Guaranteed Success
Whitefly adults are small winged insects that suck plant sap . Lantana and gardenia are
commonly attacked by whiteflies .
Mole cricket controls are often timed with egg hatch . Mole cricket
Surface tunneling activity is the easiest way to indicate the presence and damage from mole
crickets in turfgrass
Red imported fire ants create mounds in turfgrass and landscape plantings . These mounds
lack a hole in the top . because imported fire ants enter and exit the mound from satellite holes
around the mound .
imported fire ant workers , can vary significantly in size , but all are stinging , sterile females
A potato chip can be used to determine if fire ants are active and will pick up baits .
Southern chinch bugs are major pests of St. Augustinegrass . Adults have wings , but all life
stages suck juice from turfgrass
Lawns attacked by southern chinch bugs Lawns attacked by southern chinch bugs show
damage in full sun and may not recover . (
Two lined spittlebug adults are pests . of turfgrass and ornamentals feeding on plant xylem ..
nymphs Two - lined spittlebug immature stage called nymphs feed inside a spittle mass
produced from the excess water they consume when feeding on plant sap .
Rhodesgrass mealybug is one of the few mealybug pests of turfgrass . It has a threadlike
filament coming from the rear and produces honeydew
, Japanese beetles chew the leaves of plants . Japanese beetles also like to eat blooms of
roses and other flowers .
Galls tumorlike growths on leaves and stems of plants , can be caused by disease insects , or
mites . Insects or mites typically live inside galls that they cause on plants
Spider mites which are not true . insects , are more closely related to ticks and spiders . They
insert their mouthparts . into plants and suck plant sap of many types of garden plants . They
are small ( about the size of a period in a sentence ) and can't fly but can produce silken webs
Spider mites produce silken webbing over host plants .
Stippling is a form of plant damage caused when spider mites , some leafhoppers , and
azalea lace bugs feed and remove the green parts of plant cells . It can be confused with a
nutrient deficiency
Rose slugs caterpillars They are sawfly larvae in the order Hymenoptera with wasps , bees ,
and ants . look and feed like caterpillars on rose leaves . They are not true slugs or
Borers often attack dead or dying plants , but some ambrosia beetles attack living plants .
Ambrosia beetles produce frass sticks that look like pieces of toothpicks on the trunk of trees
they attack .
Lady bugs are a gardener's friend . Most people recognize the adult beetle but not the larval
or pupal stages shown here . Larvae and adults eat many pests such as aphid scale insects and
whiteflies .
Ground pearls are most often observed in the cyst ( nonfeeding stage ) or when the pink
females are mobile .