Azalea lacebug - preferred treatment

[FreshAirSunshine]

My new azalea golden lights has gotten some of the tar specked leaves and white/clear with brown small bugs that I believe I’ve identified properly. Sprayed with insecticidal soap labeled to treat lacebug but looking to see if I should do more and what others experience dealing with this pest has been.

 

[Bnana]

Why not wait to see whether your treatment worked? Insecticidal soap should do the trick.

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Yeah I planned on that but figured if someone else had found insecticidal soap to not work well I could look into purchasing something else earlier while I wait to see if it worked for me. Hoping it’ll work - it wasn’t everywhere and there were only a couple actual bugs visible. The 4-5 leaves that were particularly bad I just removed. I’ll keep an eye on things for now and reapply the soap in a week if need be.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Lacebugs can be a serious issue, depending upon the level of the infestation. While some folks state they mainly cause an aesthetic issue, persistent lacebugs infestations can degrade the health of the plant. This often happens when infestations occur across the years, growing larger in the following spring. So getting on the issue right away is important.

The bugs themselves are not the issue. Once present, it’s the larvae that hatch and eat their way inside leaves that is. These can be unseen and suddenly hatch all at once, little sucking machines!

Azaleas kept in higher sun exposure are especially at risk. The extensive heat dome issues we’ve been having have only made the issue worse. So reconsider your placement of your azalea. Also, some cultivars seem to attract lace bugs more then others.

Soap will work on the larva if you spray the tops and bottoms of the leaves and repeat at 1-2 week intervals (depending on severity) throughout the season. Neem oil is effective on the adults, but also requires taking the plant out of the sun for a couple days afterwards.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Thanks - yeah I was going to weekly cycle the insecticidal soap. I’m aware that the eggs can overwinter on leaves and hatch in spring to start sucking sap again but I’m not sure how much of an issue that will be with the deciduous azalea losing its leaves. I plan on trashing all the leaves immediately after they drop.

 

[Shibui]

Soap spray is a contact insecticide. You'll need to cover every insect to kill them all. Even then, eggs hatch so there are new ones coming. Need repeat spraying to get full control.

I've found systemic insecticide really effective. All bugs are killed even if your coverage is not complete. Some residual so new hatchings are killed when they bite. Just avoid spraying around flowering as bees visiting flowers may be affected.

 

[Bnana]

Systemic insecticides (mostly neonics) are a bit too effective. They're not only harmful to bees but also to other insects and soil fauna and easily end up in groundwater where they are stable.

So they're useful but only as a last resort (if not banned in your country, in the EU most are not allowed). You should collect all water draining from the pot and leave the water in the sun as it's UV-sensitive.

In this case reading a few times with insecticidal soap should be enough and much better for the environment (and yourself).

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Yeah my plan would be to focus on soap even if it’s less efficient unless absolutely necessary - we have vegetable gardens and bees that visit the plot where I would have to use pesticides so it’d be a pretty big task to manage exposure. Not impossible, but it makes the effort in applying pesticides similar to that of multiple dosing with soap even excluding the additional environmental considerations.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

I use malathion for the adults and systemic for the rest. The are tough to manage once the get established.

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Yeah sounds like if I can’t get it under control quickly with soap in the next week or so I’ll probably need to consider other options. I’m checking in on things daily and I’ll see how it goes. I guess I may be a bit better off with this azalea being deciduous so I presume making it to leaf loss without too much damage could help solve the issue provided I dispose of all the leaves.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Browse Hummert's website, and or your local Ag Extension website. There are many newer pesticides out there. Some are systemic and are NOT neonicotinoids. I don't have time to do it for you. But some of the new ones are biological derived products like the Abemectins and such, way beyond the Bacillus thuringensis derived products. So do some reading.

Chemicals | Hummert International

www.hummert.com

If you stick to soaps, key to effectiveness is the repeat spraying, and read what is recommended on the label for repeat interval. The higher the temperature the less time between repeat applications for effectiveness. I think once every two weeks is not frequent enough, especially in warm weather, but you need to do the research.

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Browse Hummert's website, and or your local Ag Extension website. There are many newer pesticides out there. Some are systemic and are NOT neonicotinoids. I don't have time to do it for you. But some of the new ones are biological derived products like the Abemectins and such, way beyond the Bacillus thuringensis derived products. So do some reading.

Chemicals | Hummert International

www.hummert.com

If you stick to soaps, key to effectiveness is the repeat spraying, and read what is recommended on the label for repeat interval. The higher the temperature the less time between repeat applications for effectiveness. I think once every two weeks is not frequent enough, especially in warm weather, but you need to do the research.

Thanks for pointing out these resources - I’ll look into them!

 

[Bnana]

Some are systemic and are NOT neonicotinoids. I don't have time to do it for you. But some of the new ones are biological derived products like the Abemectins and such, way beyond the Bacillus thuringensis derived products. So do some reading.

Sure there are other systemics (that's what "mostly" implies) but they are nasty as well. The fact that some are biological derived doesn't make them safe. Abamectin does not break down quickly, It will wash from the pot and gets into the soil where it will be taken up by other plants and impact non-target insects. I don't want that in my garden. I'll stick to soap.

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

One thing I’m noticing is the soap I’m using appears to dissolve the tar like stuff the eggs are being protected in. Hopefully that damages the eggs - I’ll read a bit more about it

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Just use some real pesticide and kill them, while you are giving them a bath with soap spray and reading about it, they are eating your tree. There is nothing wrong with the responsible use of pesticide.

 

[FreshAirSunshine]

Yeah I‘ll look to stock some to have when needed. In this case though it seems that two washes with the insecticidal soap a couple days apart may have done it - I’ve seen no bugs or tar egg spots or anything throughout the weekend. The tar spots ended up just dissolving and running down the leaves and washing away. I’ll keep an eye on things for more. Thanks for the advice! - now I have treatments for both minor infestations caught early and more serious ones.