I have a large climbing honeysuckle and every year it is so covered in bugs that the blooms bcome black and gnarled. I have sprayed with Bug B Gon but it does not seem to be working. the bugs are small and green and I have no idea what to do as it becomes quite ugly. any suggestions?
I would carefully watch for a pattern behaviour, when you try to wash the pest/fungus off your afflicted plant, or ph¥sically remove and squish the hungry pest to its inevitable demise...look for a carnivore insect such as lacewing and lady bugs...even spiders...I let them do the work too...If I could just eleminiate this tiny 2mm to 3mm long coppery/orange beetle from my Brugmansia...??? I have not used any pestcides in my garden and I hope never to do so.
I have had a honeysuckle for 8 years and this is the first year I have not had the gnarled leaves you mentioned. This year, I purchased Trounce which is plant based, using pyrethrins and the difference is wonderful, although I have had to spray every two weeks so far.
I'm happy to find this info on Dropmore Scarlet. Mine is within inches of a Goldflame The scarlet is buggy as described, and the Goldflame is happily flowering with no sign of infection. I tried Trounce 2 days ago, but have not noticed any real difference yet. I hope it works, as I too do not want to use any chemical substance on it. Good luck with yours
FYI, just because Trounce is "plant-based" does not mean it is a chemical. The pyrethrins are quite toxic, and the Pottasium salts are chemicals. It sounds like you have a infestation of aphids, the safest control is to use a hard blast of water to wash of the bugs, that will check their growth quite a bit.
A bit worrying. I based my decision to use pyrethrums on several sites I visited. I would appreciate other opinions on the subject, given that this year's insect visitors are now arriving and I have not had much luck simply hosing them off. EG: They are harmful to fish, but are far less toxic to mammals and birds than many synthetic insecticides and are non-persistent, being biodegradable and also breaking down easily on exposure to light. They are considered to be amongst the safest insecticides for use around food. Kenya produced 90% (over 6,000 tonnes) of the world's pyrethrum in 1998, called py for short. Production in Tanzania and Ecuador is also significant. It seems to me that if one sprays upwind of the plants, it should be okay. Nothing is perfect and this seems to be the least dangerous spray.
I know this is an old post, BUT you have aphids! I did too. I tried the spraying them off with a strong blast of water, but my two plants (which were growing up and over an arbor) were so infested that I couldn't get rid of them. In fact, they were INSIDE the flower blossoms before they even opened. I did some research online and found out that they will overwinter on the plant and that is how they get inside the blossoms. I would have to hold each and every blossom in my hand to spray it to get the aphids off, but it still didn't work. I hated to do it, but I completely cut the plants to the ground and threw them in the garbage. I was going to just let the plant grow back if it would, but I also read that people who did this still had the aphids. The coral honeysuckle is an aphid magnet! So I have dug them up and I'm going to plant something else there...maybe.
