines. In severe infections you will also see fine webbing on the plant. To test for spider mites, take a white sheet of paper, place it on the underside side of the leaves and tap on the leaf. If you see tiny pindots moving on the paper, then you have spider mites. Isolate your plant from all others because they reproduce and spread easily. Heavily infested plant should be discarded.
To control the infestation, spray the plant with insecticidal soap every 3-5 days for two weeks. Be sure to throughly spray the plant getting the underside of the leaves. If insecticidal soap does not do the trick try Neem oil. An alcohol solution made of 4 parts of water to 3 parts of rubbing alcohol with a squirt of dish detergent can also work as a contact spray. Spider mites love the hot, dry environment that is indoors during the winter and will attack plants that are stressed and weakened due to poor environmental conditions. Increased humidity around the plant will also help curtail the problem.

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Slugs are snails without a shell. Their soft slimy body can get up to 8 inches long ranging from white to brownish black in color. They prefer a damp, cool environment, especially rainy weather.

Slugs feed at night on all kinds of plants and hide during the day from the sun under moist, shaded mulch, leaves or organic material.
The nightly feeding frenzy can do a lot of damage to your shaded garden plants with tell tale signs of ragged holes to large sections of leaves eaten away. They start from the bottom and eat their way up the plant leaving a slimy trail in their path.

Control: There are several ways to approach this problem. One way, is to go out at night with a flashlight and handpick using tweezer or chopsticks to grab the slimies off the plant. If that doesn’t appeal to you, set up a soil barrier of crushed eggshell, wood ashes or sprinkle diatomaceus earth around the plant, which they won’t cross. Diatomaceaus earth is a prehistoric shellfish that feels smooth but is gritty enough to cut their bodies and cause them to dehydrate and die. Both diatomaceus earth and wood ashes need to be reapplied after a rain. Copper sheeting (Snail-Barr) is also effective when placed around a flower bed. It shocks the slug with a mild electric charge. Traps: A shallow dish buried at soil level, filled with beer lures the slugs to the yeast in the beer and causes them to drown. You will have to replenish the beer and remove the victims daily. There are baits such as Sluggo, Escar-Go! and Worry Free that can also take care of the problem.
As you can see there are all kinds of solutions. The thing to keep in mind is to start treatment early (check in spring) before they get out of control, and eliminate potential hiding places by removing garden debris and last year’s mulch from affected plants. If you have a wet season, expect a heavier infestation.

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My jasmine is approx.6 yrs old and it winters inside next to a humidifier. Has dropped a lot of leaves which doesn’t concern me as also has 4″ new growth. What does concern me is the underside of leaves appear to have scale. Only these bumps don’t seem to be bugs. Plus are quite small. Any ideas? Thank you!

The first sign of scale is the sticky honeydew on the leaves/stems. Underneath the bumps(which protect them from sprays) are eggs and crawlers which eventually crawl out but are difficult to detect because they are clear in color. It is at this stage, that they are vulnerable to sprays, and if treated can be controlled.
Persistent spraying is important. Neem oil can be used twice a month for 2 months. Use 1 oz.(2Tbsp of Neem Oil , 1 1/2 tsp dishwashing detergent to one gallon of water. Another recommendation for shiny-leaved plants only is Cedoflora, which is low in toxicity, safe and effective. You can also try to scrape off the bumps with your fingernail. A stronger option is Orthene, which is a systemic pesticide. It renders the whole plant as poisonous and insects die after feeding on it. It smells bad and should be used with extreme caution. (Never indoors). Follow manufacturers direction for safe use.

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HELP! My confederate jasmine has stuff growing on it that looks like white puff paint. It is mostly on the joints, but a little on the leaves. I can not see any bugs, but the white stuff, when I move it with a pencil tip, is stringy, kind of like spiders web strings.

The white cottony ’stuff’ in the leaf axils is home to eggs laid by mealy bugs, which eventually hatch and become microscopic orange crawlers that feed on your plant. Once they reach adult stage, they develop a white waxy coating that is impervious to water and secrete sticky honeydew which attract ants. Mealy bugs reproduce in hot dry conditions, causing yellowing leaves, premature leaf drop and weak, slow growth.
To treat this problem Dip a Q-tip or small paintbrush in alcohol and dab each white mass. This will not completely elliminate the insects because they do not all develop at the same time. They are most vulnerable in the crawler stage. A repeated spray of 50% isopropyl alcohol and 50% water is a more effective way to treat mealy bugs. A pump sprayer with pressure works best in penetating the waxy coat and getting into the crevices of the plant. In addition, an ultrafine oil or Neem oil will work on the crawlers. Both alcohol and oil treatment will control mealy bugs safely indoors. Be sure to apply once a week for a month even if you do not see any sign of the insect.

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Powdery Mildew starts out as whitish spots that spread quickly until the entire leaf is covered. The white powdery growth is a fungus that with time becomes gray to tan/brown felt like patches. Leaves may become stunted, curled, chlorotic and eventually wither and dry up. Mildew occurs from hot days , high humidity ,cool nights and at the change of season.

Depending on the severity, spraying it with a baking soda formula is effective as a preventative when applied regularily. For active infections spray daily for a week. Mix 1 TBsp each of baking soda and horticultural oil (dormant oil spray)or a few drops of liquid soap to 1 gallon of water. Spray weekly making a new mix each time. I also heard of mixing 1 tbsp of pine sol to 1 gal of water as a mildew spray. Neem Oil is also affectective in controling infections. Use 1 oz.(2 Tbsp) of Neem oil and 1/ 1/2 tsp of dishwashing detergent to one gallon of water. Spray once a week for two weeks.
You can use chemical sprays such as Benomyl (systemic fungicide), sulfur/fungicidal soap early in the growing season as a preventative or as soon as symptoms appear. A synthetic fungicide Baylaton sold as Strike also works well on mildew. Always follow label directions, to make sure the product is approved for specific plants. The combination of Neem and baking soda is the safest control method. Once the disease takes hold, it is difficult to control. Some cultural things that can be done are to remove the infected leaves, do not crowd the plants, provide good air circulation and keep plants well watered and stress free. Grow resistant plants when available.

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I have got a serious white fly infestation in my front yard container garden. I have tried insecticidal soaps to no avail and live lady bugs. My aphids are gone but the white flies seem to multiply. This is an organic garden so I do not want to use serious pesticides. Any suggestions?

Whitefly are tiny white mothlike insects(adult stage) that fly when the plant is shaken. They can be found on the underside of leaves along with yellowish bumps which can resemble scale but are the nymph stage of the whitefly. The obvious symptoms of whitefly is the white cloud of tiny flies that emerges when the plant is distrubed as well as the sticky residue called honeydew on the leaves. Their sucking mouthparts feed on plants causing the leaves to turn yellow and die. In severe infestation, a sooty black mold may also be present from the honeydew. The general health of the plant is compromised, it becomes weak, produces pale, stunted and distorted growth, which eventually leads to dead.

Whitefly are difficult to control because they reproduce so quickly (average life cycle is 30-34 days) and frequently build up a resistance to pesticides; therefore you need to be vigilant when it comes to treament. Try repeated sprayings of insecticidal soap every 5-7 days for at least two weeks and make sure you spray the undersides of the leaves. In addition, try Vapona strips, yellow or blue sticky fly tape,( a color that they are attracted to) hung above the plants. This will help reduce the adult whitefly population. A natural spray solution recommended by Rodale consists of 1 cup isopropyl alcohol mixed with 1/2 TB of insecticidal soap in 1 quart of water. Apply once a week for two weeks.
Some people have even tried vacuuming the buggers off the leaves or spraying the plants vigorously with water to knock them off. As a last resort, if all fails use a plant derived systemic pesticide( Neem) or a pyrethroid spray(Pyrethrum).

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HELP!! Crabgrass is taking over not only my lawn but also my garden!!!
It seems every time I give my garden a good soaking the crabgrass doubles in size. Creeping closely to the ground and branching freely, it tenaciously hangs on to every inch of moist soil it comes into contact with. It reminds me of the alien plant in “Little Shop of Horrors”. Water me and I will keep growing!!
I recently read the interesting origin of crabgrass, the scourge of every turf grower. It was introduced to the U.S. in 1849 as forage for cattle, sheep, hogs and horses. When that venture failed, another opportunity came up fifty years later when immigrants from Slovak countries brought the grain, a type of millet known as manna grits (AKA crabgrass) with them to grow for food. Crabgrass it seemed grew well in any soil and quickly produced a large crop. Later, the immigrants discovered that corn and wheat could be grown just as easily, and it was worth more money. Within 10 years crabgrass farming was abandoned and it was destined to become the wayward wanderer growing on roadsides and waste areas – no longer a wanted crop but an immigrant weed.

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Japanese beetles were introduced to the U.S. via iris roots that were imported from Japan in 1916. Since that time they have been a pest problem growing each year to the point that today they are a major pest problem in the Midwest.

A few years ago, I did not know what a Japanese beetle looked like. Now I know that the iridescent metallic copper green beetle is pretty to look at but a menace anywhere it lands. It has a non-discriminating diet that feeds on over 270 varieties of plants, trees, seemingly anything that’s green and growing. There are some plants that it prefers and will fly for miles to find them. It especially like to skeletonize the leaves of brambles (raspberries, blackberries, etc.) roses, fruit trees, lindens, maples, gray birch, poplars, hazelnut etc. They love my purple plum tree, or should I call it purple lace tree. I use it as the “sacrificial attractant” so that they stay away from the raspberries. If you shake the tree, a swarm of beetles will disperse and land in my raspberry patch to continue the mating and feeding frenzy therefore, I leave the tree alone.

The beetle’s grubs are also lawn pests and feed on turf roots. One year in June, there were mounds of emerging adult Japanese beetles on the soggy greens of the golf course. It made golfing difficult since they would crunch under your feet as your walked and dispersed in the air when disturbed, landing in your hair, on your face, not to mention ricoquette the golf ball which did not help my golf score.

In areas where you can spray your shrubs and perennials, carbaryl (Sevin) is recommended. Be aware that Sevin is toxic to bees. The USDA has done some research and found milky spore disease, (Bacillus popilliae, commercially available as Merit), to be an effective biological control for the grub. Use it only if the grubs are a turf problem. Trapping the beetle with an attractant will bring more beetles into your area causing more damage. So, unless you can find someone to put up a trap in their yard, forget about it.
One way, to capture these beetles is to put some alcohol or soapy water in a jar, place the jar underneath the plant and knock off the beetles into the jar covering the top. Once trapped, they drown in the solution. This safe, chemical free method seems to be an effective, yet a labor intensive job. Birds, toads, moles, shrews and skunks will eat a large number of adult beetles and grubs but seemingly not enough.

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West Nile Virus

In areas where there has been much rain, ideal conditions for increased mosquito populations have accelerated the occurrence of West Nile virus.
Initially discovered in 1937 in the West Nile province of Uganda, Africa, WNV is known to affect humans, birds and other animals in Africa, Europe, Middle East and Israel. The first outbreak was documented in New York City in the summer of 1999 and is expected to spread throughout North America.

WNV is transmitted by the Culex mosquitoes that have been infected after biting an infected wild bird (American crow, Blue jay) or animal (horses). Dead birds in the area serve as a warning that the virus is active and should be reported to the local health department. Once the virus is in the mosquito it undergoes a reproductive cycle multiplying in many tissues and accumulating in the salivary glands. When the mosquito bites, it salivates and transmits the virus. The mosquito can transmit the virus 10 to 14 days after feeding on an infected bird.

Mosquitoes will lay their eggs in stagnant water such as inside of tires, cans, old trees and anything that has been flooded by water and will not be disturbed. After a rainy period, one should pour out; tip over anything that may have standing water in it. The larvae take 48 hours to hatch and the pupae live in water until it reaches the adult stage. It is the female mosquito that bites as she needs a blood meal before she can lay her eggs. She will continue to bite for a period of several weeks of her adult life.

Precautions
Eliminate any standing water opportunities such as gutters, birdbaths, wheelbarrows.
Use larvicides to control immature mosquitoes if standing water cannot be eliminated.
Make sure your screen doors and windows do not have any holes in them.
Avoid going outside at dawn and dusk, as this is the time when they are the most active.
Wear protective clothing when going outdoors, long- sleeved shirt and long pants.
Spray yourself with an insect repellent on thin clothing and sparingly on your skin. Follow product labels for safe application. There are numerous products used as a repellent, some can be effective others are not. DEET is the active and most effective ingredient in mosquito repellents.

If you are one of the unfortunate to be infected, you may not even know it for most humans do not have any symptoms. Some develop fever, headaches, body ache, swollen lymph glands and body rash. Only 1 percent will develop symptoms of encephalitis; severe headache, high fever and a stiff neck, disorientation, tremor, convulsions, paralysis and coma. If you experience any of these symptoms contact your physician immediately.
Source of this information is from the USDA: For more updated info in your area go to http://www.ncpmc.org/NewsAlerts/westnilevirus.html.

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Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle

Commonly called lady beetle, the Asian Lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, was introduced from Japan as a biological control for tree-inhabiting aphids. It was initially released by the USDA in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1979 and now is found in many locations in the Midwest.

Individuals come in a variety of colors ranging from pale-orange to a deep orange-red. They can be distinguished from other lady beetles by a pair of white, oval marking directly behind the head forming a black M-shaped pattern and zero to 20 black spots on their body. They are very prolific and live up to 3 years. Lady beetles inhabit various trees and feed on aphids, psyllids and certain scales.

Because they are very prolific and an important biological control agent, Asian Lady beetles have been effective in eliminating and controlling the populations of many types of damaging aphids. Because they are very prolific, they have also managed to become a nuisance when they aggregate in large numbers on the sunny sides of buildings and cluster inside homes through openings and cracks. Typically, this “congregation” happens in the fall when they swarm like bees and land on people. They land on the skin and feed on perspiration occasionally causing a pinching sensation. This physical irritation leads us to believe that they bite. In fact, they do bite. Lady beetles have mandibles which are designed to break the delicate membrane of soft bodied insects such as aphids but not the leathery exterior of human skin.

To uninvite your lady beetle houseguests, seal the cracks around windows, doors, siding, and any openings with caulk . In addition, check your attic, cool room or chimney, for they are looking for a cool place to winter over. Indoor gatherings can be removed with a vacuum cleaner. If necessary, building exteriors can be treated with a pyrethroid-based insecticide in late September or early October. Although they may voluntarily leave after a few days or weeks.

Spraying insecticides, squashing them may result in orange staining on the walls and fabric. The orange stain is actually blood that comes out of the joints of the legs when the beetle is stressed (reflex bleeding). This protective mechanism tastes bad and produces a foul odor. It is easier to get the broom or vacuum and sweep them up and put them back outside away from the house.

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